The Japanese former world No.1 has only once been past the third round at a grand slam since the last of her four grand slam titles in 2021.
But she showed signs of her best tennis in a run to the semi-finals at last year's US Open, sparking hope she could again challenge for major honours.
"I can only hope to continue in that way," Osaka said at Melbourne Park on Friday ahead of the season-opening major.
"But there's, you know, the off-season, there's things that I work on with Tomasz (Wiktorowski). I just want to be a better player.
"There's some points that I regretted in the US Open. I just hope to be able to look back on this tournament, however it ends, and not have any regrets."
Osaka, who lifted the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup in 2019 and 2021, faces Croatia's Antonia Ruzic in the first round.
The 28-year-old has arrived in Melbourne after overcoming the illness that hampered her during the United Cup in Perth, where she beat Britain's Katie Swan and lost to Greece's Maria Sakkari.
"When I reflect on that match, I just think about how I couldn't breathe because I was, like, coughing so much," Osaka said of her defeat to Sakkari.
"Honestly, I just wanted to be more aggressive and kind of more assertive with my game.
"I feel like I think my defence is good now, so I can almost kind of get away with it.
"Yeah, I just want to play more aggressively. That's what I took away."
Meanwhile, world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka feels fit and ready to fire as she too seeks a third Open title.
The 2023 and 2024 champion missed out on a hat-trick of triumphs last year when she was upset by American Madison Keys in the final.
"She played incredible and overplayed me. Took me a little time to recover," Sabalenka said.
"We had matches after that. I kind of, like, worked on my mistakes on those matches.
"Going to this AO, I'm not really focusing on last year's result, but of course I would like to do just a little bit better than I did last year."
Sabalenka - who lost to Nick Kyrgios in last month's "Battle of the Sexes" showdown before rebounding to confirm her places as women's undoubted No.1 with a third Brisbane International crown - faces young Frenchwoman Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah in the first round.
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