Osaka

I remembered Osaka as one of the dullest place I ever visited in Japan. Apart from the food, Osaka struck me as a bore and a sleazy area. However, it retained some quaintness and was a drastically different place from Tokyo. A stark contrast to the glamour and glitz of the capital city of Japan. I remembered seeing poronography being sold openly on the streets, dark dingy alleys and brusque Japanese.

I thought I was exclusive to this opinion, after all, most people would hold popular destinations like Osaka in esteem. But I came across this interesting paragraph while reading a book by this Japanese writer Junichiro Tanizaki, and this was written in the foreword

"Like all natives of Tokyo, he had always viewed Osaka with a mixture of amusement and contempt. The Osakan was a penny-grabbing bumpkin who had not learned the fine Japanese art of concealing his emotions; and the Osakan seemed insensitive to the exhilarating succession of foreign influences that was sweeping the country. He was cloddishly behind the times."

Ouch, that was harsh. But somehow I found it hilarious and slightly apt. However that statement was made in the the era of the 1920s and things may have improved since. Still, they are no where as sophiscated as Tokyoites. Hmm, interesting.