is a

designated city A , also known as a or , is a Japanese city that has a population greater than 500,000 and has been designated as such by order of the Cabinet of Japan under Article 252, Section 19, of the Local Autonomy Law. Designated cities are delegat ...

in the

Kansai region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropoli ...

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island se ...

in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following

Special wards of Tokyo are a special form of municipalities in Japan under the 1947 Local Autonomy Law. They are city-level wards: primary subdivisions of a prefecture with municipal autonomy largely comparable to other forms of municipalities. Although the auton ...

and

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

. With a population of 2.7 million in the 2020 census, it is also the largest component of the Keihanshin Metropolitan Area, which is the second-largest metropolitan area in Japan and the 10th largest urban area in the world with more than 19 million inhabitants. Osaka was traditionally considered Japan's economic hub. By the Kofun period (300–538) it had developed into an important regional port, and in the 7th and 8th centuries, it served briefly as the imperial capital. Osaka continued to flourish during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

(1603–1867) and became known as a center of Japanese culture. Following the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, Osaka greatly expanded in size and underwent rapid industrialization. In 1889, Osaka was officially established as a municipality. The construction boom accelerated population growth throughout the following decades, and by the 1900s, Osaka was the industrial hub in the Meiji and Taishō 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 The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...

and

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

cities in Japan. The city is home to the Osaka Exchange as well as the headquarters of multinational

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

corporations such as

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...

and

Sharp Sharp or SHARP may refer to: Acronyms * SHARP (helmet ratings) (Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme), a British motorcycle helmet safety rating scheme * Self Help Addiction Recovery Program, a charitable organisation founded in 19 ...

. Osaka is an international center of research and development and is represented by several major universities, notably Osaka University,

Osaka Metropolitan University , abbreviated to OMU, is a Japanese public university that was established through the integration of Osaka City University (OCU) and Osaka Prefecture University (OPU) on 1 April 2022. OMU was inaugurated with 1 undergraduate college, 11 unde ...

, and

Kansai University , abbreviated as or , is a private non-sectarian and coeducational university with its main campus in Suita, Osaka, Japan and two sub-campuses in Sakai and Takatsuki, Osaka. Founded as Kansai Law School in 1886, It has been recognized as one o ...

. Famous landmarks in the city include

Osaka Castle is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and it played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Layout The main tower ...

Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan The is an aquarium located in the ward of Minato in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, near Osaka Bay. When it first opened, it was the largest public aquarium in the world. It is a member of the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The a ...

, Dōtonbori,

Tsūtenkaku , owned by , is a tower and well-known landmark of Osaka, Japan and advertises Hitachi. It is located in the Shinsekai district of Naniwa-ku, Osaka. Its total height is 103 m; the main observation deck is at a height of 91 m. History The c ...

Shinsekai is an old neighbourhood located next to south Osaka City's downtown "Minami" area. The neighbourhood was created in 1912 with New York (specifically, Coney Island) as a model for its southern half and Paris for its northern half. At this locatio ...

Tennōji Park The is a park with botanical garden at 1–108, Chausuyama-cho, Tennōji-ku, Osaka, Japan. Establishments * Tennoji Zoo *Osaka Municipal Museum of Art *Greenhouse *Keitakuen *Chausuyama Tomb Tenshiba Area Restaurants, cafes, vegetable and fru ...

Abeno Harukas is a multi-purpose commercial facility in Abenosuji Itchome, Abeno-ku, Osaka, Japan. It consists of the (main tenants: Osaka Abenobashi Station, Kintetsu Department Store Main Store Abeno Harukas Wing Building), (Miyako City Osaka Tennoji), a ...

, Sumiyoshi Taisha Grand Shrine, and

Shitennō-ji Shitennō-ji ( ja, 四天王寺, ''Temple of the Four Heavenly Kings'') is a Buddhist temple in Ōsaka, Japan. It is also known as Arahaka-ji, Nanba-ji, or Mitsu-ji. The temple is sometimes regarded as the first Buddhist and oldest officially-a ...

, one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Japan.

Etymology

''Ōsaka'' means "large hill" or "large slope". It is unclear when this name gained prominence over Naniwa, but the oldest written evidence for the name dates back to 1496. By the

, (''Ōsaka'') and (''Ōsaka'') were mixed use, and the writer , in his book ''Setsuyo Ochiboshu'' published in 1808, states that the

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

was abhorred because it "returns to the earth," and then was used. The kanji (earth) is also similar to the word (knight), and means against, so can be understand as "samurai rebellion," then was official name in 1868 after the

. The older kanji (坂) is still in very limited use, usually only in historical contexts. As an abbreviation, the modern kanji refers to Osaka City or Osaka Prefecture.

History

Origins: Jōmon and Yayoi period

In the Jōmon period (7,000 BCE), Osaka was mostly submerged by the Seto Inland Sea, and the small Uemachi-daichi plateau (12 km long and 2.5 km wide), located in the southern part of the city called Uehonmachi, was a peninsula. The Uehonmachi area consisted of a peninsula with an inland sea ( Seto Inland Sea) in the east. It is considered one of the first places where inhabitants of Japan settled, both for the favorable geological conditions, rich in fresh water and lush vegetation, and because it was in a position difficult to attack from a military point of view. The earliest evidence of settlements in the Osaka area are the which is located in the central Chuo-ku district. Buried human skeletons and a kaizuka (a mound containing remains), were found as well as shell mounds, oysters, and other interesting archaeological discoveries from the Jomon period. In addition to the remains of consumed food, there were arrow heads, stone tools, fishing hooks and crockery with remains from rice processing. It is estimated that the ruins contain 2,000-year-old debris between the Jomon and

Yayoi period The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon ...

. The findings of the archeological sites are exhibited in an adjacent building. In the years between the end of the Jōmon period and the beginning of the Yayoi period, the sediments that were deposited north of the Uemachi-daichi peninsula / plateau transformed the sea that stretched to the east into a lagoon which was called Kawachi. During the

(300 BCE-250 CE), permanent habitation on the plains grew as rice farming became popular. Navigate to the equivalent Japanese page ( istory of Osaka, A timetrip back 20,000 years

for additional information. At the beginning of the third century CE the grand shrine of Sumiyoshi-taisha was inaugurated near the harbor, commissioned by consort

Empress Jingū was a legendary Japanese empress who ruled as a regent following her husband's death in 200 AD. Both the ''Kojiki'' and the ''Nihon Shoki'' (collectively known as the ''Kiki'') record events that took place during Jingū's alleged lifetime. Leg ...

. This

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

shrine structure survived historical events, which inaugurated a new style in the construction of Shinto shrines, called

Sumiyoshi-zukuri is an ancient Japanese Shinto shrine architectural style which takes its name from Sumiyoshi Taisha's ''honden'' in Ōsaka. As in the case of the '' taisha-zukuri'' and '' shinmei-zukuri'' styles, its birth predates the arrival of Buddhism in Jap ...

. The maritime panorama enjoyed from the shrine gardens inspired several artists, and nowadays the representations of that type of landscape are called ''Sumiyoshi drawings''. Towards the end of the Yayoi period the Uemachi-daichi plateau-peninsula expanded further, transforming the Kawachi Lagoon (河内湖) into a lake connected to the mouth of the

Yodo River The , also called the Seta River (瀬田川 ''Seta-gawa'') and the Uji River (宇治川 ''Uji-gawa'') at portions of its route, is the principal river in Osaka Prefecture on Honshu, Japan. The source of the river is Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefectur ...

, which had widened to the south.

Kofun period

By the Kofun period, Osaka developed into a hub port connecting the region to the western part of Japan. The port of Naniwa-tsu was established and became the most important in Japan. Trade with other areas of the country and the Asian continent intensified. 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 findings in the neighboring plains, including the mausoleum of Emperor Nintoku was discovered nearby in

Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and inclu ...

testify to the status of imperial city that Osaka had reached. Four of these mounds can be seen in Osaka, in which important members of the nobility are buried. They are located in the southern districts of the city and date back to the 5th century. A group of megalithic tombs called

Mozu Tombs The are a group of ''kofun'' ()—megalithic tombs—in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Originally consisting of more than 100 tombs, only less than 50% of the key-hole, round, and rectangular tombs remain. The , the largest ''kofun'' in Japan ...

are located in

, Osaka Prefecture. Important works of the Kofun period is the excavation that diverted the course of the

Yamato River The is a river which flows through Nara Prefecture and Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is designated Class A by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). The river flows via towns: *Nara Prefecture ** Yamatokōriyama *Os ...

, whose floods caused extensive damage, and the construction of important roads in the direction of

and

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

. Maritime traffic connected to the port of Naniwa-tsu increased in such a way that huge warehouses were built to stow material arriving and departing. File:Corbicula_sandai_-_Osaka_Museum_of_Natural_History_-_DSC07755.JPG, Ancient shells found in the Morinomiya kaizuka (Jomon period)

Asuka and Nara period

The Kojiki records that during 390–430 AD, there was an imperial palace located at Osumi, in what is present day Higashiyodogawa ward, but it may have been a secondary imperial residence rather than a capital. In 645,

Emperor Kōtoku was the 36th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 孝徳天皇 (33)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. The years of his reign lasted from 645 through 654. Traditional narrative Before Kōtoku's ascen ...

built his

Naniwa Nagara-Toyosaki Palace , is a historical palace which was located in present-day central Osaka city, Japan. The palace of this period is also sometimes referred to as the , to contrast it with the (Latter) Naniwa Palace built in the same location in 744 AD. Constructi ...

in what is now Osaka, making it the capital of Japan. 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 ().This name was historically written as or , with the same pronunciation, though these renderings are uncommon today. Although the capital was moved to

Asuka Asuka may refer to: People * Asuka (name), a list of people * Asuka (wrestler), professional wrestler * Asuka (wrestler, born 1998), professional wrestler also known as Veny outside of Japan Places In Japan * , an area in Yamato Province (now ...

(in

Nara Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayam ...

today) in 655, Naniwa remained a vital connection, by land and sea, between Yamato (modern day

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, and China. Naniwa was declared the capital again in 744 by order of

Emperor Shōmu was the 45th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 聖武天皇 (45)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Shōmu's reign spanned the years 724 through 749, during the Nara period. Traditional narrative ...

, and remained so until 745, when the Imperial Court moved back to Heijō-kyō (now

). By the end of the Nara period, Naniwa's seaport roles had been gradually taken over by neighboring areas, but it remained a lively center of river, channel, and land transportation between Heian-kyō (Kyoto today) and other destinations.

Sumiyoshi Taisha , also known as Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine, is a Shinto shrine in Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is the main shrine of all the Sumiyoshi shrines in Japan. However, the oldest shrine that enshrines the Sumiyoshi sanjin, the thr ...

Grand Shrine was founded by Tamomi no Sukune in 211 CE.

was first built in 593 CE and the oldest

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

temple in Japan. File:Sumiyoshi-taisha,_keidai-2.jpg,

Grand Shrine File:Shitennoji07s3200.jpg,

File:Naniwa-no-miya-ato,_zenkei-2.jpg, Remains of Naniwa-no-Miya Palace (2017)

Heian to Edo period

In 1496, Jōdo Shinshū Buddhists established their headquarters in the heavily fortified

Ishiyama Hongan-ji The was the primary fortress of the Ikkō-ikki, leagues of warrior priests and commoners who opposed samurai rule during the Sengoku period. It was established in 1496, at the mouth of the Yodo River, on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea. At the t ...

, located directly on the site of the old Naniwa Imperial Palace. Oda Nobunaga began a decade-long siege campaign on the temple in 1570 which ultimately resulted in the surrender of the monks and subsequent razing of the temple.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

constructed

in its place in 1583. Osaka Castle played a pivotal role in the

Siege of Osaka The was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in that clan's destruction. Divided into two stages (winter campaign and summer campaign), and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege ...

(1614–1615). Osaka was long considered Japan's primary economic center, with a large percentage of the population belonging to the merchant class (see

Four divisions of society The four occupations () or "four categories of the people" ()Hansson, pp. 20-21Brook, 72. was an occupation classification used in ancient China by either Confucian or Legalist scholars as far back as the late Zhou dynasty and is considered a ...

). Over the course of the

(1603–1867), Osaka grew into one of Japan's major cities and returned to its ancient role as a lively and important port. ''

Daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

s'' (feudal lords) received most of their income in the form of

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

Merchants A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as industry ...

in Osaka thus began to organize storehouses where they would store a ''daimyō''s rice in exchange for a fee, trading it for either coin or a form of receipt; essentially a precursor to

paper money A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued ...

. Many if not all of these

rice brokers Rice brokers, which rose to power and significance in Osaka and Edo in the Edo period (1603-1867) of Japanese history, were the forerunners to Japan's banking system. The concept actually originally arose in Kyoto several hundred years earlier; ...

also made loans, and would actually become quite wealthy and powerful. Osaka merchants coalesced their shops around Dōjima, where the Rice Exchange was established in 1697 and where the world's first

futures Futures may mean: Finance *Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract *Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded * ''Futures'' (magazine), an American finance magazine Music * ''Futures'' (album), a ...

market would come to exist to sell rice that was not yet harvested. The popular culture of Osaka was closely related to ''

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk t ...

'' depictions of life in Edo. By 1780, Osaka had cultivated a vibrant arts culture, as typified by its famous

Kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance- drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is though ...

and

Bunraku (also known as ) is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in the beginning of the 17th century, which is still performed in the modern day. Three kinds of performers take part in a performance: the or (puppeteers ...

theaters.C. Andrew Gerstle, ''Kabuki Heroes on the Osaka Stage 1780–1830'' (2005) In 1837,

Ōshio Heihachirō was a Japanese philosopher, revolutionary, writer, and Yoriki of the in Osaka. Despite working for the government, he was openly against the Tokugawa regime. He is known for his role as leader in the rebellion against the Tokugawa shogunate. ...

, a low-ranking

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

, led a peasant insurrection in response to the city's unwillingness to support the many poor and suffering families in the area. Approximately one-quarter of the city was razed before shogunal officials put down the rebellion, after which Ōshio killed himself. Osaka was opened to foreign trade by the government of the

Bakufu , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...

at the same time as Hyogo Town (modern Kobe) on January 1, 1868, just before the advent of the Boshin War and the

. The

Kawaguchi foreign settlement The Kawaguchi foreign settlement, or known as the Old Kawaguchi settlement (Japanese: 旧川口居留地), was a foreign settlement located in north Kawaguchi, straddling in western present-day Nishi-ku, Osaka as well. It was also called the forme ...

, now the Kawaguchi subdistrict, is a legacy of the foreign presence in Osaka. Osaka residents were stereotyped in Edo literature from at least the 18th century.

Jippensha Ikku was the pen name of Shigeta Sadakazu (重田貞一), a Japanese writer active during the late Edo period of Japan. He was among the most prolific writers of the late Edo period — between 1795 and 1801 he wrote a minimum of twenty novels ...

in 1802 depicted Osakans as stingy almost beyond belief. In 1809, the derogatory term "Kamigata zeeroku" was used by Edo residents to characterize inhabitants of the Osaka region in terms of calculation, shrewdness, lack of civic spirit, and the vulgarity of Osaka dialect. Edo writers aspired to samurai culture, and saw themselves as poor but generous, chaste, and public spirited. Edo writers by contrast saw "zeeroku" as obsequious apprentices, stingy, greedy, gluttonous, and lewd. To some degree, Osaka residents are still stigmatized by Tokyo observers in the same way today, especially in terms of gluttony, evidenced in the phrase, .Richard Torrance, "Literacy and Literature in Osaka, 1890–1940," ''The Journal of Japanese Studies'' 31#1 (Winter 2005), pp. 27–60 File:Osaka Castle 02bs3200.jpg,

(first built in 1583) File:Osaka-zu byobu.jpg, The Sumiyoshi-matsuri in the 16th century File:The Siege of Osaka Castle.jpg, Japanese painting of the

(1615) File:Newly compiled and enlarged plan of Ōsaka (14042582876).jpg, Map of Osaka, 1686 File:Dojima-Rice-Exchange-Osaka-by-Yoshimitsu-Sasaki.png, Dōjima Rice Exchange ukiyo-e by Yoshimitsu Sasaki

Meiji to Heisei period

With the enormous changes that characterized the country after the

(1868), and the relocation of the capital from

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Osaka entered a period of decline. From being the capital of the economy and finance, it became a predominantly industrial center. The modern municipality was established in 1889 by government ordinance, with an initial area of , overlapping today's Chuo and Nishi wards. Later, the city went through three major expansions to reach its current size of . Osaka was the industrial center most clearly defined in the development of capitalism in Japan. It became known as the "

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

of the Orient". In 1925, it was the largest and most populated cities in Japan and sixth in the world. The rapid industrialization attracted many Asian immigrants (Indians, Chinese, and Koreans), who set up a life apart for themselves.Chisato Hotta, "The Construction of the Korean Community in Osaka between 1920 and 1945: A Cross-Cultural Perspective." PhD dissertation U. of Chicago 2005. 498 pp. DAI 2005 65(12): 4680-A. DA3158708 Fulltext:

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

Dissertations & Theses The political system was pluralistic, with a strong emphasis on promoting industrialization and modernization.Blair A. Ruble, ''Second Metropolis: Pragmatic Pluralism in Gilded Age Chicago, Silver Age Moscow, and Meiji Osaka.'' (2001) Literacy was high and the educational system expanded rapidly, producing a middle class with a taste for literature and a willingness to support the arts.Richard Torrance, "Literacy and Literature in Osaka, 1890–1940," ''Journal of Japanese Studies'' 31#1 (Winter 2005), p.27-60 in

Project MUSE Project MUSE, a non-profit collaboration between libraries and publishers, is an online database of peer-reviewed academic journals and electronic books. Project MUSE contains digital humanities and social science content from over 250 univers ...

In 1927, General Motors operated a factory called Osaka Assembly until 1941, manufacturing Chevrolet, Cadillac,

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it pro ...

, and Buick vehicles, operated and staffed by Japanese workers and managers. In the nearby city of

Ikeda Ikeda may refer to: * Ikeda (surname), a Japanese surname * Ikeda (comics), a character in ''Usagi Yojimbo'' * Ikeda clan, a Japanese clan * Ikeda map, chaotic attractor * ''Ikeda'' (annelid) a genus of the family Ikedidae Places * Ikeda, Osaka i ...

in Osaka Prefecture is the headquarters of

Daihatsu , commonly known as Daihatsu, is a Japanese automobile manufacturer and one of the oldest surviving Japanese internal combustion engine manufacturers. The company's headquarters are located in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture. Historically, Daihatsu was ...

, one of Japan's oldest automobile manufacturers. Like its European and American counterparts, Osaka displayed slums, unemployment, and poverty. In Japan it was here that municipal government first introduced a comprehensive system of poverty relief, copied in part from British models. Osaka policymakers stressed the importance of family formation and mutual assistance as the best way to combat poverty. This minimized the cost of welfare programs.Kingo Tamai, "Images of the Poor in an Official Survey of Osaka, 1923–1926." ''Continuity and Change'' 2000 15(1): 99–116. Fulltext: Cambridge UP During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Osaka came under air raids in 1945 by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

as part of the

air raids on Japan Air raids conducted by Allied forces on Japan during World War II caused extensive destruction to the country's cities and killed between 241,000 and 900,000 people. During the first years of the Pacific War these attacks were limited to the ...

. On March 13, 1945, a total of 329 Boeing B-29 Superfortress

heavy bombers Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs) and longest range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the larges ...

took part in the raid against Osaka. According to an American

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

who was held in the city, the air raid took almost the entire night and destroyed of the city. The U.S. bombed the city again twice in June 1945 and again on August 14, a day before

Japan's surrender The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ( ...

. In the decades after World War II, the reconstruction plan and the industriousness of its inhabitants ensured Osaka even greater prosperity than it was before the war. Osaka's population regrew to more than three million in the 1960s when large-scale prefectural suburbanization began and doubled to two million by the 1990s. The factories were rebuilt and trade revived, the city were developed rapidly it became a major multicultural and financial center in the postwar period between the 1950s and the 1980s, it is known as the "

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

of the Orient". Osaka Prefecture was chosen as the venue for the prestigious

Expo '70 The or Expo 70 was a world's fair held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan between March 15 and September 13, 1970. Its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." In Japanese, Expo '70 is often referred to as . It was the first world's fair ...

, the first

world's fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

ever held in an Asian country. Since then, numerous international events have been held in Osaka, including the 1995 APEC Summit. The modern municipality, which when it was established in 1889 occupied an area of just 15 km² including the districts of Chūō and Nishi, following three successive expansions has reached an area of 222 km². It was one of the first cities in Japan to obtain

status in 1956.

21st century to present

The plan to reorganize Osaka and its province into a metropolis like Tokyo met with stiff opposition in some municipalities, particularly the highly populated

. He 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

. It was introduced by former mayor

Tōru Hashimoto is a Japanese TV personality, politician and lawyer. He was the mayor of Osaka city and is a member of Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Osaka Restoration Association. He is one of Japan's leading right-wing conservative-populist politicians. Early ...

, leader of the reform party

Osaka Restoration Association The , also referred to as One Osaka, is a regional political party in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Founded in 2010 by then-Governor Tōru Hashimoto, its main platform is pursuing the Osaka Metropolis plan of merging the prefecture and some of its ci ...

which he founded. The referendum of May 17, 2015 called in Osaka for the approval of this project saw the narrow victory of no, and consequently Hashimoto announced his withdrawal from politics. A second referendum for a merger into 4 semi-autonomous wards was narrowly voted down by 692,996 (50.6%). According to the

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

list of ''The World's Most Expensive Places To Live 2009'', Osaka was the second most expensive in the world after

. By 2020 it slipped to 5th rank of most expensive cities. On March 7, 2014, the 300-meter tall

opened, which is the tallest skyscraper in Japan. File:Osaka_Umeda_Sky_Building_Panoramablick_05.jpg, Skyscrapers in

Umeda is a major commercial, business, shopping and entertainment district in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan, and the city's main northern railway terminus (Ōsaka Station, Umeda Station). The district's name means "plum field". History Umeda was historica ...

district File:Sennichimae Osaka ca1916.JPG, Sennichimae area in 1916 File:Osaka after the 1945 air raid.JPG, View of Osaka after the bombing in 1945 File:Abeno_Harukas_20140507-002.jpg,

, tallest building in Japan

Geography and climate

Geography

The city's west side is open to

Osaka Bay Osaka Bay (大阪湾 ''Ōsaka-wan'' ) is a bay in western Japan. As an eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea, it is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Kii Channel and from the neighbor western part of the Inland Sea by the Akashi Strait. ...

, and is otherwise completely surrounded by more than ten satellite cities, all of them in Osaka Prefecture, with one exception: the city of

Amagasaki 270px, Amagasaki Castle 270px, Aerial view of Amagasaki city center 270px, Amagasaki Station is an industrial city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 455,555 in 223812 households, and a population de ...

, belonging to Hyōgo Prefecture, in the northwest. The city occupies a larger area (about 13%) than any other city or village within Osaka Prefecture. When the city was established in 1889, it occupied roughly the area known today as the Chuo and Nishi wards, only that would eventually grow into today's via incremental expansions, the largest of which being a single expansion in 1925. Osaka's highest point is Tokyo Peil in Tsurumi-ku, and the lowest point is in

Nishiyodogawa-ku is one of 24 wards of Osaka, Japan. Education It has a North Korean school, Osaka Fukushima Korean Elementary School ( 大阪福島朝鮮初級学校). Economy Nishoyodogawa has the headquarters of Ezaki Glico and Daifuku.http://www.city.osaka.jp/keikakuchousei/toukei/G000/Gyh19/Gb00/Gb00.html Osaka has a

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

of 34.67 (near the 35th parallel north), which makes it more southern than

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

(41.90),

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

(40.41),

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

(37.77) and

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

(37.53).

Climate

Osaka is located in the humid subtropical climate zone (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Cfa''), with four distinct seasons. Its winters are generally mild, with January being the coldest month having an average high of . The city rarely sees snowfall during the winter. Spring in Osaka starts off mild, but ends up being hot and humid. It also tends to be Osaka's wettest season, with the —the rainy season—occurring between early June and late July. The average starting and ending dates of the rainy season are June 7 and July 21 respectively. Summers are very hot and humid. In August, the hottest month, the average daily high temperature reaches , while average nighttime low temperatures typically hover around . Fall in Osaka sees a cooling trend, with the early part of the season resembling summer while the latter part of fall resembles winter. Precipitation is abundant, with winter being the driest season, while monthly rainfall peaks in June with the "tsuyu" rainy season, which typically ends in mid to late July. From late July through the end of August, summer's heat and humidity peaks, and rainfall decreases somewhat. Osaka experiences a second rainy period in September and early October, when tropical weather systems, including typhoons, coming from the south or southwest are possible.

Cityscape

Osaka's sprawling cityscape has been described as "only surpassed by Tokyo as a showcase of the Japanese urban phenomenon". File:Central Osaka.jpg, Central Osaka looking north from the Abeno Harukas observation deck (2014) File:Ufoto-wiki-01 Osaka-Skyline May2014.jpg, Osaka skyline towards Umeda (2014)

Neighborhoods

Central Osaka is roughly divided into downtown and uptown areas known as and . Kita is home to the

district and its immediate surrounding neighborhoods, a major business and retail hub that plays host to Osaka Station City and a large subterranean network of shopping arcades. Kita and nearby

Nakanoshima is a 3 km long and 50 hectares narrow sandbank in Kita-ku, Osaka city, Japan, that divides the Kyū-Yodo into the Tosabori and Dōjima rivers. Many governmental and commercial offices (including the city hall of Osaka), museums and other ...

contain a prominent portion of the city's skyscrapers and are often featured in photographs of Osaka's skyline. Minami, though meaning "south", is essentially in and geographically central within the city. Well known districts here include Namba and

Shinsaibashi is a district in the Chūō-ku ward of Osaka, Japan and the city's main shopping area. At its center is , a covered shopping street, that is north of Dōtonbori and Sōemonchō, and parallel and east of Mido-suji street. Associated with Shin ...

shopping areas, the Dōtonbori canal entertainment area,

Nipponbashi is a shopping district of Naniwa Ward, Osaka, Japan. The area is centered along Sakaisuji Avenue, extending from the Ebisu-chō Interchange of the Hanshin Expressway in the south, to Nansan-dōri (just east of Nankai Namba Station) in the n ...

Den Den Town, as well as arts and fashion culture-oriented areas such as

Amerikamura Amerikamura (also America mura; アメリカ村, ''American Village'') is a sizable retail and entertainment area near Shinsaibashi in the Chūō-ku district of Osaka, Japan. It is usually referred to by locals as "Ame-mura". Amerikamura is a ...

and Horie. The 300-meter tall

is the tallest skyscraper in the country since 2014. The business districts between Kita and Minami such as Honmachi and Yodoyabashi, called , house the regional headquarters of many large-scale banks and corporations. The

Midōsuji Avenue is the primary main street in central Osaka, Japan. It runs north-south, passing Umeda, Nakanoshima, Shinsaibashi, Dōtonbori, Ame-mura, and Namba districts. Underneath the street is the Midōsuji Line subway. Especially in autumn whe ...

boulevard runs through Semba and connects Kita and Minami. Further south of Minami are neighborhoods such as

(with its

tower), Tennoji and Abeno (with Tennoji Zoo,

and

), and the

Kamagasaki is an old place name for a part of Nishinari-ku in Osaka, Japan. became the area's official name in May 1966. Geography Sections of four different towns — , , , and — are collectively known as Kamagasaki. Image:Airin-District_Os ...

slums, the largest slum in Japan. The city's west side is a prominent bay area which serves as its main port as well as a tourist destination with attractions such as

Kyocera Dome The (official name: ) is a baseball stadium located in Osaka, Osaka, Japan. Opened in 1997, the stadium was the home field of the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. In 2005, the stadium became one of the homes of the Orix Buffaloes, a result of the mer ...

Universal Studios Japan is a theme park located in Osaka, Japan. Opened on March 31, 2001, it is one of six Universal Studios theme parks worldwide and was the first to open outside the United States. The park is owned and operated by a wholly owned subsidiary of NB ...

and the Tempozan Harbour Village. Higashiosaka is zoned as a separate city, although the east side of Osaka city proper contains numerous residential neighborhoods including Tsuruhashi KoreaTown, as well as the

Osaka Castle Park is a public urban park and historical site situated at Osaka-Jō in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. It lies on the south of the Ōkawa (Kyū-Yodo River) and occupies a large area in the center of the city of Osaka. This park is the second largest ...

Osaka Business Park refers to a planned city surrounding Chūō-ku, Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following ...

and the hub Kyōbashi Station. Osaka contains numerous urban canals and bridges, many of which serve as the namesake for their surrounding neighbourhoods. The phrase "808 bridges of Naniwa" was an expression in old Japan used to indicate impressiveness and the "uncountable". Osaka numbered roughly 200 bridges by the Edo period and 1,629 bridges by 1925. As many of the city's canals were gradually filled in, the number dropped to 872, of which 760 are currently managed by Osaka City. File:Nakanoshima, Osaka in 201504.JPG,

, a boundary of Kita (right) and Semba (left) File:Aerial photo of Umeda 14-Aug-2019.jpg,

district (2019) File:Osaka Dotonbori Ebisu Bridge.jpg, Dōtonbori bridge File:Namba 20150531.JPG, Namba (2015)

List of wards

There are currently 24 wards in Osaka.

Demographics

Population numbers have been recorded in Osaka since as early as 1873, in the early Meiji era. According to the census in 2005, there were 2,628,811 residents in Osaka, an increase of 30,037 or 1.2% from 2000. There were 1,280,325 households with approximately 2.1 persons per household. The population density was 11,836 persons per km². The Great Kantō earthquake caused a mass migration to Osaka between 1920 and 1930, and the city became Japan's largest city in 1930 with 2,453,573 people, outnumbering even Tokyo, which had a population of 2,070,913. The population peaked at 3,252,340 in 1940, and had a post-war peak of 3,156,222 in 1965, but continued to declined since, as the residents moved out to the suburbs. There were 144,123 registered foreigners, the two largest groups being Korean (60,110) and Chinese (39,551) 2021 years. Ikuno, with its Tsuruhashi district, is the home to one of the largest population of Korean residents in Japan, with 20,397 registered

Zainichi Koreans comprise ethnic Koreans who have permanent residency status in Japan or who have become Japanese citizens, and whose immigration to Japan originated before 1945, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South ...

Dialect

The commonly spoken dialect of this area is ''Osaka-ben'', a typical sub-dialect of ''Kansai-ben''. Of the many other particularities that characterize Osaka-ben, examples include using the copula ''ya'' instead of ''da'', and the suffix ''-hen'' instead of ''-nai'' in negative verb forms.

Government

The

Osaka City Council The is the legislature of Osaka City. It is responsible for the "enactment, amendment and repeal of ordinances, budgetary decisions, approval of account settlements, matters of financial importances including acquisition and disposal of city a ...

is the city's local government formed under the

Local Autonomy Law The , passed by the House of Representatives and the House of Peers on March 28, 1947 and promulgated as Law No. 67 of 1947 on April 17,Ministry of Justice, Japanese Law Translation Database SystemLocal Autonomy Act/ref> is an Act of devolution t ...

. The council has eighty-nine seats, allocated to the twenty-four wards proportional to their population and re-elected by the citizens every four years. The council elects its president and Vice President. Toshifumi Tagaya ( LDP) is the current and 104th president since May 2008. The mayor of the city is directly elected by the citizens every four years as well, in accordance with the Local Autonomy Law.

, former governor of Osaka Prefecture is the 19th mayor of Osaka since 2011. The mayor is supported by two vice mayors, currently Akira Morishita and Takashi Kashiwagi, who are appointed by him in accordance with the city bylaw. Osaka also houses several agencies of the Japanese government. Below is a list of governmental offices housed in Osaka. *

Japan Coast Guard The is the coast guard of Japan. The Japan Coast Guard consists of about 13,700 personnel and is responsible for the protection of the coastline of Japan under the oversight of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Th ...

, Fifth Regional Headquarters *Japan Fair Trade Commission; Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku Office * Kinki Regional Finance Bureau * Kinki Regional Economy, Trade and Industry Bureau * Kinki Regional Transportation Bureau * Kinki Communications Bureau * Kinki Regional Development Bureau * Kinki Regional Police Bureau * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Osaka Office * Osaka Customs * Osaka District Court * Osaka Family Court * Osaka High Court * Osaka Immigration * Osaka Labour Bureau * Osaka Meteorological Observatory * Osaka Public Prosecutors Office * Osaka Regional Aerospace Bureau * Osaka Regional Law Bureau * Osaka Regional Taxation Bureau * Osaka Summary Court

Developments

In July 2012, a joint multi-party bill was submitted to the Diet that would allow for implementation of the Osaka Metropolis plan as pursued by the mayor of Osaka city, the governor of Osaka and their party. If implemented, Osaka City, neighboring

City and possibly other surrounding municipalities would dissolve and be reorganized as four

special wards are a special form of municipalities in Japan under the 1947 Local Autonomy Law. They are city-level wards: primary subdivisions of a prefecture with municipal autonomy largely comparable to other forms of municipalities. Although the autono ...

of Osaka prefecture – similar to former

Tokyo City was a municipality in Japan and part of Tokyo-fu which existed from 1 May 1889 until its merger with its prefecture on 1 July 1943. The historical boundaries of Tokyo City are now occupied by the Special Wards of Tokyo. The new merged gove ...

's successor wards within Tokyo prefecture. Special wards are municipal-level administrative units that leave some otherwise municipal administrative responsibilities and

revenues In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive revenu ...

to the prefectural administration.

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched b ...

, July 31, 2012
Bill to transform Osaka government jointly submitted to Diet
/ref> In October 2018, the city of Osaka officially ended its sister city relationship with

in the United States after the latter permitted a monument memorializing "comfort women" to remain on a city-owned property, circulating in the process a 10-page, 3,800-word letter in English addressed to San Francisco mayor London Breed. On November 1, 2020, a second referendum to merge Osaka's 24 wards into 4 semi-autonomous wards was narrowly voted down. There were 692,996 (50.6%) votes against and 675,829 (49.4%) votes supported it. Osaka mayor and Osaka Ishin co-leader Ichiro Matsui said he would resign when his term ends in 2023.

Energy policies

Nuclear power

On February 27, 2012, three Kansai cities,

, Osaka, and Kobe, jointly asked

Kansai Electric Power Company , also known as , is an electric utility with its operational area of Kansai region, Japan (including the Keihanshin megalopolis). The Kansai region is Japan's second-largest industrial area, and in normal times, its most nuclear-reliant. B ...

to break its dependence on nuclear power. In a letter to KEPCO they also requested to disclose information on the demand and supply of electricity, and for lower and stable prices. The three cities were stockholders of the plant: Osaka owned 9% of the shares, while Kobe had 3% and Kyoto 0.45%. Toru Hashimoto, the mayor of Osaka, announced a proposal to minimize the dependence on nuclear power for the shareholders meeting in June 2012.The Mainichi Shimbun (February 27, 201
3 major Kansai cities aim to break dependence on nuclear power
On March 18, 2012, the city of Osaka decided as largest shareholder of Kansai Electric Power Co, that at the next shareholders-meeting in June 2012 it would demand a series of changes: * that Kansai Electric would be split into two companies, separating power generation from power transmission. * a reduction of the number of the utility's executives and employees. * the implementation of absolutely secure measurements to ensuring the safety of the nuclear facilities. * the disposing of spent fuel. * the installation of new kind of thermal power generation to secure non-nuclear supply of energy. * selling all unnecessary assets including the stock holdings of KEPCO. In this action, Osaka had secured the support of two other cities and shareholders:

and Kobe, but with their combined voting-rights of 12.5 percent they were not certain of the ultimate outcome, because for this two-thirds of the shareholders would be needed to agree to revise the corporate charter.The Mainichi Shimbun (March 19, 2012
Osaka aims to end Kansai Electric's nuclear power ops as shareholder
At a meeting held on April 10, 2012, by the "energy strategy council", formed by the city of Osaka and the governments of the prefectures, it became clear that at the end of the fiscal year 2011 some 69 employees of Kansai Electric Power Company were former public servants. "

Amakudari In politics, a revolving door is a situation in which personnel move between roles as legislators and regulators, on one hand, and members of the industries affected by the legislation and regulation, on the other, analogous to the movement of pe ...

" was the Japanese name for this practice of rewarding by hiring officials that formerly controlled and supervised the firm. Such people included the following: * 13 ex-officials of the: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism * 3 ex-officials of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, * 2 ex-officials of the Ministry of the Environment, * 16 former policemen, * 10 former fire-fighters, * 13 former civil engineers. Besides this, it became known that Kansai Electric had done about 600 external financial donations, to a total sum of about 1.695 billion yen: * 70 donations were paid to local governments: to a total of 699 million yen * 100 donations to public-service organizations: 443 million yen, * 430 donations to various organizations and foundations: a total of 553 million yen During this meeting some 8 conditions were compiled, that needed to be fulfilled before a restart of the No.3 and No.4 reactors Oi Nuclear Power Plant: * the consent of the local people and government within 100 kilometer from the plant * the installation of a new independent regulatory agency * a nuclear safety agreement * the establishment of new nuclear safety standards * stress tests and evaluations based on these new safety rulesThe Mainichi Shimbun (April 10, 2012
Kansai Electric, affiliates had 69 ex-bureaucrats employed as execs as of end of fiscal 2011

Economy

The gross city product of Osaka in fiscal year 2004 was ¥21.3 trillion, an increase of 1.2% over the previous year. The figure accounts for about 55% of the total output in the Osaka Prefecture and 26.5% in the Kinki region. In 2004, commerce, services, and manufacturing have been the three major industries, accounting for 30%, 26%, and 11% of the total, respectively. The per capita income in the city was about ¥3.3 million, 10% higher than that of the Osaka Prefecture. MasterCard Worldwide reported that Osaka ranks 19th among the world's leading cities and plays an important role in the global economy. Osaka's GDP per capita (Nominal) was $59,958.($1=\120.13) However, by 2020, Osaka ranked as the 5th most expensive city due to flatlining consumer prices and government subsidies of public transportation. Osaka-Securities-Exchange-01

Historically, Osaka was the center of commerce in Japan, especially in the middle and pre-modern ages. Nomura Securities, the first brokerage firm in Japan, was founded in the city in 1925, and Osaka still houses a leading futures exchange. Many major companies have since moved their main offices to Tokyo. However, several major companies, such as

, and

Sanyo , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiaries and affiliates, and was founded by ...

, are still headquartered in Osaka. Recently, the city began a program, headed by mayor Junichi Seki, to attract domestic and foreign investment. In the 2017

Global Financial Centres Index The Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) is a ranking of the competitiveness of financial centres based on over 29,000 financial centre assessments from an online questionnaire together with over 100 indices from organisations such as the World ...

, Osaka was ranked as having the 15th most competitive financial center in the world and fifth most competitive in Asia (after

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

). The

Osaka Securities Exchange , renamed from , is the largest derivatives exchange in Japan, in terms of amount of business handled. , the Osaka Securities Exchange had 477 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of $212 billion. The Nikkei 225 Futures, intr ...

, specializing in derivatives such as

Nikkei 225 The Nikkei 225, or , more commonly called the ''Nikkei'' or the ''Nikkei index'' (), is a stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). It has been calculated daily by the '' Nihon Keizai Shimbun'' (''The Nikkei'') newspaper since 1950 ...

futures, is based in Osaka. The merger with

JASDAQ , formerly the is one of the sections of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It was formerly an independent stock exchange. JASDAQ is not related to NASDAQ in the United States, but has operated an electronic trading system similar to NASDAQ. History In 1 ...

will help the Osaka Securities Exchange become the largest exchange in Japan for start-up companies. According to global consulting firm Mercer, Osaka was the second most expensive city for expatriate employees in the world in 2009. It jumped up nine places from 11th place in 2008 and was the eighth most expensive city in 2007. However, it was not ranked in the top ten places of the list in 2013. The

Economist Intelligence Unit The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, providing forecasting and advisory services through research and analysis, such as monthly country reports, five-year country economic forecasts, ...

(EIU) ranked Osaka as the second most expensive city in the world in its 2013 Cost of Living study.

Keihanshin

Osaka is part of the

metropolitan region A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

called Keihanshin (aka Greater Osaka) in the

. The Keihanshin region includes the prefectures of

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, Hyōgo ( Kobe),

Shiga is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the nort ...

Wakayama Wakayama may refer to: *Wakayama Prefecture, a prefecture of Japan *Wakayama (city) Wakayama City Hall is the capital city of Wakayama Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 351,391 in 157066 househol ...

. The Keihanshin region has a population () of 19,303,000 (15% of Japan's population) which covers . It is ranked the second most urban region in Japan after the

Greater Tokyo area The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan (including Tokyo Metropolis and the prefectures of Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Tochigi) as well as the ...

and 10th largest urban area in the world. Keihanshin has a GDP of approximately $953.9 billion in 2012 (16th largest in the world).NationMaster.com
/ref> Osaka-Kobe has a

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...

of $681 billion (2015), which is a bit more than

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

or Greater London.

Transportation

Greater Osaka has an extensive network of railway lines, comparable to that of Greater Tokyo. Major stations within the city include , , , , , and . Osaka connects to its surrounding cities and suburbs via the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, an ...

Urban Network , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

as well as numerous private lines such as

Keihan Electric Railway , known colloquially as the , , or simply , is a major Japanese private railway operator in Osaka, Kyoto, and Shiga Prefectures. The transit network includes seven lines; four main lines with heavy rolling stock, two interurban lines, and a funic ...

Hankyu Railway , trading as , is a Japanese private railway company that provides commuter and interurban service to the northern Kansai region and is one of the flagship properties of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., in turn part of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Gro ...

Hanshin Electric Railway is a Japanese private railway company of Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group that links Osaka and Kobe. It also owns the Hanshin Tigers baseball team. The first character for Kobe (神戸) and the second character for Osaka (大阪) combine to form the ...

Kintetsu Railway , referred to as , is a Japanese passenger railway company, managing infrastructure and operating passenger train service. Its railway system is the largest in Japan, excluding Japan Railways Group. The railway network connects Osaka, Nara, Ky ...

, and

Nankai Electric Railway is a private railway in Japan, founded in 1884. The name ''Nankai'' (which means "South Sea") comes from the company's routes along the Nankaidō, the old highway that ran south from the old capital, Kyoto, along the sea coast. Nankai predates a ...

. The Osaka Metro system alone ranks 8th in the world by annual passenger ridership, serving over 912 million people annually (a quarter of Greater Osaka Rail System's 4 billion annual riders), despite being only 8 of more than 70 lines in the metro area. All

Shinkansen The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. Initially, it was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond l ...

trains including '' Nozomi'' stop at Shin-Osaka Station and provide access to other major cities in Japan, such as Kobe, Kyoto, Nagoya, Yokohama, and Tokyo. Regular bus services are provided by Osaka City Bus, as well Hankyu, Hanshin and Kintetsu, providing a dense network covering most parts of the city. Osaka is served by two airports situated just outside of the city,

Kansai International Airport Kansai International Airport ( ja, 関西国際空港, Kansai Kokusai Kūkō) commonly known as is the primary international airport in the Greater Osaka Area of Japan and the closest international airport to the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and ...

( IATA: KIX) which handles primarily international passenger flights and Osaka International Airport ( IATA:ITM) which handles mostly domestic services and some international cargo flights. Due to its geographical position, Osaka's international ferry connections are far greater than that of Tokyo, with international service to Shanghai, Tianjin,

along with domestic routes to Kitakyushu,

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

, Miyazaki and

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

Culture and lifestyle

Grand Front Osaka and Yodobashi Umeda in 201504 001

Shopping and food

Osaka has a large number of wholesalers and retail shops: 25,228 and 34,707 respectively in 2004, according to the city statistics. Many of them are concentrated in the wards of Chuō (10,468 shops) and Kita (6,335 shops). Types of shops vary from malls to conventional

shōtengai A shōtengai () is a style of Japanese commercial district, typically in the form of a local market street that is closed to car traffic. Local shōtengai cater to the needs of nearby residents with a diverse mix of small specialty shops and few ...

shopping arcades, built both above- and underground. Shōtengai are seen across Japan, and Osaka has the longest one in the country.
The Tenjinbashi-suji arcade stretches from the road approaching the Ōsaka Tenman-gū, Tenmangū shrine and continues for going north to south. The stores along the arcade include commodities, clothing, and catering outlets. Other shopping areas include Den Den Town, the electronic and manga/anime district, which is comparable to Akihabara; the

district, which has the Hankyu Sanbangai shopping mall and Yodobashi Camera, a huge electrical appliance store that offers a vast range of fashion stores, restaurants, and a Shonen Jump store. Osaka is known for its food, in Japan and abroad. Author Michael Booth and food critic François Simon of ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

'' have suggested that Osaka is the food capital of the world. Osakans' love for the culinary is made apparent in the old saying "Kyotoites are financially ruined by overspending on clothing, Osakans are ruined by spending on food." Regional cuisine includes , , , as well as the traditional , particularly . Osaka is known for its fine sake, which is made with fresh water from the prefecture's mountains. Osaka's culinary prevalence is the result of a location that has provided access to high-quality ingredients, a high population of merchants, and proximity to the ocean and waterway trade. In recent years, Osaka has started to garner more attention from foreigners with the increased popularity of cooking and dining in popular culture. Other shopping districts include: * American Village (Amerika-mura or "Ame-mura") – fashion for young people * Dōtonbori – part of Namba district and considered heart of the city * Namba – main shopping, sightseeing, and restaurant area *

– luxury goods and department stores * Osaka market

– theaters, boutiques, and department stores near the train station

Entertainment and performing arts

* Osaka is home to the

National Bunraku Theatre The is a complex consisting of two halls and an exhibition room, located in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The complex was opened in 1984 as the fourth national theatre of the country, to become the headquarters of bunraku. History The Japan Arts ...

, where traditional puppet plays,

bunraku (also known as ) is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in the beginning of the 17th century, which is still performed in the modern day. Three kinds of performers take part in a performance: the or (puppeteers ...

, are performed. * At Osaka Shochiku-za, close to Namba station,

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance- drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is though ...

can be enjoyed as well as

manzai is a traditional style of comedy in Japanese culture comparable to double act comedy or stand-up comedy. usually involves two performers ()—a straight man () and a funny man ()—trading jokes at great speed. Most of the jokes revolve aro ...

. * At Shin Kabuki-za, formerly near Namba and now near Uehommachi area,

enka is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form, which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than '' ryūkōka'' music, ...

concerts and Japanese dramas are performed. *

Yoshimoto Kogyo is a major Japanese entertainment conglomerate. It was founded in 1912, Osaka, as a traditional theatre, and has since grown to be one of the most influential companies in Japan, employing most of Japan's popular owarai (comedy) talent, produci ...

, a Japanese entertainment conglomerate operates a hall in the city for manzai and other comedy shows: the Namba Grand Kagetsu hall. * The Hanjō-tei opened in 2006, dedicated to rakugo. The theatre is in the Ōsaka Tenman-gū area. *

Umeda Arts Theater is a Japanese theater located at Chayamachi Applause in Chayamachi, Kita-ku, Osaka, operated by Umeda Arts Theater Co., Ltd. It opened in 1992. Umeda Arts Theater Co., Ltd. is a member of Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group and a subsidiary of Hankyu Cor ...

opened in 2005 after relocating from its former 46-year-old Umeda Koma Theater. The theater has a main hall with 1,905 seats and a smaller theater-drama hall with 898 seats. Umeda Arts Theatre stages various type of performances including musicals, music concerts, dramas, rakugo, and others. * The Symphony Hall, built in 1982, is the first hall in Japan designed specially for classical music concerts. The Hall was opened with a concert by the

Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra The is a Japanese symphony orchestra based in Osaka, Japan. Founded in 1947 as the Kansai Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra took the name of the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra in 1960, and in 2014, formally assumed the official name of the Osaka P ...

, which is based in the city. Orchestras such as the

Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...

and

Vienna Philharmonic The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...

have played here during their world tours as well. *

Osaka-jō Hall is a multi-purpose arena located in the Kyōbashi area of Osaka, Japan. The hall opened in 1983 and can seat up to 16,000 people. Built on a site area of 36,351 square meters, part of its form uses stone walls, modeled after those of the Cast ...

is a multi-purpose arena in Osaka-jō park with a capacity for up to 16,000 people. The hall has hosted numerous events and concerts including both Japanese and international artists. * Nearby City Hall in

Nakanoshima Park The Nakanoshima Park (中之島公園 ''Nakanoshima kōen'') is the first public park opened by Osaka in 1891, after its foundation as a city. It is located in Kita ward, on the Nakanoshima (中之島) sandbank, lying between Dōjima and Tosabo ...

, is Osaka Central Public Hall, a

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

-style building first opened in 1918. Re-opened in 2002 after major renovation, it serves as a multi-purpose rental facility for citizen events. * The Osaka Shiki Theatre is one of the nine private halls operated nationwide by the Shiki Theatre, staging straight plays and musicals. * Festival Hall was a hall hosting various performances including

noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

kyōgen is a form of traditional Japanese comic theater. It developed alongside '' Noh'', was performed along with ''Noh'' as an intermission of sorts between ''Noh'' acts on the same stage, and retains close links to ''Noh'' in the modern day; therefo ...

, kabuki, ballets as well as classic concerts. The Bolshoi Ballet and the

Philharmonia The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, ...

are among the many that were welcomed on stage in the past. The hall has closed at the end of 2008, planned to re-open in 2013 in a new facility.

Annual festivals

One of the most famous festivals held in Osaka, the , is held on July 24 and 25 ( Osaka Tenmangū). Other festivals in Osaka include the Aizen Matsuri (June 30–July 2, Shōman-in Temple), the Sumiyoshi Matsuri (July 30–August 1,

), Shōryō-e (April 22,

) and Tōka-Ebisu (January 9–10, Imamiya Ebisu Jinja). The annual

Osaka Asian Film Festival The Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF, ) is an annual film festival held in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan in March. The festival began in 2005 and currently introduces Asian films. History In December 2005, the Korean Entertainment Film Festi ...

takes place in Osaka every March.

Museums and galleries

The National Museum of Art (NMAO) is a subterranean Japanese and international art museum, housing mainly collections from the post-war era and regularly welcoming temporary exhibitions.

Osaka Science Museum The is a science museum in Naka-no-shima, Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan. The museum is located between the Dōjima River and the Tosabori River, above Osaka's subterranean National Museum of Art. Opened in 1989, the museum was constructed to mark th ...

is in a five storied building next to the National Museum of Art, with a planetarium and an

OMNIMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

theatre. The Museum of Oriental Ceramics holds more than 2,000 pieces of ceramics, from China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam, featuring displays of some of their Korean

celadon ''Celadon'' () is a term for pottery denoting both wares glazed in the jade green celadon color, also known as greenware or "green ware" (the term specialists now tend to use), and a type of transparent glaze, often with small cracks, that wa ...

under natural light. Osaka Municipal Museum of Art is inside

Tennōji park The is a park with botanical garden at 1–108, Chausuyama-cho, Tennōji-ku, Osaka, Japan. Establishments * Tennoji Zoo *Osaka Municipal Museum of Art *Greenhouse *Keitakuen *Chausuyama Tomb Tenshiba Area Restaurants, cafes, vegetable and fru ...

, housing over 8,000 pieces of Japanese and Chinese paintings and sculptures. The

Osaka Museum of History opened in Chūō-ku, Ōsaka, Japan in 2001. The project architects were César Pelli & Associates and Nihon Sekkei. It is adjoined by an atrium to the NHK Osaka Broadcasting Center, which was designed by the same architects and built at the sa ...

, opened in 2001, is located in a 13-story modern building providing a view of

. Its exhibits cover the history of Osaka from pre-history to the present day. Osaka Museum of Natural History houses a collection related to natural history and life.

Sports

Osaka hosts four professional sport teams: one of them is the Orix Buffaloes, a

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

team, playing its home games at

Kyocera Dome Osaka The (official name: ) is a baseball stadium located in Osaka, Osaka, Japan. Opened in 1997, the stadium was the home field of the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. In 2005, the stadium became one of the homes of the Orix Buffaloes, a result of the mer ...

. Another baseball team, the

Hanshin Tigers The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railwa ...

, although based in

Nishinomiya, Hyōgo 270px, Nishinomiya City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Nishinomiya city center 270px, Hirota Shrine is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 484,368 in 218948 households and a population density of 48 ...

, plays a part of its home games in

as well, when their homeground

Koshien Stadium , commonly referred to as simply Koshien Stadium, is a baseball park located near Kobe in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The stadium was built to host the national high school baseball tournaments, and opened on August 1, 1924. It ...

is occupied with the annual

National High School Baseball Championship The of Japan, commonly known as , is an annual nationwide high school baseball tournament. It is the largest scale amateur sport event in Japan. The tournament, organized by the Japan High School Baseball Federation and ''Asahi Shimbun'', t ...

games during summer season. There are two J.League clubs,

Gamba Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Gamba'' comes from the Japanese , meaning "to do your best" or "to s ...

, plays its home games at

Suita City Football Stadium is a stadium located in the city of Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has a capacity of 39,694. The official name is Suita City Football Stadium and is used for international matches such as the World Cup qualifiers. The stadium is home of the ...

. Another club Cerezo Osaka, plays its home games at

Yanmar Stadium Nagai , known as the Yanmar Stadium Nagai ( ja, ヤンマースタジアム長居) for sponsorship reasons, is a stadium in Osaka, Japan. It is the home ground of J. League club Cerezo Osaka. The stadium has a seating capacity of 47,000. History When N ...

. The city is home to

Osaka Evessa is a professional basketball team playing in the B.League, the top-tier professional basketball league of Japan. The team is operated by the Human Group Sports Entertainment Company. The team is named after Ebisu. In July 2015 it was announced ...

, a basketball team that plays in the B.League. Evessa has won the first three championships of the league since its establishment.

Kintetsu Liners Hanazono Kintetsu Liners rugby team are a Japanese rugby union team owned by Kintetsu Corporation which was founded in 1929. They have won the All-Japan Championship three times as an amateur team. Their home is at Hanazono Rugby Stadium in Hig ...

, a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

team, play in the

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

. After winning promotion in 2008–09, they will again remain in the competition for the 2009–10 season. Their base is the

Hanazono Rugby Stadium The in Higashiosaka is the oldest rugby union stadium in Japan specifically dedicated to rugby. Its location is next to Hanazono Central Park (花園中央公園, hanazono chūō kōen). Owned by the City of Higashiosaka, it opened in 1929 with ...

. The , one of the six regular tournaments of professional sumo, is held annually in Osaka at

Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium is an indoor sporting arena located in Namba, Osaka, Japan. It first opened in 1952 and the current building was constructed in 1987. It is the venue of a professional sumo tournament ( honbasho) held in March every year. The capacity of the ...

. Another major annual sporting event that takes place in Osaka is Osaka International Ladies Marathon. Held usually at the end of January every year, the race starts from Nagai Stadium, runs through

and

Osaka castle is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and it played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Layout The main tower ...

park, and returns to the stadium. Another yearly event held at Nagai Stadium is the Osaka Gran Prix Athletics games operated by the

International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

(IAAF) in May. The Osaka GP is the only IAAF games annually held in Japan. Osaka made the bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics and the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was f ...

but was eliminated in the first round of the vote on July 13, 2001, which awarded the game to Beijing. Osaka was one of the host cities of the official Women's Volleyball World Championship for its

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, 2006 and 2010 editions. Osaka is the home of the 2011 created

Japan Bandy Federation Japan Bandy Federation (Jap. 日本バンディ連盟) is the governing body for the sport of bandy in Japan. It is based in Osaka. The organisation was founded in 2011 and became the 26th member of the Federation of International Bandy The Fe ...

and the introduction of bandy, in the form of

rink bandy Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of bandy. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller ice hockey sized ice rinks. While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pitc ...

, was made in the city. In July 2012 the first Japan Bandy Festival was organized.

Media

NHK Osaka Broadcasting Station Bldg 20060604-001

Osaka serves as one of the media hubs for Japan, housing headquarters of many media-related companies. Abundant television production takes place in the city and every nationwide TV network (with the exception of TXN network) registers its secondary-key station in Osaka. All five nationwide newspaper majors also house their regional headquarters, and most local newspapers nationwide have branches in Osaka. However major film productions are uncommon in the city. Most major films are produced in nearby

or in Tokyo. The Ad Council Japan was founded in 1971 is based in Osaka, now it is the Osaka branch.

Newspapers

All five major national newspapers of Japan, ''

The Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition and ...

'', ''

Mainichi Shimbun The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English language news website called ''The Mainichi'' (previ ...

'', '' Nihon Keizai Shimbun'', ''

Sankei Shimbun The (short for ) is a daily newspaper in Japan published by the It has the seventh-highest circulation for regional newspapers in Japan. Among Japanese newspapers, the circulation is second only to ''Yomiuri Shimbun'', Seikyo Shimbun, ''Asa ...

'' and ''

Yomiuri Shimbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ...

'',The five largest newspapers by number of circulation in Japan in alphabetical order. have their regional headquarters in Osaka and issue their regional editions. Furthermore, Osaka houses Osaka Nichi-nichi Shimbun, its newspaper press. Other newspaper-related companies located in Osaka include the regional headquarters of FujiSankei Business i.;Houchi Shimbunsha;

Nikkan Sports is the first-launched Japanese daily sports newspaper founded in 1946. It has a circulation of 1,661,000, and is an affiliate newspaper of the ''Asahi Shimbun''. Companies and regions ;Nikkan Sports News (Tokyo) :Tokyo HQ: 5-10, Tsukiji Sanc ...

;

Sports Nippon , also known as , is the first Japanese daily sports newspaper, having been founded in 1948. In a 1997 report it was called one of the "Big Three" sports papers in Japan, out of a field of 17 sports dailies. It is an affiliate newspaper of the ...

, and offices of Kyodo News

Jiji Press is a news agency in Japan. History Jiji was formed in November 1945 following the breakup of Domei Tsushin, the government-controlled news service responsible for disseminating information prior to and during World War II. Jiji inherited Dom ...

;

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

;

Bloomberg L.P. Bloomberg L.P. is a privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, Charles Zegar, and a 1 ...

Television and radio

The five TV networks are represented by Asahi Broadcasting Corporation (

ANN Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

Kansai Telecasting Corporation JODX-DTV, virtual channel 8 (UHF digital channel 17), branded as or , is the Kansai region key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and Fuji Network System (FNS), operated by the . Kansai TV is a company affiliated in Hankyu Hanshin Holdings ...

( FNN), Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc. ( JNN),

Television Osaka is a television station affiliated with the TX Network in Osaka, Japan. The mascot character is "Takoru-kun" (たこるくん). History Television Osaka, Inc. was founded in 1981 as part of the reorganization of Tokyo Channel 12 Ltd (now TV T ...

, Inc. ( TXN) and Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation ( NNN), headquartered in Osaka.

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

has also its regional station based in the city. AM Radio services are provided by NHK as well as the ABC Radio (Asahi Broadcasting Corporation), MBS Radio (Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc.) and Radio Osaka (

Osaka Broadcasting Corporation is an AM radio station of National Radio Network (NRN) in Osaka, Japan, and it is known as "Radio Osaka (ラジオ大阪 ''Rajio Ōsaka'')". It is also a company of Sankei Shimbun Group in Fujisankei Communications Group. Radio Osaka started ...

) and headquartered in the city. FM services are available from NHK,

FM OSAKA is an FM radio station in Osaka, Japan. The station is an affiliate of Japan FM Network (JFN). FM Osaka started broadcasting on April 1, 1970. It was the second commercial FM radio station to launch in Japan after FM Aichi. During its early ...

FM802 (call sign JOFV-FM) is a commercial radio station based at Daiwa Building in Tenjimbashi Nichome, Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan, broadcasting on 80.2 FM from Mount Iimori to Kansai region. As a latecomer to the radio broadcasting market, it was a fo ...

and

FM Cocolo is a multilingual FM radio station owned and operated by FM 802 Co., Ltd. The station broadcasts on the 76.5 MHz FM to the Kansai area which includes Osaka, Kyoto, Hyōgo(city of Kobe), Nara, Shiga, and Wakayama prefectures. FM Cocolo's fo ...

, the last providing programs in multiple languages including English.

Publishing companies

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

Education

Osaka_City_University_Main_Building_20190818

Public elementary and junior high schools in Osaka are operated by the city of Osaka. Its supervisory organization on educational matters is Osaka City Board of Education. Likewise, public high schools are operated by the

Osaka Prefectural Board of Education Osaka Prefectural Board of Education is a branch of the government of Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The board supervises individual municipal school systems and directly operates public high schools in Osaka prefecture. Schools operated by the prefec ...

. 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. Historically foreign expatriates in the Kansai region preferred to live in Kobe rather than Osaka. As a result, until 1991 the Osaka area had no schools catering to expatriate children.Stewart, Alex.
educating kansai

Archive
. ''The Journal of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan'' (''Jānaru''), Volume 40, Issues 7–12.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ, ja, 在日米国商工会議所, ''Zainichi Beikoku Shōkō Kaigisho'') is a non-profit business organization consisting mainly of executives from American companies. Currently, the ACCJ has over ...

(ACCJ), 2003. p. 43.

Osaka International School of Kwansei Gakuin Osaka International School of Kwansei Gakuin (OIS, 関西学院大学インターナショナルスクール) is a coeducational international school, located in Minoh, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. OIS educates students from kindergarten (age 4-5) ...

, founded in 1991, is located in nearby

Minoh is a city in northwestern Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Its name is commonly romanized as "Minō" or "Minoo"; however, the city government officially uses the spelling Minoh in English. As of October 2016, the city has an estimated population of 134 ...

,School Profile 2014–2015
().

. Retrieved on November 1, 2015. and it was the first international school in the Osaka area. The Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake of 1995 caused a decline in demand for international schools, as there were about 2,500 U.S. nationals resident in Osaka after the earthquake while the pre-earthquake number was about 5,000. American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) Kansai chapter president Norman Solberg stated that since 2002 the numbers of expatriates in Kansai were recovering "but the fact is there is still a persistent exodus to Tokyo."Stewart, Alex.
education kansai

Archive
. ''The Journal of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan'' (''Jānaru''), Volume 40, Issues 7–12.

(ACCJ), 2003. p. 41. In 2001 the city of Osaka and

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

established the

Osaka YMCA International School is an international school in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan. Osaka YMCA International School (OYIS) is an English-based, private international school, offering preschool to grade 12. The school year starts at the beginning of September and goes to the ...

. Colleges and universities include: *

* Morinomiya University of Medical Sciences *

Osaka University of Economics , is a private university located in Higashiyodogawa-ku, Osaka, Japan. History It was founded in 1932 as Naniwa Higher Commercial School (浪華高等商業学校). During World War II World War II or the Second World War, ofte ...

Osaka Institute of Technology , abbreviated as Dai kōdai (大工大), Han kōdai (阪工大), or Osaka kōdai (大阪工大) is a private university in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. OIT has 3 campuses, Omiya campus located in Asahi-ku, Osaka City, Umeda campus located in Kita ...

Osaka Jogakuin College is a private women's university in Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards ...

Osaka Seikei University is a private university in Osaka, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1933. It was chartered as a junior women's college in 1951. In 2003 it became coeducational. Faculties This university has the following faculties: ;Fac ...

Osaka University of Arts is a private arts university located in Kanan, Minamikawachi District, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The university was founded in 1945 as , changing its name to in 1957, and then to in 1964. The university adopted the current name in 1966. Notab ...

Minamikawachi District, Osaka is a district located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. In 2009 the district had an estimated population of 37,695 and a density of 491 persons per km2. The total area is 76.81 km2. Towns and villages * Kanan *Taishi * Chihayaakasaka Mergers ...

* Osaka University of Comprehensive Children education *

Osaka University of Education is a national university with headquarters in the city of Kashiwara, Osaka, Kashiwara, Osaka Prefecture, Japan and a branch campus in Tennōji-ku, Osaka, Tennōji-ku in the prefectural capital city of Osaka. It was established in 1949 by the mer ...

Soai University is a private university in the city of Osaka, Japan. It was established in 1888, initially as a women's university. Famous people with ties to Soai include alumni Hideo Ishikawa is a Japanese voice actor and narrator from Hyōgo Prefecture ...

Tokiwakai Gakuen University is a private university with the campus in Hirano-ku, Osaka, Osaka, Japan. It is located next to Tokiwakai College is a private junior college in Hirano-ku, Osaka, Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japa ...

Libraries

* International Institute for Children's Literature, Osaka
*

Osaka Prefectural Nakanoshima Library is a major library in the Nakanoshima section of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It was established in 1904; and is today one of two libraries which are supported by the Osaka Prefectural government. History of the building The Neo-baroque ...

* Osaka Municipal Central Library

Learned society

* The Japanese Academy of Family Medicine

Facilities

"Important cultural property" (重要文化財) after the name of a facility indicates an important cultural property designated by the country.

Leisure facilities and high-rise buildings

OAP Tower Osaka Amenity Park Tower is one of the largest plaza and office developments in Japan, located at the Tenmabashi District in Kita-ku, Osaka, Kita Ward, Osaka. It was built by Mitsubishi Estates in 1994. It displays a collected line of cafes, res ...

* *

Intex Osaka , officially known as , is a convention and exhibition center in Suminoe-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The center is located on the Business Creation and Information Transmission Zone of Cosmosquare District in Sakishima Island, a planne ...

* *

Namba Parks Namba Parks (なんばパークス ''Nanba Pākusu'') is an office and shopping complex located in Namba-naka Nichome, Naniwa-ku, Osaka, Japan, the south of Namba Station on Nankai Railway. It consists of a high-rise office building called P ...

* *

Osaka Prefectural Government Sakishima Building The , or , is the second tallest building in Osaka, and the third-tallest building in Japan. The former name is , or until June, 2010. It is located in Nanko Cosmo Square near the Osaka harbor, Suminoe-ku, Osaka, and is the same height as the ...

Umeda Sky Building The is the nineteenth-tallest building in Osaka Prefecture, Japan, and one of the city's most recognizable landmarks. It consists of two 40-story towers that connect at their two uppermost stories, with bridges and an escalator crossing t ...

(Registered Tangible Cultural Property) * Festivalgate

Historical site

* *

Tekijuku Tekijuku (適塾) was a school established in , Osaka, the main trading route between Nagasaki and Edo in 1838 during the Tenpō era of the late Edo period. Its founder was Ogata Kōan, a doctor and scholar of Dutch studies (Rangaku ''Ranga ...

(important cultural property) * * *

Parks and gardens

* Utsubo Park * *

* * * * * Tennoji Park *

Nagai Park is a large sports complex located in Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka. Its facilities include three multipurpose sports stadia, including 50,000-seat Nagai Stadium, a baseball field, Nagai Botanical Garden, which boasts over ...

* Sumiyoshi Park * * * File:UtsuboPark-RoseGarden02.jpg, Utsubo Park File:Osaka Castle Park 20071230.jpg,

File:Sakuranomiya-Park_02.jpg, File:Yodogawa Kasen Park Juso area IMG 5195-2 20190114.jpg, Yodogawa Riverside Park

Ancient architecture

main shrine (national treasure)

Modern architecture

* Around Umeda * – – * Nakanoshima * (Important Cultural Property) –

(Important Cultural Property) – Bank of Japan Osaka Branch Old Building * Around Osaka Castle * (Former Youth Art Gallery) (Important Cultural Property) – Senpukan (Important Cultural Property) –

(registered tangible cultural property) – former

Osaka City Museum is a former museum dedicated to the history of Ōsaka, Japan. Located in the former headquarters of the 4th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army in Osaka Castle Park, the ground floor opened to the public in December 1960, with the special ex ...

– * Kitasenba, Minamisenba * (Registered Tangible Cultural Property) –

–

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking is a Japanese multinational banking and financial services institution headquartered in Yurakucho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The group operates in retail, corporate, and investment banking segment worldwide. It provides financial products and ser ...

Osaka (Sumitomo Building) – (Registration Tangible Cultural Property) – (Important Cultural Property) –

Nippon Life , also known as or is the largest Japanese life insurance company by revenue. The company was founded in 1889 as the ''Nippon Life Assurance Co., Inc.'' In structure it is a mutual company. It first paid policyholder dividends in 1898. Over ...

Insurance Head Office Building – (registered tangible cultural property) – Sumitomo Mitsui Bank Osaka Central Branch – – – (Registered Tangible Cultural property) – (registered tangible cultural property) – (important cultural property) – (registered tangible cultural property) – (registered tangible cultural property) – (Important Cultural Property) –

Meidi-Ya is a Japanese upmarket grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocer ...

building – (Registered Tangible Cultural Properties) – * Shimojoba (Nishisenba) * (registered tangible cultural property) – Yamauchi Building (registered tangible cultural property) – Edobori Kodama Building (registered tangible cultural property) * Shinsaibashi/Namba **

Daimaru is a Japanese department store chain, principally located in the Kansai region of Japan. The chain is operated by Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores, a subsidiary of J. Front Retailing. At one time Daimaru was an independent company, , he ...

Shinsaibashi –

Takashimaya is a Japanese multinational corporation operating a department store chain carrying a wide array of products, ranging from wedding dresses and other apparel to electronics and flatware. It has more than 12 branches strategically located in 2 ...

Osaka (Nankai Namba) –

East Annex – (registered tangible cultural property) * Osaka Port/Kawaguchi * – – MOL Mitsui Tsuki Port Building () – Japan Anglican Church Kawaguchi Christian Church (Registered Tangible Cultural Property) – –

Osaka Municipal Transportation Bureau Osaka Municipal Transportation Bureau (大阪市交通局, ''Ōsaka-shi Kōtsū-kyoku'') was the public department of transportation of the city of Osaka, Japan that existed from 1903 to 2018. It operated the municipal subway lines, the New Tram, a ...

(Osaka City Electricity Bureau)

Theaters and halls

* *

NHK Osaka Hall NHK Hall is a part of the NHK Osaka, located in Otemae, Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. Its address is 4-1-20, Chūō-ku, Osaka, 540-8501. This facility has a 1,417-seat capacity. See also *NHK Hall The NHK Hall is a concert hall located at the NHK ...

Osaka International Convention Center , also known as , is a convention center in the city of Osaka, Japan. Located adjacent to the convention center is underground Nakanoshima Station served by Keihan Electric Railway Nakanoshima Line as the terminus. Past events *2001 World To ...

* * *

Orix Theater The (formerly Osaka Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan) is a 2,400-seat concert hall in Nishi-ku, Osaka, Japan. Artists that performed in the main hall include Black Sabbath, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Robin Trower, Rainbow, Queen, Santana ...

* * * *

Zepp Osaka The Zepp music halls are a group of Japanese music venues covering every area of the country. They play host to many international tours and are a popular stop among Japanese musicians. Each venue takes the Zepp name, along with the city in whic ...

* * * Festival Hall, Osaka File:Izumi_Hall_Osaka01n3200.jpg, File:Osaka-jo_Hall_in_201408.JPG,

File:National_Bunraku_Theatre_in_201408.JPG,

File:Temma-Tenjin_Hanjo-tei_in_201407.JPG,

Sport venues

* *

Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasium , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is an indoor sporting arena located in Minato-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The arena opened on 1996. This arena was built in Yahataya Park in the Osaka Bay area. The arena is all underground ...

* Maruzen Intec Osaka Pool *

Yanmar Field Nagai is an athletics stadium, also used as the support stadium for the Yanmar Stadium Nagai in Nagai Park, Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Japan. The Aid Stadium, occasionally called The Second Nagai Stadium allows the bigger stadium to host world class ...

Yodoko Sakura Stadium , named for J. League football games, Japan Rugby League One rugby football games, and X-League American football games from 2021, is a football and rugby union stadium located in Nagai Park, Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Japan. The 25,000 se ...

Maishima Sports Island The is a park with sports facilities in Maishima, Konohana-ku, Osaka, Japan. The official name in the Osaka City Ordinance is Osaka Port Sports Island (Osakakou Sports Island). The facility is owned by the city of Osaka, and is operated and mana ...

Religious facilities

; Shrines *

* Osaka Tenmangu * * * *

Ikukunitama Shrine Ikukunitama Shrine (生國魂神社, ''Ikukunitama jinja'') is a Shinto shrine located in Tennōji-ku, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Its main festival is held annually on September 9. It was formerly an imperial shrine of the first rank (官幣大社, ...

Tamatsukuri Inari Shrine is a shrine dedicated to the Shinto ''kami'' ('god') Inari. Its construction can be traced to 12 BCE, and Inari was enshrined there by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the 1580s to protect Osaka Castle. Location The shrine is a short walk north from exit ...

* * * * * * * * * * ; Temples *

* * * * * Isshin-ji * Taiyū-ji * * * ; Churches * * * Japan Anglican Church * Japan Christian Church Osaka Fukushima Church * Japan Evangelical Lutheran Osaka Church ;Mosques * Osaka Masjid

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Osaka is twinned with: *

, CA, United States (former partnership, October 1957–October 2018) *

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

, Brazil (since October 1969) *

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, IL, United States (since November 1973) *

, China (since April 1974) *

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia (since April 1978) *

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, Russia (since August 1979) *

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Lombardy, Italy (since June 1981) *

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany (since May 1989) *

, ON, Canada (since June 1994)

Friendship cooperation cities

Osaka also cooperates with: *

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary (1998) *

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

, South Korea (2008) *

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Argentina (1998) * Dnipro, Ukraine (2022)

Business partner cities

Osaka's business partner cities, mostly in the Asia-Pacific region, are: *

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, New Zealand *

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

, Thailand *

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany * Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam *

, China * Jakarta, Indonesia *

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

, Malaysia *

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, Philippines *

, Australia *

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

, Maharashtra, India *

, South Korea *

, China *

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...

, China

Sister ports

Osaka's sister ports are: *

Port of Busan The Port of Busan () is the largest port in South Korea, located in the city of Busan, South Korea. Its location is known as Busan Harbor. The port is ranked sixth in the world's container throughput and is the largest seaport in South Korea. Th ...

, South Korea *

Port of Le Havre The Port of Le Havre is the Port and port authority of the French city of Le Havre. It is the second-largest commercial port in France in terms of overall tonnage, and the largest container port, with three sets of terminals. It can accommodate al ...

, France *

Port of Melbourne The Port of Melbourne is the largest port for containerised and general cargo in Australia. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria, and covers an area at the mouth of the Yarra River, downstream of Bolte Bridge, which is at the head of Port Phi ...

, Australia *

Port of San Francisco The Port of San Francisco is a semi-independent organization that oversees the port facilities at San Francisco, California, United States. It is run by a five-member commission, appointed by the Mayor and approved by the Board of Supervisors. Th ...

, United States *

Port of Valencia The Port of Valencia is a seaport in Valencia, Spain. It is the fifth busiest seaport in Europe and the busiest port in the Mediterranean. As of 2019, it moves an annual cargo traffic of around and 5.4 million TEU, ranking first in Spain and seco ...

, Spain * Port of Shanghai (friendship port treaty) * Port of Valparaiso, Chile *

Saigon Port Saigon Port is a network of ports in Ho Chi Minh City. The port name is derived from the former name of the city. By 2013, it has become the 24th busiest container port in the world. History Saigon Port played an important role in the foundatio ...

, Vietnam

References

External links

Osaka City official website

Official Osaka Tourist Guide
* * {{Authority control Osaka Cities in Osaka Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan Populated places with period of establishment missing

Etymology

History

Origins: Jōmon and Yayoi period

Kofun period

Asuka and Nara period

Heian to Edo period

Meiji to Heisei period

21st century to present

Geography and climate

Geography

Climate

Cityscape

Neighborhoods

List of wards

Demographics

Dialect

Government

Developments

Energy policies

Nuclear power

Economy

Keihanshin

Transportation

Culture and lifestyle

Shopping and food

Entertainment and performing arts

Annual festivals

Museums and galleries

Sports

Media

Newspapers

Television and radio

Publishing companies

Education

Libraries

Learned society

Facilities

Leisure facilities and high-rise buildings

Historical site

Parks and gardens

Ancient architecture

Modern architecture

Theaters and halls

Sport venues

Religious facilities

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Friendship cooperation cities

Business partner cities

Sister ports

See also

References

Further reading

External links