The difference between Tokyo and Osaka

Tokyo is the current capital of Japan and Osaka was the capital in Azuchi-Momoyama before the Edo preiod. They are the 2 biggest cities in Japan, but they are very different from one another. In fact, we often say they mix like oil and water.

In 1603 Tokugawa Ieyasu established his government in Edo (Tokyo) and the Tokugawa shoguns continued to rule Japan for over 250 years. Edo/Tokyo is refered to as the city of Bushi. This was an incredibly stable period in Japanese history. In Edo era, Osaka was the seaport where was important access point to the culture and the goods of the Asian continent. Since then Osaka has been in the forefront of international exchange and worked for Japan's cultural and economic development. So we refer to Osaka as the city of merchants. So Osaka people are very economic (actually they are known to be very tight with money), straight-forward, and rational.

Osaka people always seem to maintain old rivalries with Tokyo people. For example, people from other areas try to correct thier Japanese and get them to talk in regular (Tokyo dialect) Japanese, but Osaka people never stop using their local dialect. Actually I've heard that if they ever lose or change their Osaka dialect while living in Tokyo they are said "you sold your souls to Tokyo" :-
Here is the site you may listen samples of Osaka dialect. The site was made by city of Osaka recreatuib & Tourism Bereau. See, they take care of their dialect very much. Thank you is Arigato, but in Osaka they say "Okini".(wav)

Since I am an Edokko I feel that these competitive tendencies seem to be a kind of complex on the part of the Osaka folks. (he he he sorry) But I can understand thier love for Osaka very much, for example the food is cheap and good and people are cheerful...etc So I will introduce several differences between Tokyo and Osaka.

Disposition
Tightwads
Osaka : "How cheap it was" is the point.
Tokyo : "How expensive it was" is the point.
Osaka people are said "tightwads", and they even admit to it themselves. I have heard that Osaka people will usually haggle when buying something, but in Tokyo, we hardly do it. I can do it at the flea market, but still can't push so hard.

Haste
Osaka : Walk on moving sidewalk
Tokyo : Ride on moving sidewalk
In Osaka moving sidewalk is for a faster walking. In Tokyo it is for having easy. We say Osaka people walk so fast because they want to save even time. It is very famous Osaka people cross roads on a red light.

Laughter
Osaka : Laughter is their life. To make other laugh is thier a sort of salution. Actually it is hard to find good commedian from NOT Osaka area.
Tokyo : Silent

Their tightness can even be proved by data. The number of parking spaces in Osaka is the highest in Japan, but Osaka is usually in the top 3 for the number of illegal parking violations. Actually the deviousness of their illegal parking is famous. The Osaka Prefectural Government has made funny TV ads to try to get people to stop illegally parking. These TV ads show the self-deprecating humor of Osaka people.
#One Obachan (middle aged woman) got an illegal parking ticket from a policeman but she starts screaming instead of apologizing, "Everybody do this! Why are you accusing only me!, You are so nasty!" Actually Osaka Obachan are known to be scary and have a lot of nerve.

#One Ojichan (middle aged man) is getting a parking ticket from a policeman. But he eats the ticket quickly in order to get out of paying it. As in this TV commercial, Osaka Ojichan are famous for being tight.

Rules and Customs
Tokyo and Osaka have many differences in their rules and customs. If you plan to live in Osaka, it's a good idea to know these differences.

Fashion
Osaka : happy-go-lucky, giltzy
Tokyo : chic, simple
If you have a chance to see some Japanese fashion magazines you might find some pages titled "Osaka vs Tokyo". Osaka girls like PIKA PIKA (shiny).　But I heard this trend has changed, and Osaka woman do not like so giltzy type now.

Escalator
Osaka : Stand on the right side, walk on left side
Tokyo : Stand on the left side, walk on right side.

House rent
Osaka : contract guarantee fund, usually 3-5 months of rent.
Tokyo : bearing plate + key money, usually 1-2 months of rent for each.
When you rent a new house you need more money in Osaka, but when you extend the contract, you don't need to pay, but in Tokyo you need to pay more for an extension. Here is Japan home search.com. You know how it is expensive.

Power supply frequency
Osaka : Western Japan is 60Hz,
Tokyo : Eastern Japan is 50Hz.
Around Toyama, Nagano, and Shizuoka, it varies. Some types of electrical devices are not compatible, so you need to make sure they work for east and west.

Hair salons closed day
Osaka : Monday
Tokyo : Tuesday
I heard only in Tokyo area hair salons are closed on Tuesday.

Baseball fans
Osaka : The most popular team is Hansin Tigers. Tigers won a championship once every 20 years. Osaka poeple accept it.
Tokyo : The Giants win the East Central League championship every year before and people have come to expect it. Tigers fans looks so crazy. Here is some fans, they are a couple who wearing tigers dresses in thier wedding ceremony, he is a fan wearing Tiger suit in a game always,

FOOD
Of course Tokyo has the widest variety of restaurants than any other city in Japan, but the prices here tend to be more expensive. The biggest difference in Osaka is that they have their own regional soul food. Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki are Osaka specialties. But Tokyo does not have any such special foods I feel. Edomae Sushi is a particularly famous Tokyo food, but it's not like soul food. On this point I envy Osaka.

Soup stock
Osaka : White/light
Tokyo : Black/dark
In Osaka and the Kansai area in general they tend to eat light tasting soups. This is the same brand instant noodle, you can see how it is different by pictures. Osaka is light and Nagoya(a big city between Osaka and Tokyo) has middle color, then Tokyo has black color soup.

Tanuki Soba
Osaka : Soba with Kitsune (cooked sweet deep-fried been curd
Tokyo : Udon with Tempura flakes
Tanuki is a kind of animal and Kitsune is fox. Deep-fried Tofu looks like fox's fur, so we call it Kitsune. In Tokyo we have Kitsune soba or Kitsune Udon. But in Osaka Kitsune means Udon with deep fried tofu and Soba with deep fried tofu called Tanuki. Ah it's confusing. This is Tanuki in Tokyo, this is Tanuki in Osaka.

Roast cuttlefish=IKayaki
Osaka : Like Okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza) with coarsely chopped cuttlefish
Tokyo : Just eat dried cuttlefish roasted by itself
Roast cuttlesfish is popular food in food stall, but it is different in Tokyo and Osaka. This is an Ikayaki in Tokyo, and this is that in Osaka.

Tokoroten
Osaka : Sweet syrupy taste
Tokyo : Sour vinegar taste.
Tokoroten is a very low calories sweets, but in this way, Osaka version has more calories than Tokyo.

Onion (Long green type)
Osaka : Green one
Tokyo : White one
Here is Onion picture, a right one is most popular type in Osaka, a right one is normal in Tokyo area.

Slice of morning bread
Osaka : Thick (crispy only on the surface)
Tokyo : Thin (crispy throughout)
When you order toast in a cafe, you will realize this difference. This is Osaka type, Tokyo like thin one.　But thick Toast with a lot of honey and butter is called "Honey Toast", and it has become popular sweet in Tokyo too, but personally I cannot close to it, it has so many calories!!.

McDonalds
Osaka : call it Macdo.
Tokyo : call it Mac.
Like I've said before, Japan has more McDonalds than the United States. It is interesting that such a popular store can be called two different ways. In the entire world, only Osaka, France and Fillipino call it Macdo. You can check it in McDonald's nickname in Wikipedia. By the way, Starbucks is called "Staba" in Japan, is this common?.

Osaka and Tokyo are so different in many ways. So what about Nagoya, which is in between the two of them? Actually Nagoya has a mixture of things from both Tokyo and Osaka, and of course they have thier own way as well. It's very interesting to check these differences and where the border for each of them is. Regarding McDonalds, Nagoya people call it Mac, but next Mie prefecture they call it Macdo.

Comments

[Prof. W]

Thank you for this post. My wife is from Osaka and I travel there a few weeks every year. I'm always fascinated by the subtle differences between Japan's regions, but am not familiar with Japanese culture enough to notice it without someone pointing it out to me. I've never spent much time in Tokyo, but from my time spent in Osaka, I'm quite sure all of Japan is an absolutely amazing, beautiful place. Such wonderful people and such a fantastic culture.

[ECL @ Hagiyama]

Thanks for sharing your blog about the differences between Osaka and Tokyo. This was a subject at our English lessons. I will recommend your blog for others to read.

[John]

No, the soup is NOT black in color. The author of this must have a problem with translation.

[John]

No, it is NOT black! The author must have problem in translating.

[orlando]

wow I feel I have an osaka mentality lol

[Cheap Supra Skytop]

What is rich and poor, what is the second generation in life, as long as one should do something, brave, a person should simply happy life, don't consider so much, let oneself so trouble!

[iphone clone]

then Tokyo has black color soup.

[benn (lived in nagoya)]

If you go to this link, it lists the number of McDonald's locations by country, and I think there are quite a few more in the USA than Japan...

[benn (lived in nagoya)]

wait... is that true about there being more Macdonald's in Japan than in the USA? I've never heard that before...