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Osaka
Osaka is Japan's third-largest city and the economic powerhouse of the Kansai region. It is a city that combines modernity and tradition, offering a variety of attractions and experiences for visitors of all ages and interests. Osaka is known as the food capital of Japan, where you can enjoy the local specialties such as takoyaki (octopus balls), okonomiyaki (savory pancakes), and kushikatsu (deep-fried skewers). You can also find a wide range of cuisines from around the world, as well as Michelin-starred restaurants and street food stalls. The best place to experience the lively and colorful food culture of Osaka is Dotonbori, a bustling entertainment district along the canal, where you can see the famous neon signs and giant mechanical crabs. Osaka is also a city of fun and nightlife, where you can find amusement parks, shopping malls, karaoke bars, and clubs. One of the most popular attractions is Universal Studios Japan, a theme park that features rides and shows based on Hollywood movies and characters. You can also visit the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, one of the largest and most impressive aquariums in the world, where you can see whale sharks, penguins, and other marine life. For a panoramic view of the city and the bay, you can take a ride on the Tempozan Ferris Wheel or the Umeda Sky Building.

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If Tokyo is Japan's capital, one might call Osaka its anti-capital. Whatever you call it, though, there are many opportunities for you to discover its true character.
Veiled much with a commercial-centric city touch, you may as well start from picking up the lively intonation of Osaka dialect, heard from the people as you ride on the escalators standing on the right, instead of the left in Tokyo; then discovering the contrast of popular food to eastern Japan, as you look for places to lunch. The deeper you get inside, and at the end of your stay, it is not completely impossible that you may have compiled your own original list of reasons covering from history, culture, sports, to business.

Osaka dates back to the Asuka and Nara periods. Under the name Naniwa (難波), it was briefly the capital of Japan 645-655, 661-667 and finally 744-745 AD. Even after the capital was moved elsewhere, Osaka continued to play an important role as a hub for land, sea and river-canal transportation. (See "808 Bridges" infobox.) During the Tokugawa era, while Edo (now Tokyo) served as the austere seat of military power and Kyoto was the home of the Imperial court and its courtiers, Osaka served as "the Nation's Kitchen" (「天下の台所」 tenka-no-daidokoro), the collection and distribution point for rice, the most important measure of wealth. Hence it was also the city where merchants made and lost fortunes and cheerfully ignored repeated warnings from the shogunate to reduce their conspicuous consumption.

During Meiji era, Osaka's fearless entrepreneurs took the lead in industrial development, making it the equivalent of [wiki=317532540adceb07d5e2ec62d5eacac2]Manchester[/wiki] in the U.K. A thorough drubbing in World War 2 left little evidence of this glorious past - even the castle is a ferroconcrete reconstruction - but to this day, while unappealing and gruff on the surface, Osaka remains Japan's best place to eat, drink and party, and in legend (if not in practice) Osakans still greet each other with mōkarimakka?, "are you making money?".

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