Nobody would doubt if one said this photo was taken in Europe, but actually it was taken in Osaka. This is called “Central Public Hall,” the Neo-Renaissance styled hall featuring two concert halls and a nostalgic restaurant famous for serving delicious “Omu-Rice,” a combination of egg omelets and rice. Why was this kind of architecture designed in Japan? To know the background, we have to review our history.
After Tokyo became the capital of Japan or even before that, Osaka has long been a business center. In the 19th century, a very successful money exchanger in this area donated around 1 million yen to Osaka city. “Only 1 million yen?” “Can this amount buy only one kind of the extremely small cars that are running everywhere in Japan?” No, no, no! One million yen is equivalent to the 5 billion yen today. However, by utilizing this fund, Osaka city built this great hall in 1918.
In the long history of Japan, its door was open and closed repeatedly, and the latest example was when the Shogun power ended its “Last Samurai” era. Then, the door was forcibly half opened by the U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853. Immediately after this event, “Edo” was renamed as “Tokyo.” All the Samurai cut their top knots to wear silk hats, kimono-clad women got interested in dance halls even though they kept wearing kimonos, and the buildings as well were westernized, especially in Tokyo and Osaka.
Just like the “Omu-Rice,” maybe Japanese are good at mixing something traditional with something new.
You can see this building on our Osaka tour with night cruising. WaRaiDo presents you something deep inside the things Japanese.