Osaka striving to become the new gateway to Japan

Osaka striving to become the new gateway to Japan

In conjunction with the second anniversary of its presence in
Indonesia, Japan Asia Airways, a private Japanese airline and a
subsidiary of Japan Airlines, recently invited four Indonesian
journalists to visit Osaka and Kyoto. Imanuddin of The Jakarta
Post filed this report.

OSAKA (JP): Tokyo is Japan's largest city, with more than one-
tenth of the country's population. Over half of Japan's major
corporations and banks have their headquarters in Tokyo. It has
more than 200 colleges and universities, which educate more than
half the country's students.

It is no wonder that Tokyo has become the main gateway to
Japan.

However, this role is likely to change given the growing use
of Osaka and the operation of Kansai International Airport.
Constructed two years ago on 551 hectares of reclaimed island, it
is the second busiest airport in Japan after Narita airport in
Tokyo.

The director of Kansai International Airport's international
affairs department, Hiroshi Tanaka, said that the airport is
currently used for domestic flights to 29 cities and
international flights to 72 cities in 33 countries, including
Indonesia. Accumulatively, there are 524 international flights
and 202 domestic flights served by Kansai airport every week, he
said.

"We expect that Osaka, with its Kansai Airport, will someday
become the new gateway to Japan," Tanaka said.

Tanaka, a former commercial airplane pilot, said that in order
to meet the target, the airport authority is now planning to
expand the capacity of the airport by adding two runways. The
current runway is 3.5 kilometers long, while the two additional
runways are planned to be 4 km and 3.5 km in length.

"Kansai Airport will be able to serve 300,000 flights per year
upon the completion of the two additional runways. Currently, we
can serve 160,000 flights per year," he said.

Tanaka's prediction is reminiscent of the city's role a long
time ago, when the township of Naniwa, an important port in the
8th century, functioned as the gateway to the ancient capital of
Nara and Kyoto. It was also a point of departure for ports in
eastern and western Japan. Sakai, now a southern suburb of Osaka,
was another early precursor of the present metropolis.

More than 40 airlines use Kansai Airport's services, including
privately-owned Japan Asia Airways (JAA). JAA, a subsidiary of
Japan Airlines Co. Ltd., has a daily Osaka-Jakarta route, via
Denpasar, and also flies direct from Osaka to Jakarta.

The Japanese top the list of foreigners visiting Indonesia.
Last year the number of Japanese visiting Indonesia was 486,278.
More than 420,000 traveled by air, compared to a total of about
2.7 million foreign visitors who traveled by air to Indonesia.

JAA Director and Vice President of Western Japan Ryokichi
Takumi said the company would keep on promoting Bali among the
Japanese. The company is also considering serving other cities
and tourist destinations such as Yogyakarta and Central Java.

Rich history

Osaka is blessed with many historical sites, including Japan's
first capital, Naniwa no Miya, and a rich history from ancient to
modern times.

Along with the traditional performing arts, festivals, and
delicious foods that have been nurtured throughout history,
commerce and industry have prospered in the city.

Giant multinational companies, like Matshusita General
Electric, Co., Sharp Electronic, Co. and the Sumitomo group of
companies have their headquarters in Osaka. Japanese giant
trading companies like Marubeni and Itochu and big commercial
banks like Daiwa, Sumitomo and Sanwa, or Japanese biggest
Insurance company, the Nippon Life, also have offices in the
city.

Osaka has the world's largest aquarium, equipped with high-
tech equipment, and underground shopping malls.

The venue for multinational meetings is no longer the monopoly
of metropolitan cities like Tokyo. The third summit of the 18-
member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group was held in
Osaka in November last year.

In cost-of-living terms, especially for expatriates working in
Japan, Osaka is less expensive than Tokyo. However, a recent
study by the Economist Intelligence Unit, part of the London-
based Economist group, ranked Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe among the
most expensive cities in the world for expatriates to live in.

The cities were graded on the basis of a comparative cost-of-
living index against New York, which was rated 100 and was the
36th most expensive city.

Tokyo was given an index of 179, while Osaka-Kobe, considered
one metropolis because of their proximity, was rated 172.

It is easy for visitors to reach other cities through Osaka.
Less than one-hour drive from Osaka is Kyoto, the only city in
Japan which still preserves much of its historical charm and
beauty in its many temples and shrines, its parks and gardens,
and its old wooden houses with their gray tile roofs.

During World War II, unlike other large Japanese cities, Kyoto
was spared from bombing attacks, which accounts for the
preservation of much of its ancient character.

Among the secular monuments in Kyoto, there are three
memorials mentioned as the most outstanding -- the Imperial
Palace, the Nijo Castle, which was erected early in the early
17th century for Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa military
dynasty, and the Katsura Imperial Villa, built also in the 17th
century and regarded as the masterpiece of Japanese domestic
architecture.

The other unique monuments are the Kinkaku-Ji Temple, a three-
story temple whose second and third floors are covered with gold-
leaf on Japanese lacquer; and the Ryoanji Temple, a simple rock
garden consisting only of white sand and 15 rocks, whose simple
beauty can inspire philosophical meditation, especially for those
who practice Zen Buddhism.