Osaka

Welcome to my new blog. The sparkling treasures of the world await you.
My present hunting ground is Osaka, the major city in Kansai, West Japan. With a population of 2.7 million, Osaka is Japan's third largest city. When looking at it from the big, red ferris wheel that is mounted on one of the sky scrapers near Osaka/Umeda Station, its nightlights stretch beyond the horizon in all directions, an impressive man-made sea of shapes and lights that invades the insides of your stomach as they turn themselves inside out with hight-induced heebiejeebies.
Osaka and Tokyo are traditional rivals. People in Osaka think Tokyo is posh and pretentious. Just listen to the Tokyoites! They speak Japanese without an accent, and everyone who goes to Tokyo from other areas in Japan soon adopts the same streamlined Tokyo Japanese. Osaka people speak Kansai-ben, and they are proud of it. Even when they go to Tokyo, as I learned in a TV show last night, only 35% of Osaka people change their accent to fit in. The presenter could not get over it. "That many? Imagine that! 35 in a hundred people from Osaka are traitors!" he was exasperated.
Osaka people also consider themselves to be happy, humorous and friendly. They are known to speak in loud voices everywhere, and to have the best okonomiyaki (cabbage-bacon pancakes usually garnished with katsuo-bushi dried fish flakes, mayonaise, and a special okonomiyaki brown sauce) in all of Japan. I have to say, I can bear testimony to all of these
claims and am enjoying my stay here thoroughly. I just wish I had more time to relish the endless space and possibilities in this city. But today's entry will end here. This time I introduced you to Osaka. Next time, I will introduce you to my life in this city.