Osaka.
It's the merchants capital of Japan.
Marketing is everything in Osaka.
I'm told that most new products get tested here.
And there's almost nothing I can't buy along with busy streets
to take home with me
or eat.
If there's one thing Osakans take almost as seriously as money
its food.
Though clearly not everyone can afford those kinds of meals.
Osakans may make a lot of money
but they also have Japan's largest homeless population.
For the moment I'm curious to know more about Osaka's businessman.
Each day a million people pour into Japan's three major cities
and almost all of them arrive by train.
Few can afford the rent in downtown Tokyo
so when they sign on with the company at the age of 21
they know they'll be commuting two hours every day for the next 40 years.
How on earth do the Japanese managed to survive a situation that would drive a Westerner insane?
In a densely crowded society, etiquette is everything.
I'm told that in Japan
most of those rules developed to maintain harmony
despite the lack of space.
I noticed that people almost never touch each other
no matter how tight it gets.
And when contact is unavoidable
I don't see anyone taking it personally.
Besides, the train isn't really full until you have to back in
and even then there's always room for one more.
But most of all I think the Japanese know how to create a space inside themselves.
When necessary they just withdraw into their own world.
Where I waste a lot of energy fighting off the crowds
they hardly seem to notice them at all.
Even the train station eateries need only a token drape
to make their clients invisible.
But every once in a while the tactic backfires
turning into every mother's nightmare:
three small children lost in the underground subway
and everyone's in such a hurry that nobody stops to help.
But then again, this is Japan
and these stories almost always have a happy ending.
But there is one place where all bets are off.
in Tokyo Station at half past midnight
these guys will do anything to get on the last few trains.
If we don't make it, it's a $200 cab ride home.
It's no-holds-barred
and the women push just as hard as the men.
But where I see a Westerner trying to force the issue
the Japanese just seem to laugh it off.
Either way, the train doesn't leave until all body parts are on board.
And the ones who didn't make it have to call their wives after a hard night's drinking
and beg a ride home.