Nagoya: Feminine, Sweet and Delicious Dialect

This gay, lovely, prosperous, old-new city of one million inhabitants has long been reputed as the "Middle Capital." It is the greatest city between the two giants of Tokyo and Osaka (234 miles from Tokyo and 118 miles from Osaka on the Tōkaidō trunk line).

It is of course hardly surprising to learn that Nagoya has her enemies, that is those who envy her progress in the present and her proud history in the past. But is this not true of any progressive city, just as it is true of any woman who makes her progress in the world? Her competitors will always accuse her of having succeeded either by her wiles in the present or by making capital of her past. Whatever the cause, Nagoya, like every successful woman, has made history. Of course it is true that, again like every woman, Nagoya has a past; yes, and is not ashamed of it. It matters therefore little what the envious may say, for Nagoya is a city of which Japan is proud, and what is equally important, she is a city proud of herself and whose citizens are proud of her.

What, however, the rest of Japan loves about Nagoya is its sweet dialect. It is singularly feminine and delicious. If the Tokyo dialect is the best in which to quarrel with one's superior in the office and get fired, the Osaka tongue befits a street auctioneer foisting junk on unwary strangers, and the Satsuma dialect is good for policemen scolding drunkards, Nagoya's is the best language in which to make love. No mortal man can resist a beautiful woman whispering in the dulcet accents of Nagoya.

The secret of this tongue consists in its endless flow of incomprehensible cadence; it goes on winding and twisting like an eel, ungraspable and interminable, in which you can make neither head nor tail of a single sentence, and in which "yeses" and "noes" are so intermixed amid a maze of honorifics that you cannot tell whether the speaker is paying you compliments or gibing at you. But such is its mysterious power that it convinces without your understanding a word.

Nagoya

This gay, lovely, prosperous, old-new city of one million inhabitants has long been reputed as the "Middle Capital." It is the greatest city between the two giants of Tokyo and Osaka (234 miles from Tokyo and 118 miles from Osaka on the Tōkaidō trunk line).

It is of course hardly surprising to learn that Nagoya has her enemies, that is those who envy her progress in the present and her proud history in the past. But is this not true of any progressive city, just as it is true of any woman who makes her progress in the world? Her competitors will always accuse her of having succeeded either by her wiles in the present or by making capital of her past. Whatever the cause, Nagoya, like every successful woman, has made history. Of course it is true that, again like every woman, Nagoya has a past; yes, and is not ashamed of it. It matters therefore little what the envious may say, for Nagoya is a city of which Japan is proud, and what is equally important, she is a city proud of herself and whose citizens are proud of her.

What, however, the rest of Japan loves about Nagoya is its sweet dialect. It is singularly feminine and delicious. If the Tokyo dialect is the best in which to quarrel with one's superior in the office and get fired, the Osaka tongue befits a street auctioneer foisting junk on unwary strangers, and the Satsuma dialect is good for policemen scolding drunkards, Nagoya's is the best language in which to make love. No mortal man can resist a beautiful woman whispering in the dulcet accents of Nagoya. The secret of this tongue consists in its endless flow of incomprehensible cadence; it goes on winding and twisting like an eel, ungraspable and interminable, in which you can make neither head nor tail of a single sentence, and in which "yeses" and "noes" are so intermixed amid a maze of honorifics that you cannot tell whether the speaker is paying you compliments or gibing at you. But such is its mysterious power that it convinces without your understanding a word.

Nara The oldest city of Japan

The oldest city of Japan, founded in 709 A.D., and the first permanent Imperial capital ( 710-780), Nara remains in no sense a city of ruins. Though possessing a thriving population of some 373,000, which is fast increasing, and with the latest aspects and improvements of modern civilization, Nara is essentially and unmistakably an ancient city. Many parts of great cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, even Kyoto, have their counterparts elsewhere in Japan. There is a small Ginza and a small Dōtonbori in almost any large city. Nara is unique. There is no larger or lesser Nara anywhere. Japan is worth visiting from across the four seas if only to see this ancient capital.

Of the various features that constitute the lure of Nara, three stand out pre-eminently. The first is its world-famous giant bronze Buddha, the largest and oldest in the world, through one of whose nostrils a full-grown man can easily pass. It is an image of Buddha seated, cross-legged, upon the lotus flower. It was completed in 752, after repeated failures. It is 53.5 feet high, its face 16 feet by 9.5 feet, its eyes 3.9 feet long, its ears 8.5 feet long, its mouth 3.7 feet, its nose 3.9 feet long, its nostrils 3 feet in diameter, its thumb 4.5 feet in length. The lotus flower on which the image sits is 10 feet high and 68 feet in diameter. It is recorded that the casting required 438 tons of copper, 8 tons of white wax, about 870 lbs. of gold, and about 4,855 lbs. of mercury.

Osaka Ancient Memories

Osaka is too preoccupied with the actualities of the present moment and the prospects of the immediate future to look back upon the past. Yet it is one of the most ancient cities, boasting of an honorable place in the hoariest Japanese national records. It is in a way very much older than Kyoto, or even Nara, and the scenes of the cultural history of Japan are largely laid in this city. Here it was that Chikamatsu wrote his immortal plays for the puppet shows of the Bunraku; and the scores of artists, scholars and dilettanti, served to make the golden age of Genroku what it was. Further back in history Osaka had the honor of being the political capital of Hideyoshi the Conqueror, who, in 1583-85, built his castle home which remains in almost the same shape as it was 300 years ago. Going further back the great Tennōji (properly Shi-ten-nō-ji, or temple of four Buddhist saints) was built by Shōtoku Taishi ( 572-612 A.D.), the Constantine of Japan, to whom the credit of establishing Buddhism as a national religion is attributed. Still earlier in the records is the famous anecdote of Nintoku Tenno (16th Emperor, 313-399 A.D.), a Mikado of great tenderness of heart and wonderful practical statesmanship, who, as the story goes, observing the conditions of poverty among his people, declared a tax-holiday for three years. He did not allow his officers to re-impose the taxes till one morning, on going to the roof of his palace and seeing the smoke rising from every house, he made the celebrated remark: "I have become rich." Turning to the courtier who wondered at his remark, seeing that the Emperor's clothes were shabby and his palace dilapidated, Nintoku added, "the wealth of the people is the wealth of their sovereign." The site of Takatsuno-miya temple has been identified as the spot where Nintoku's palace stood, and from whose roof he looked down on Osaka's smoke of prosperity. But the forest of chimneys bristling everywhere, today remain as so many symbols of Nintoku's virtues.

In studying Osaka from an historical and cultural point of view one will see a long vista of interests open to his view, and will soon be convinced that the arts and literature of Japan, even as they are, owe their perfection in no small degree to the influences of Osaka's so-called material civilization.

By far the greatest attraction of Osaka, from a tourist's viewpoint, is that it is so near to many lovely cities and interesting places, within a few hours by motor or train, such as Kyoto (26 miles), Kobe (20 miles), Nara (18.8 miles) and a host of others celebrated for their exquisite scenery and historical associations. Osaka's notoriety therefore as an ideal city to get away from rests largely on this fact. There are, to mention a few more, Mount Rokkō whose summit, 3,000 ft. high, commands a fairy-like view of the Inland Sea. Here is a foreign villa plus a bijou hotel. Arima (23 miles) is a famous spa in the mountains, whose waters claim to have the cure-all, cardinal virtues. Takarazuka, another fashionable hot-spring resort within an hour's ride of Osaka, is also noted for its Takarazuka musical shows and modern revues performed exclusively by charming young actresses. Then there is Yoshino (40 miles), whose cherry blossoms have been woven into the texture of national history, and Wakayama (40 miles) celebrated for its wonderful land and seascapes. No wonder that the Osaka people, unlike the Kyotoites, are insatiable excursionists, holiday-makers and "go. outers."