Osaka

"Japan as number one. We became one of the richest countries in the world. We had nothing to fear. The people and the politicians thought it was the case. However, it was just a temporary bubble economy. As soon as the inflated bubble beyond its substance burst entering the 1990s, the Japanese economy began to shrink rapidly. The Nikkei average stock price, which hit a high of 38,915 yen at the end of '89, plummeted to nearly half in just over nine months. The land prices in large urban areas such as Tokyo and Osaka also fell rapidly. At that point, the Japanese should have awakened from the dream and made up their minds. They should have needed to take the first step towards the future by restructuring companies with excess debt and employees, reconfiguring the old industrial structure, and actively paying the price of the bubble. However, Japan did not do that."

"why did so many Omi merchants emerge who left their region and went to other provinces from Omi, Shiga Prefecture? Why was it from Shiga Prefecture, and not urban centers like Kyoto or Osaka? Several sources give three reasons. (1) It was a key transportation route. (2) The region was rich in products. (3) There was an accumulation of commercial activity. From looking at a map, it’s clear it was a key transportation route. Major highways such as the Nakasendo, Hokurikudo, and Tokaido passed and intersected from the east to the southern tip of Lake Biwa. And there was water transport. The water transport on Lake Biwa, which takes up one-sixth of Shiga’s area, had been utilized since medieval times. Both land and water made it a key transportation route."