"Osaka" a Osaka Travel Page by tyusen

Osaka is the second largest city in Japan (actually, the third largest city in terms of population) and one of the most important commercial center of her. Osaka Prefecture has a population of approximately 8.8 million (2.6 million in Osaka City). Osaka should dispel your stereotypes about Japan and Japanese people. People here have strong personality, much wit and stubborn pride as Osakan. For example, there is an interesting episode about Osaka. When Hanshin Tigers, the most popular professional baseball team in Osaka, won the Japan Series, many Osakans dived into a river to celebrate it. Watching the scene on TV, most of Tokyoites (and also non-Osakan Japanese) thought that was a stupid act and laughed. However most of Osakan didn’t think so. They thought the people who laughed at such a “stupid act” are more stupid. It’s not important for them to keep rules perfectly or to control their feeling. As I showed you a simple example, they have very different culture from other regions in Japan and they always makes effort not to have same culture with them. I think it’s one of the reasons why it has been attractive city for foreigners and non-Osakan Japanese.