Osaka Remains A Formidable Economic And Cultural Force

Through historic ups and downs, Osaka remains a formidable economic and cultural force.

- Angelique Platas

One destination appears on nearly every avid and leisure traveler’s bucket list: Japan. Luckily for business travelers, it’s also a mecca for big industries including agriculture, technology, textiles and manufacturing. Regions that once employed whole towns of coal miners, fishermen and farmers now produce electronics, automobiles, forging machinery, textiles, pharmaceuticals and consumer goods.

As one of the country’s top three cities, next to Kyoto and Tokyo, Osaka is one of a kind within the country. With a storied reputation for rising up, moving forward and adapting when adversity strikes, it boasts a neighborhood feel along with impressive big-city stature and opportunity.

Osaka’s reputation as a hub for outsourced goods and an incredible trade economy is a relatively new concept, as Japan was secluded from the Western world for most of its history. The country only opened to U.S. trade in 1853, after 200 years of warming up to the idea.

Nestled along the Seto Inland Sea and Osaka Bay, Osaka’s positioning with easy river access for water transportation made it a dream-scape for trade. Asian travelers and businessmen have ventured to Osaka’s shores since the fifth and sixth centuries, when the prosperous prefecture represented the political heart of Japan.

Visitors flocked from Korea and China, bringing new ideas such as Buddhism, innovative forging techniques, new technology and manufacturing skills. While Buddhist temples popped up in Osaka and Kyoto and women’s culture ascended on a steady climb, the city ventured into the Heian period. Factions arose, conflicts erupted and hundreds of years went by while the city experienced economic booms, destruction from war, rebuilding periods and political changes followed by times of peace — all bringing Osaka into the 14th and 15th centuries as a stronghold of Japanese culture and political influence. The city proved to be a comeback kid.