Osaka is the second largest city in Japan (population: 3.2 million) and was for a long time the commercial center of Japan, a role that has now been taken over by Tokyo. The Osaka area was one of the first to be settled in Japanese history. It is said to have been the capital of Emperor Nintoku in the 5th century under the name of Naniwa and he has huge tomb in Sakai that can still be seen. Buddhism first came to Japan via Korean immigrants in Osaka, and here the first temple of the new religion was built in 593, the Shitennoji Temple in Tennoji Ward. The town grew in importance for the first time under Toyotomi Hideyoshi because once he made it his residence and built the strongest fortress of the country here in 1586. Artisans and merchants soon settled around the castle and utilised the many branches of the Yodo river delta as natural transportation routes. The Osaka castle has been destroyed several times,but the rebuilt castle and the extensive grounds still give a good impression of the former size and greatness of the fortress. Trade grew and flourished during the Tokugawa period giving rise to the development of a brilliant middle class culture based on the wealth of Osaka's successful merchants. To this day Osaka is still renowned as the city of merchants and a good place to hunt down a bargain! Modern day Osaka cannot be called a pretty city - Tokyo has far more green spaces and quiet suburbs - and on the surface Osaka is also not a very interesting city to visit - tourist attractions and historicl monuments are sadly few and far between, but scratch the surface a little and you will be delighted with a city that has culinary delights at reasonable prices (actually Osaka is known as the gluttons paradise in Japan), nightlife to rival Tokyo and a surrounding countryside including the jewels of Japan in the cities fo Kyoto, Nara and Kobe.