Osaka
About Osaka
Osaka, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture, is located in the Kinki region on the main island of Honshu, at the mouth of the Yodo River on Osaka Bay (in the Kansai region).
Its land area is 213 square kilometers. Most of the land has seen the outcome of large scale urbanization.
Situated approximately on the heart of Japan, Osaka City is the center of the Greater Metropolitan Area of Osaka, which is vibrant in the field of politics, economy, culture and the like. It should be noted that the day to night population is high in Osaka and Tokyo, while it is low in the neighboring territories.
Demography
In the year 2005, the estimated population of Osaka was 2,640,097, while its density was 11,894 persons per sq. kilometers. This is about 7% of the total population Japan, and it ranks second to that of the Tokyo Prefecture.
The 2.6 million population of the city rises to 3.8 during the daytime. A declining rate in the daytime population was noted in 2000 in Osaka as well as 17 other cities. Of the entire populace which touched more than 2,700,000 by August 2003, 61% is the rate of the working population. The percentage of working population in the tertiary sector was almost 66%.
Economy and Culture
The people of Osaka speak a dialect that belongs to the standard Japanese. It is known as the Osaka-ben, which is more distinctly evident among other specific groups, which employ the suffix ‘–hen' instead of the negative verb, ‘nai'. The Osaka-ben is a dialect that is confined to Osaka and its precincts, but not through the entire Kansai region. There are around 118,000 foreign residents who are registered in the city. Of them, 91,500 are Korean which is concentrated around the Ikuno ward which is home to a famed Korean center, namely Tsuruhashi.
As well as being home to the head offices of many of Japan's most well-known global businesses, Osaka can boast a huge concentration of small- and medium-size companies, some of which possess technological capabilities up to the level that can be used to build satellites, etc. Among these companies are numerous one-of-a-kind enterprises, which have their own unique products and technologies that allow them to command high shares in specialized markets. This depth of expertise makes Osaka a manufacturing base that draws worldwide attention.
Osaka's enterprises overflow with a frontier spirit that has given birth to a long line of world's-first and first-in-Japan products, and these businesses have also built up their own exclusive stores of leading-edge technology in such fields as biotechnology, IT home appliances, robots, etc.
Weather
The central part of Osaka experiences hot and humid summers with short winters. Summers are hot and humid. There are long summers in this part of Kansai with the highest average temperature of 30 degree Celsius. The average humidity is 77.78% during the summers. The visitors from the temperate climate would love to bask in the din and bustle of the tepid summers. The annual temperature of Osaka is 17.8 degree Celsius. The average rainfall is moderate with seasonal typhoons in the month of September and October.
Administrative Divisions
Osaka has 24 wards (ku):
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