Osaka is Japan's 'soul kitchen'

OSAKA -- The one thing stereotypes have in common is that they usually contain at least a few grains of truth. Sometimes, as with the city of Osaka, they exceed reality. Osakans, you might say, have a certain reputation.

The women are frank in their gaze and assertive in dress and speech, while the men are gregarious to a fault. A stranger in this city is treated in a way that is not always the case in other parts of Japan. Eye contact is made, your presence acknowledged. Crowded, unbearably hot in summer, unapologetically loud and in your face, its people are a sassy, friendly breed, with a legendary, often ribald, sense of humor, who carry a swagger you don't see elsewhere.