Osaka is a city that is located at Osaka Bay in Honshu Island, Japan. According to history, Osaka once was Japan´s commercial capital and has been dubbed as the “nation´s kitchen” (tenka no daidokoro) or more specifically, the “Mecca of gourmet food.”

The city may be seen as a shopper´s heaven since it boasts of having approximately 34,707 retail shops (as of the 2004 statistics). These shops vary from shopping arcades to malls, from aboveground shops to underground ones, each boasting of their own styles and designs. Some of the known popular shopping districts include the American Village (also known as “Ame-mura” or Amerika-mura), Namba, Shinsaibashi, Dotonbori and Umeda.

Aside from the fashion or shopping aspect attraction of Osaka, there are also other interesting points of interests in the city such as the National Bunraku Theatre, Osaka Shouchiku-za, Yoshimoto, Umeda Arts Theatre, National Museum of Art, Osaka Science Museum, Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, Osaka Castle and Tennoji Park. Festivals that are being celebrated in the city include the Tenjin-matsuri, Aizen-matsuri, Toka-Ebisu, Shoryo-e and Osaka European Film Festival.