It is used for an express way and was opened to the public on November 14, 1973. Other routes passing under the sea, it is the unique way to admire Kanmon strait. Initial airport of Osaka, Itami being saturated, the government decided to build a new airport. In order to avoid the same mistake as Narita, the airport has been built off the coast of south Osaka on Osaka Bay and opened in 1994. It has one runway and the second is under construction.
Kansai region is the old political center of Japan.
It includes actual Hyogo, Kyoto, Shiga, Osaka, Nara, Mie and Wakayama prefectures. It is formed by Kanto plain in the center and surrounded by mountains of about 2000m high. It includes Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Chiba, Saitama, Tokyo and Kanagawa prefectures. Since Tokugawa family was moved to Tokyo in the last 16 century, it has developed as the political center of Japan. When the Shogunate disappeared in 1868, the town lost also its importance and declined quickly until when a British priest, Alexander Shaw, built his villa because the climate is similar to Scottish Highland.