OSAKA -- Osaka is known as a city where residents enjoy delicious food so much.
Though konamon -- foods made from flour such as takoyaki and okonomiyaki -- are well-known Osaka soul foods, the city is also the birthplace of unique curry cuisines.
In the Meiji era (1868-1912), Japan's first domestically made curry powder was created in Osaka. Even now, many companies that produce curry products have production bases in the city.
In recent years, Osaka has become a place of fierce competition among restaurants of spicy curry dishes, in which a wide variety of spices are used, resulting in a huge draw of curry lovers.
The Doshomachi district in Chuo Ward, Osaka, is now known as a medical town, due to the heavy concentration of pharmaceutical companies.
In 1905, Yahei Imamura, the second-generation owner of drug wholesaler Yamatoya, successfully developed Hachi (Bee) Curry, the nation's first domestically made curry powder. Yamatoya is the predecessor of today's Hachi Foods Co.
Some of the spices used in curry, such as turmeric and cumin, are also ingredients of Chinese herbal medicines. After Imamura detected an aroma nearly identical to curry inside a warehouse, he began his attempts to develop the curry powder.
At that time, all curry powders were imported and only luxury restaurants used them.
Due to the price of Hachi Curry powders being relatively low, they quickly gained popularity among households. The powders were also sold to the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy.
Naofumi Yokota, 42, the head of Hachi Foods' business promotion room, proudly said that Hachi Curry "became a springboard for making curry and rice a nationally beloved dish" in Japan.
Later, Hachi Foods relocated its head office to Nishi-Yodogawa Ward, Osaka, where the company continues the production of curry roux blocks and retort-packed curry products.
The production of Hachi Curry was briefly discontinued but was later resumed in 2016.
Customers take numbered tickets and form a line in front of Botani Curry restaurant in Chuo Ward, Osaka, every morning -- even before the doors open for the day.
This highly popular restaurant featuring spiced curry dishes has been in operation since June 2013.
With just a taste of the curry roux made with a dozen of various spices, a refreshing flavor and spiciness gradually spread across my taste buds. Served on a relatively large dish, pickled onions and various other side dishes are added.
The photogenic nature of the restaurants' dishes is one of the reasons behind its popularity.
Haruka Takahashi, 38, the restaurant's manager, said smiling, "To stimulate our customers' appetites, we stick to a selection of spices and each dish offers a brilliant presentation."
It is believed that spicy curry dishes were devised in Osaka around 1990 and are also said to contain elements of Japanese cuisine, such as the combinations of various spices and dashi broths made from fish.
In many cases, those who prepare spicy curry dishes are people who may not have professional culinary experience but can create new types of curry dishes using their imagination. Takahashi is one of these people.
"I began cooking spicy curry because I was drawn to the freedom of its lack of predesigned forms," she said.
In 2014, a restaurant guidebook, "Kyukyoku no Curry Kansai Ban," (Ultimate curry Kansai edition) published by Tokyo-based Pia Corp., coin the term "Osaka spiced curry." Since then, an increasing number of people have come to recognize Osaka as a city of spicy curry.
Hideaki Suzuki, 49, the guidebook's editor-in-chief, said that there are at least hundreds of spicy curry restaurants in Osaka Prefecture, and many of them are in Osaka City.
Takehisa Inoue, head of Tokyo-based curry consulting firm Curry Sogo Kenkyujo, said, "Osaka's local culture that isn't caught up in stereotypical concepts has created unique curry dishes of its very own."
Currently, most households are prone to use tablets of dried curry roux, the prototype of which is believed to have been produced by Bell Seika, the predecessor of today's Bell Foods Inc. based in Tsurumi Ward, Osaka.
Bell Seika converted machines for the production of chocolate tablets into ones that produce curry roux tablets in the 1950s.
The curry restaurant operating style, in which spaces are rented in bars and other nighttime establishments to operate as restaurants only during lunchtime, spread from Osaka.
The Osaka-style curry dishes have evolved in a way that is different from those seen in India, the home of curry. It is fun to imagine what kinds of curry flavors will come about in the future.
When you want to extend your trip, Osaka Exchange Inc. is recommendable.
The Kitahama district, neighbor to the north of the Doshomachi district, is known as a town of securities trading. In the Meiji era, Tomoatsu Godai established the Osaka Securities Exchange, predecessor to the current Osaka Exchange. Since then, the district has prospered as the financial center of the Kansai region.
In 2013, the Osaka Securities Exchange and the Tokyo Stock Exchange merged, and now the Osaka exchange handles all future products and other derivatives. The building that houses the Osaka exchange utilizes a portion of an old building built in 1935.
Currently, tours of the exchange building have been suspended to curb the spread of coronavirus infections, but visitors can freely enter the first floor of the building where stock prices and other indexes both at home and abroad are displayed on large screens.
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