Namba

To preface, I have personally never been to Osaka. However, I did live outside of Tokyo for a few months, right by the ocean. The briny, saltwater smell and motor oil are absolutely spot on and remind me of the beach. Not the tourist-friendly beaches of Odaiba or Kasai-Rinkai, but the seaside smell that you experience when walking along the rocky shores of a beach you definitely cannot set foot in. The urban Makuhari Beach comes to mind here, lol. There's a marine note that almost, ALMOST verges onto the fishy side in the bottle, but the motor oil balances it out on the skin. This is a very unique atmospheric that captures the oceanic, semi-grungy side of Japan's urban places.

I received this with an order of a different sample and was shocked by how accurate the description is. Usually, I find atmospheric perfumes to not live up to expectations but this one is spot on. It's not for me but if the description sounds good to you, you won't be disappointed.

Received this as a free sample with a sample pack of some more earthy scents and it may become my favorite. I normally shy away from aquatic, sweet scents but the motor oil note grounds the and sweetness in a really nice way. ~30 minutes into wear I get a light almost bubblegum or watermelon note on top, but with more complexity, and none of the cloying sweetness. The vanilla sits in the middle for me, not in your face but binding the top notes with the deeper ones. Sits pretty close to the skin, so you're not going to smoke out people nearby with the perfume oil version at least. Going to get a bigger bottle of this for sure.

I was directed towards this scent specifically because of my interest in mechanical/metal/motor oil-type scents, and Namba is an incredible expression. The 3 titular notes - Vanilla, Motor Oil, and Marine, are all encapsulated and noticed. On my skin particularly, it reads very much like new car smell with a touch of sweetness; it's incredibly captivating! I worried that the motor oil was going to be washed out, but it works in union. I find that the vanilla part of this perfume really only begins to express itself once dried onto the skin, and even then, it's not cloying.

I prefer my perfume to be offensive, and this is absolutely NOT the case. Unique, but palatable. Playful, but not childish.
This is going to be my go-to perfume for now on as it balances my needs and the needs of my friends who'd rather not be hit with something too intense.
I'm so pleased by this that I'm getting a large roller and the atomizer variants.

The motor oil is perfectly balanced by the salt and vanilla, and it just melts into my natural skin scent. Every time I wear it it just makes me smile all day! Very nostalgic and playful.
My one warning is if you prefer others to get a strong impression of the scent you're wearing then I might go for the extrait de parfum. The perfume oil lies very close to the skin, which I LOVE, but does mean that if you hang out with people who aren't that keyed-in to their noses they probably won't get a powerful enough hit of scent to consciously notice it as a perfume if they're not all up in your personal space. (From a normal conversational distance, this is like 1.3x the strength of my natural scent.)
If you like Namba, I would highly recommend Lorelei (also by Fantome). It's another sweet aquatic with a really good deep (almost "off") anchor-scent that blends well with (my) skin while still being VERY distinct. It's briny-er, louder, and deeper than Namba, but another all-time favorite.