Evening star., 1927-10-02
JAPANESE SEAPORT
R|vALSP|TTSBURGH
Osaka Is Great Industrial
Center Where Wrestling
Also FlourisheS.

"Osaka, Japanese seaport, whose
city fathers are planning 2O-mile
subway, is fiourishing industrial
center of more than 100000 popula'
ton" says a bulletin from the Ma
tional Geographic Society. This
Pittsburgh Of Japan lies at the head
of Osaka Bay on the great south
COASTAL plain which also includes Kobe
and Kyoto 1t Is one of the teeming
manufacturing districts of the world,
comparing in concentration OF indus.
try to Belgium or the English mid
lands.
Canals Give Dutch Aspect.
"Osaka's chief temple is sacred to
the turtle, Indicative perhaps of the
low lying situation of the city. Sew
e1al small streams and numerous wide
canals intersecting each other at right
angles give the appearance of Dutch
landscape. Some of the inhabitants
designate their water logged metrop-
olic the Venice of Japan, but moist
climate and low, gray tiled houses
smack more strongly Of Holland than
OF Italy. Above all, countless CHM
neys belch volumes of black smoke
into the atmosphere, and streams are
fouled with filth from thousands OF
factories. Only in the darkness OF
Summer evening from the deck of one
of the myriad lantern-lighted GOODNESS
boats do Osaka's industrial waters
hint of the Grand Canal.
Iron works, shipyards, cotton mills
and sugar refineries give employment
to thousands of men and women.
Much of the crockery ware, lacquer.
cloth and articles of silk, ivory, bone
and bamboo, with which japanese
merchants compete in the worlds
markets, originates in Osaka. Osaka's
Board Of Trade has a powerful in
fuence, and the rice exchange is SAID
to rival Chicago'S famous wheat pits
in general wildness Of atmosphere.
"In Osaka are the head Offices OF
one of Japan's largest shipping firms,
whose lines run to the coasts OF China
and Chosen (Korea). and whose ships
are to be seen in every oriental harbor
from Vladivostok to Singapore as well
as in San Francisco and Seattle.
Though the Osakians are building
mammoth harbor works OF their own,
much Of their trade still goes through
the neighboring seaport of Kobe, on
the same bay. Kobe is smaller city,
but had the advantage Of an earlier
and larger foreign settlement and a
roadstead less obstructed by sandbars.
The region is an important mission
ary center, there being numerous mis-
sion schools in the neighborhood. 1t
lies at one end OF the far-famed scenic
fairyland known as the Inland Sea.
Center for Wrestling.
"While the world at large knows
Osaka as a manufacturing and ship
ping city of first magnitude, in Jap.
anese eyes it has another significance
of scarcely less Importance. Together
with Toxic, it is the seat OF japanese
big-league wrestling, where the cham
pions of the eastern and western parts
of the empire meet for a fight to the
finish before crowds which would do
credit to Madison Square.
Japanese wrestlers are giants, over
9 feet in height and weighing from
eco to 800 pounds. They fight naked
save for their tight wrestler's belt, and
go for quick throw, rather than
play for time. They wear their hair
In a topknot. and, squatting opposite
one another at the beginning OF
match, give the appearance OF q cou.
pie OF giant bullfrogs. Many pairs of
contestants will meet in one AFTER
Moons entertainment.
National interest in the great
matches runs high, only to be COM
pared In America with enthusiasm Tor
big league base bali or prize fighting.
The sport has been fostered by the
highest patronage in the land for gen.
erations, and well known wrestler
receives wide ovation. Especially Is
he a hero with the geisha, in whose
social class he is placed.
osaka Castle Is q romantic link
with older days before the call OF In.
dustrialisn1 drew thither almost over.
night countless thousands OF busy toll.
ers. The castle dates from feudal
times, and its walls are impressive in
their gigantic masonry, still retaining
the artistic lines of old Japan. In
terior buildings were destroyed by a
revolutionary fire. The great shell
Of the ancient stronghold dominates
from It's heights the fiat monotony OF
the present industrial city. smoke
from whose countless chimneys rises
IKE q kind Of incense around this
feudal reminder Of Japan's earlier
days"