CL wrote:
> declan_murphy@hotmail.com wrote:

> > In the Sydney, LA or Manchester sense yes. The urban area is only 7
> > million or so, but when you cross the Mikawa-ben & Owari-ben border it
> > feels like a different city, which I don't hear going from say
> > Shinagawa down to Yokohama.
>
> Then you haven't been listening too closely.  Crossing the Tamagawa is
> entering a completely different country.  When you get to Yokohama you
> have to start worrying whether you need your passport.  Or, maybe those
> infamous Kanto nuances are just too subtle for you ...

I hear differences when heading down to the peninsula, but most of
Kanto area sounds very Mikawa like. Perhaps its because the hyoujungo
just blends in, and I don't really eavesdrop except when someone
catches my ear. Last week on the subway into Shinjuku I couldn't help
but listen to one couple, I think they were from either Yamagata or
Iwate. Next time I'll pay a bit more attention if I'm heading down to
Yokohama.

> >>Very unlike Tokyo in many respects.
> >
> > Fortunately yes. A lot more nonbiri, but becoming obscenely well off.
> > Main difference between Susukino, Roppongi, Umeda, Nakasu and Sakae is
> > that Nagoya's district drips money.
>
> For all of the nights I have spent in different Japanese cities on
> behalf of clients, I have to say that the least enjoyable have always
> been in Nagoya.  Then again, I finally learned to stay in Sakae so I
> could at least get some decent yakiniku.  The degree of unnecessary
> ostentation in some parts of Nagoya is positively sickening.  And the
> government people in the offices I usually have to call on treat me like
> a long lost brother in Osaka or Fukuoka or Sapporo but are complete
> assholes in Nagoya.

You will always be treated that way in Nagoya. Most conservative and
tight fisted place in the country on one hand, and most flashy and risk
taking on the other. Osaka is a friendly place by nature. Fukuoka and
Sapporo are friendly places because the locals seem amazed someone
would take the time to remember they exist, let alone visit them. I've
been working a lot in Sapporo lately, and it is so far one of the most
open minded environments I've worked in anywhere in Japan, but the
worst for performance. If I need something done right now, on schedule
& budget, I'll call someone in Aichi.