zukkokya | Osaka: A Positive Review

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Osaka: A Positive Review

Earlier today, I stumbled on a section about Osaka in the book I'm reading (Travelers' Tales: Japan). Because of Kanjani∞, I've become interested in this city whose appeal is so strong that they've dedicated more than three of their singles to its glory. So I was surprised when the reviews I got from people who'd been to Osaka didn't have the same flamboyant enthusiasm. My Japanese calligraphy teacher had the most eloquent reaction when I told her I want to visit Osaka someday:

"EHH? ... NANDE?"

At the time, I didn't have a good answer to that. ("I like their men," though true, doesn't have quite the educated ring to it that I was hoping for.)

So I decided to do more research and found that the vast wealth of printed knowledge about Japan is cut largely in Tokyo's favor. Fortunately, all I could find said pretty much the same thing anyway: Osaka is an ugly city, but it has a rich personality. That's the kind of thing you read and wince. "Nice personality," after all, is universal for "let's stay friends." Still, I couldn't believe that Kanjani∞ of all people would put up with living in a bland, ugly city unless it had something else to its name.

What I read in the following excerpt drew a second conclusion that resparked my interest: Osaka has its rich personality because it's ugly.

Osaka is an independent city with natives to match. While contractors and investors beautified Tokyo, Osakans dug in their heels to keep their city exactly the same. And from that, they held onto the historic character that defines them today.

This is only what I've come to understand after reading a few books and the testimonials of pop stars. I hope to write a more personal account someday after visiting or even living there myself.

Until then, enjoy the writing of someone who has been there!

Osaka: Bumpers and Runners
By Alex Kerr

A city one would never think of putting in a "must see" itinerary, until....

"Welcome to Osaka. Few major cities of the developed world could match Osaka for the overall unattractiveness of its cityscape, which consists mostly of a jumble of cube-like buildings and a web of expressways and cement-walled canals. There are few skyscrapers, even fewer museums and, other than Osaka Castle, almost no historical sites. Yet Osaka is my favorite city in Japan. Osaka is where the fun is: t has the best entertainment districts in Japan the most lively youth neighborhood, the most charismatic geisha madams and the most colorful gangsters. it also has a monopoly on humor, to the extent that in order to succeed as a popular comedian it is almost obligatory to study in Osaka and speak the Osaka dialect.

[...]

"Fashion in Osaka is not like fashion elsewhere. Tokyo is the home of trends; all the businessmen wear the same blue suit, housewives wear the same Armani, artists wear the same pastel shirts with high collars, and the young people hanging out at Yoyogi wear whatever the latest craze happens to be. Kyoto people are afraid to do anything that might make them stand out, so they dress rather drably -- like Tokyo on a bad day. But Osaka is a riot of ill-matched color, tasteless footwear and startling hairdos. Satoshi (author's friend) puts it this way: "In Tokyo, people want to wear what everyone else is wearing. In Osaka, people want to shock."

[...]

"The downtown neighborhoods of Tokyo, while they still exist, have largely lost their identity, but Osaka maintains a spirit of fierce independence which goes back a long way. Originally, Osaka was a fishing village on the Inland Sea called Naniwa. The writer Shiba Ryotaro maintains that the colorful language and brutal honesty of Osaka people can be traced to Naniwa's seaport past.

"Osaka dialect is certainly colorful. Standard Japanese, ot the sorrow of Edan and Travor, has an almost complete lack of dirty words. The very meanest thing you can shout at somebody is kisama , which means literally, "honorable you." But Osaka people say such vividly imaginative things that you want to sit back and take notes. Most are unprintable, but here is one classic Osaka epithet: "I'm going to slash your skull in half, stir up your brains and drink them out with a straw!" The fishwife invective and the desire to shock produced the playful language that is the hallmark of Osaka dialect. When Satoshi describes a visit to the bank, it's funnier than the routines of most professional comics. It begins with the bank, and ends with the dice tattooed on his aunt's left shoulder. Free association of the sort he employs is called manzai in the blood. That's why comedians have to come here to study.

[...]

"In recent years, the fact that certain areas like Shinsekai have become slums has acted as a protection, scaring away the developers and investors who raised land prices and transformed the face of Tokyo. Osaka preserved its identity, which goes right back to the old seaport of Naniwa. So when friends aks me to show them the "true Japan of ancient tradition," I don't take them to Kyoto: I take them to Osaka."

--Alex Kerr, an excerpt from his book Lost Japan, which was included in Travelers' Tales: Japan.

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♥ :)

I didn't read the full quote, but your opening rang true: everytime I've said to an Osaka person that I love Osaka, they're like, Why?! There aren't many sights (though there's a fantastic and probably highly underrated human rights museum; and the temple, Shitennouji, is great too), but it has a really nice atmosphere. I could *not* warm to Tokyo, even though I stayed there several times, but I knew I liked Osaka after one night. Maybe it's because I'm a Northerner, lol, and I like the feeling of being in a place that's lived in the shadow of a more important area for a long time. But Osaka has awesome shops, *tons* of cool arcades and eating places, and all in a conveniently-sized, navigable package! Oh, and go see the bunraku too. :D Even if puppets usually give you the fear, those ones are surprisingly charming!

WHAT ELY YOUR A NORTHERNER? Do you use a northern accent like christopher eccleston? I LOVE THAT ACCENT *__* lol. I really prefer countryide over city so my friend was telling me when we go to Britain together we should go to the north. I'm a southerner (US of course not UK XD) and according to some I spoke to, UK northerners have the same kind of image US southerners do. So I was like FOR REAL? I dunno is it true? Have you ever been called a bumpkin? :D *smacked*
lol sorry I like jumped on you but I wanna be educated before I hop on a plane over there. Plus I love learning about regions <3 My friend already insists that farther north you go in scotland the more impossible to understand the accents become. XD

Oh yes, our north/south divide is just as big as yours, only the opposite way round. We're not the bumpkins though - that would be people from East Anglia, or the West Country - but we're often seen as a bit thick or belligerent. And I've never started a fight in my life! XD I guess I do talk a bit like Christopher Eccleston, though I believe he's a Lancastrian. >.> I'm a Yorkshire person, so there's a rivalry there too, lol. (For a small island, there's plenty of, ah, healthy rivalries!)

Scottish accents do have a reputation for being hard to understand, but most of them aren't too hard! Most English people agree that strong Newcastle accents are the hardest, though again, I think it's exaggerated, lol. When I was in America, out of me, a Liverpudlian guy and a guy from Bristol, the American guy we were with (the one from North Carolina!) found the Bristol guy hardest to understand, and Bristol's in the south!

There is lots of countryside in a lot of places in Britain, though it's very different depending on where you are. Like, near where I live, we have lots of heath and moorland, which I love, but some southerners find it bleak. Though they're wrong. XD

...And now I'll stop my Yorkshire tourism ad in Kya's journal! XD Well Kya, if you're not broke after Japan, you now know what you'll get if you come here too~! ^_~

See that's what I read but I wanted to hear directly from someone who lived there. Yeah he is a Lancastrian, he was just the first person I came up with to use as an example ^^; Oh man I know the yorkshire accent! I LOVE IT! Hee arctic monkeys were from there right? I remember I saw a movie called mischief night and I loved how everyone spoke. It was really working class since they lived in the ghetto XD lol I meant to add it was filmed in the yorkshire area XD See now if I meet you I'll probably flail over your accent for the first 10 minutes. dont be alarmed I'm weird but harmless XD.

I myself live in the upper south so it's the affluent more liberal part of the south but we still got a bad wrap as being ignorant bible thumpers.

BRING ON THE MOORLAND lol I really love countryside. A big open countryside with lots of homey little cottages would really make me happy. I hope your still around there when I pop by the UK. I'm gonna stay in Ireland for a while too if I can. lol my friend there said she'll even teach me to play the fiddle XD I definitely wanna visit the yorkshire area when I come by Britain and I'll bring my friend by too ;D

lol ely see you keep running into North Carolinians for some reason XD

Edited 2008-06-09 00:04 (UTC)

I think I'll love it, if it's anything like what the books describe. The people make a much better and more memorable experience than the buildings anyway. :D

Oh poor Osaka. So underrated. I honestly known more than a few people (not all K8 fans btw) who went to Osaka and loved it so much. Every time I hear about I hear about how wonderful the people there are. I saw pics of Osaka and the way everyone dressed seemed really colorful and lively. I dunno I'm sure Tokyo is prettier but for me people are more important than nice buildings. I've had interests in Japanese culture since before K8, I always heard such interesting things about Osaka but I learned far more about the city when I became a K8 fan. Also I love their dialect. I would visit that city just to listen to everyone speak. I even bought a book for kansai dialect XD. Which actually differs a bit from city to city. Also the city may be ugly but my Italian friend who went there last year INSISTS that all the guys there are very hot. So you know there's that. XD

I'm really happy for you getting to see K8 btw! I cant wait to hear about what you see there. It's always nice hearing a fangirls perspective of going there for the first time. ^_^

edit: I just read that article. it was so lovely. thanks for sharing that with us. I might even buy that book now. ^_^ when you read stuff like that it suddenly makes so much sense why K8 are they way they are and why they all love their home so much.

Edited 2008-06-08 23:38 (UTC)

Most of the Japanese people I've spoken to who balked at Osaka are from the East, so that might partially explain the bias. XD My professor this semester is actually from Kansai, though. And her reaction was more along the lines of a pleasantly surprised, "...Really?" Hehe.

♥ Definitely check out the book! I've read about half of it now and it just gets better. :)

Hee~ ♥

♥ Yappa sukiyanen~!

I loved Osaka. I think you'll love it too <3

:D Hee!

Plus it has Universal Studios Japan, an awesome aquarium and a shop that has a giant motorised plastic crab on it's shop front. There's also one with an octopus but I found the crab more amusingly tacky.

XDDD I've seen that crab all over the place. Wasn't there an episode of J3 where they had to measure the statue out in front of the store? Oh, Osaka. ♥

SOUND LIKE MY FASHION PLACE WOULD BE OSAKA THEN. :D :D :D

Osaka really sound mroe like my kind of town than any of the places they are comparing it. to. XD

(in my county, My hometown, Utica, is the same- people do as they please and have fun names [Read: hilariously vulgar] for things. Also, most of the houses haven't changed much in about 30 years. Franklin and Oil City Take pride in how faux-"Victorian" or "America small town" they are- meaning that people with few brains decided to soup up the old houses and beautify the area by using the most ridiculous techniques. In Utica, we keep it real.)

*blinks* Utica?

Upstate pride, ho!

Not that one. XD Utica, Pa, named for Utica, New York, just a state over. :D :D :D

...silly states, naming their towns after the same Ancient cities.

Yay Western PA?

Western PA, yes! ♥ Half way between Erie and Pittsburgh.

I CAN'T WAIT TO SHOP. *_____*

Your hometown sounds like fun. ♥ I've don't think I've ever lived in a place like Osaka. Then again, I won't know until I've been there!

I am so excited to go askjdlaksjd.

DITTO! ♥

hehehe. &hearts

The fashion thing is so true. My Osakajin friend has this one pair of pants that I refer to as her Osaka Pants. They are white and green and patchy, with mismatched colors. I told her I have to buy my own pair of Osaka Pants when we get to Osaka this summer. XD

That sounds...so awesome. *___* Osaka Pants. XDDD So on my list now. Hehe!

Ah, I have that book! I've only read the first couple chapters but you've inspired me to find it and finish it. Thanks for the reminder!

I really liked Osaka, and I thought it was pretty. There was one of those 'cement-walled canals' out behind the hotel i stayed at, and it was absolutely gorgeous at night.

And it was a hell of a lot of fun. Plus the FOOD. OMG, the food. *_____*

i protest the 'lack of dirty words' claim!! people say this a lot, particularly japanese scholars of the japanese language, but the truth is that they just don't want to admit to it. They totally have dirty words. Ones i never quite managed to learn because my host mother wouldn't explain them properly. Sometimes i think they foist off their um. risque terms on Osaka and try to make it take the blame. Usually Osaka is like, "BRING IT"

I really think it's pretty at night! I've been scouring Flickr for pictures of Japan and Osaka really doesn't look all that ugly. XD Maybe in comparison to Tokyo?

I LOOK FORWARD TO THE FOOD. waejnwlake I can't wait to have sushi in Japan. OR OR RAMEN. OR. EEEE! RICE! Yes, even the rice excites me. XD

The dirty words part didn't sound right to me either! I've definitely heard worse that "kisama." If there was a time cursing didn't exist in the Tokyo area, the yakuza definitely solved that issue a looong time back. Hehe.

i don't know. i lived in tokyo, and i wouldn't have called it pretty. It wasn't like. a blight upon the face of the earth, but it wasn't a very beautiful city. Fashionable, maybe. But then studies have shown that people regularly confuse 'fashionable' with 'beautiful' when it comes to places. They take knowledge about what they know is supposed to be fashionable, and then assume that it must also be beautiful, even if they wouldn't classify it as pretty objectively.

edo was the bakufu's government headquarters. I'm sure they had cursing. XD what good soldier doesn't?

Mm, good point. I tend to fall in love with most cities at night. ;) The lights -- something about the shiny always gets me. Hehe.

Hehehe! Good point! XD

It was nice to read something positive about Osaka for a change :) I never got the opportunity to go there, but there is always next time.

But the sort of negative attitude isn't just among foreigners. When I was lliving in Tokyo and the topic came up that I want to go to Osaka, everyone pretty much went all "EEEEHH?why on eart do you want to go THERE?" on me and that I should better go to Nara or Kyoto if I want to go anywhere besides Tokyo... but never go to Osaka.

It's ugly, boring and the people are strange. I was introduced to several people from Osaka during outings, but with always someone whispering a quiet warning to me to stay away from them because they are perverted and aren't to be trusted.

Hehehe! That was exactly what my calligraphy professor said! She's from ... ooh, I can't remember now. Either Tokyo or a city nearby. But I emphasized the people and the food and she nodded...very cautiously. XDDD

GOOD THING WE LIKE STRANGE PEOPLE, YES? :D

i visited Osaka for the first time this year and fell truly and well in love with it. i hope you'll love it too!

Thank you! Me too! ♥

How long did you stay?

about 5 days: Osaka's also a great starting place to visit all the rest of the Kansai sights like Kyoto and Nara! i also took pictures (http://fivethreerin.livejournal.com/80217.html) of my trip, and i really recommend the Osaka Kaiyukan at the Tempozan Harbor Village. It's awesomeee.

I also want to go to osaka because I have heard so much about their "very unique personality" *__*
I sure hope I can have the chance one day~

I hope you do, too. :) ♥

See, everything I hear about Osaka, especially their own dialect and colorful language and just...many other things about it, always leads me to think of it more as a New Orleans type of city. A blend of many things where there is good food and very colorful speech and people just do their own thing, a lot of times to shock, and to the beat of their own very stubborn way of life. Refusing to change for others. Its a special and distinct city adn that is how I see Osaka as being. A VERY VERY UNIQUE city. Its OWN type of place. More like THAT than other more homogenized places. Its really what fascinated me in the beginning, also haveing like that huge influence of more country-ish life nearby so its just. A mix. And what you just posted has just only made me think of it MORE like that. ONLY JAPANESE. XD So THANK KYA. NOW I WANNA GO EVEN MORE. lsdkfjsldkfjsldkfjsdlfkj

Edited 2008-06-10 03:55 (UTC)

I BET YOU COULD FIT IN MY SUITCASE. YOU COULD BE MY OVERHEAD CARRY-ON.

OMG I PROBABLY COULD. OVERHEAD CARRY-ON~

WE CAN BRING BACK PETTO IN NICE TRAVEL KENNELS. >.> IT WOULD ~~EVENTUALLY~~ BE GREAT.

god this is horribly late, but I just stumbled on to this post...I was sadly or happily in the Kansai area when Kanjani was having their Tokyo dome concert T_T, it was both a sad and happy moment for me...why did they spite me so...and after reading you con report...makes me want to curl up into a ball and cry T_T...the comment about Arashi and Kanjani forming a super group really amused me, by now Jun would have commited serious bodily harm to one of his group members and Sho would either be insane...or insane? XD

the food in Osaka is seriouly the best (okonomiyaki! Takoyaki, Yakisoba...they like things grilled eh?), they make is good and fast XD Kansai-ben is freaking awesome too...my friends and I would look completely crazy straining to hear the locals talk...if you like shopping, Shinsaibashi is probably the best place to go...it also has the Osakan offical Johnny store (the day I went there were no lines...even the Harajuku on had no line...lucky? idk)and the huge motorized crab (there is what my cousin calls the dating bridge where guys get all dressed up to pick up girls XD) ^_^

I can see how people think that Osaka is dirty, but really Tokyo is not so much better, my friends and I all seriouly think that Shibuya stinks...and now say "it smells like Shibuya", whenever we come across anything stinky...personally for me Yokohama (Sakuragicho) is the prettiest city...idk the day we went is was all sunny with blue skies that reflected the bay really well...this all being said, since this post was made a month ago you may have already gone...lol this just gives me a chance to rant about my love for Osaka I guess XD

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Osaka: A Positive Review

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