32 Facts About Osaka

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan.

Osaka continued to flourish during the Edo period and became known as a center of Japanese culture.

The construction boom accelerated population growth throughout the following decades, and by the 1900s, Osaka was the industrial hub in the Meiji and Taisho periods.

Osaka made noted contributions to redevelopment, urban planning and zoning standards in the postwar period, the city developed rapidly as one of the major financial center in the Keihanshin Metropolitan Area.

Osaka is a major financial center of Japan, and it is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in Japan.

Related searches

The large numbers of increasingly larger keyhole-shaped Kofun mounds found in the plains of Osaka are evidence of political-power concentration, leading to the formation of a state.

The city now known as Osaka was at this time referred to as Naniwa, and this name and derivations of it are still in use for districts in central Osaka such as Naniwa and Namba .

Osaka was long considered Japan's primary economic center, with a large percentage of the population belonging to the merchant class .

Merchants in Osaka thus began to organize storehouses where they would store a daimyos rice in exchange for a fee, trading it for either coin or a form of receipt; essentially a precursor to paper money.

Osaka merchants coalesced their shops around Dojima, where the Rice Exchange was established in 1697 and where the world's first futures market would come to exist to sell rice that was not yet harvested.

Osaka residents were stereotyped in Edo literature from at least the 18th century.

Osaka was the industrial center most clearly defined in the development of capitalism in Japan.

Osaka policymakers stressed the importance of family formation and mutual assistance as the best way to combat poverty.

Osaka Prefecture was chosen as the venue for the prestigious Expo '70, the first world's fair ever held in an Asian country.

Osaka then fell back on a project that included the suppression of the 24 wards of Osaka, thus dividing the city into 5 new special districts with a status similar to that of the 23 Special wards of Tokyo.

Osaka is located in the humid subtropical climate zone, with four distinct seasons.

Osaka's sprawling cityscape has been described as "only surpassed by Tokyo as a showcase of the Japanese urban phenomenon".

Central Osaka looking north from the Abeno Harukas observation deck .

Central Osaka is roughly divided into downtown and uptown areas known as Kita and Minami.

Osaka contains numerous urban canals and bridges, many of which serve as the namesake for their surrounding neighbourhoods.

Toru Hashimoto, the mayor of Osaka, announced a proposal to minimize the dependence on nuclear power for the shareholders meeting in June 2012.

Osaka is part of the metropolitan region called Keihanshin in the Kansai region.

Osaka-Kobe has a GDP of $681 billion, which is a bit more than Paris or Greater London.

Greater Osaka has an extensive network of railway lines, comparable to that of Greater Tokyo.

Osaka connects to its surrounding cities and suburbs via the JR West Urban Network as well as numerous private lines such as Keihan Electric Railway, Hankyu Railway, Hanshin Electric Railway, Kintetsu Railway, and Nankai Electric Railway.

Related searches

Osaka is served by two airports situated just outside of the city, Kansai International Airport which handles primarily international passenger flights and Osaka International Airport which handles mostly domestic services and some international cargo flights.

Osaka is known for its fine sake, which is made with fresh water from the prefecture's mountains.

In recent years, Osaka has started to garner more attention from foreigners with the increased popularity of cooking and dining in popular culture.

Osaka is the home of the 2011 created Japan Bandy Federation and the introduction of bandy, in the form of rink bandy, was made in the city.

Osaka serves as one of the media hubs for Japan, housing headquarters of many media-related companies.

Osaka is home to many publishing companies, including Examina, Izumi Shoin, Kaihou Shuppansha, Keihanshin Elmagazine, Seibundo Shuppan, Sougensha, and Toho Shuppan.

Osaka once had a large number of universities and high schools, but because of growing campuses and the need for larger area, many chose to move to the suburbs, including Osaka University.