Osaka (大阪) is Japan's third-largest city and its loudest. Tokyo is buttoned-up, and Kyoto is refined. Osaka is blunt, funny and hungry. All over Japan it is famous for two things above all: its food, and a way of talking to strangers that other cities find surprisingly direct.
The kitchen of the nation
Osaka grew rich as a city of merchants. In the Edo period (1603–1868), when the shoguns ruled Japan, it was the country's rice market and trading centre. Traders here set rice prices for the whole country, and Osaka earned the nickname tenka no daidokoro, "the kitchen of the nation." That history still shows. The city's food is cheap and fast, and you can eat it standing up. Takoyaki are balls of batter with a piece of octopus inside. Okonomiyaki is a savoury pancake that cooks on a hot plate right in front of you. Osaka even has its own word for overdoing it, kuidaore, "eating yourself into ruin," and the city says it with pride.
A different manner
Osaka speaks its own dialect, Kansai-ben. To many ears it sounds softer and warmer than standard Japanese. Shopkeepers still greet regulars with mōkarimakka, "making any money?" Osaka is also the home of Japanese stand-up comedy. Manzai, a fast double act of a straight man and a fool, took shape here. Many of Japan's most famous comedians started out on Osaka stages. Visitors usually notice two things. People talk to them more, and the escalators work the other way around. In Osaka, everyone stands on the right instead of the left.
Words & idioms to take away
Idioms & proverbs to carry away
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食い倒れ (kuidaore): "eating yourself into ruin," Osaka's own boast about spending everything on good food.
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漫才 (manzai): a comedy act for two, one straight and one foolish. Osaka turned it into a national art form.