"That's Japan out there," said a local drinker in an Osakan izakaya, a Japanese-style bar. With a dismissive wave of his hand he gestured outside, indicating the rest of the country beyond his hometown. "This, however, is Osaka."

I had just recently arrived in Japan from Glasgow, Scotland. I was chatting about the differences I had found between its customs and those of Japan, which I had made a quick tour of.

"Forget what you found in Tokyo and Kyoto," the drinker said. "We do things differently in Osaka."