Ulfuls Osaka Strut

One of my all-time favorite Japanese bands… ULFULS (ウルフルズ) and their video for Osaka Strut (大阪ストラット).

If you recall, Osaka is the wackiest city in Japan, and this, is an ode to Osaka.

The tower that appears right at the beginning of the video is Tsuutenkaku which has been mentioned on JapanNewbie before. And what’s that? Did they actually get ウルフルズ up on the tower just for this video??

A lot of other stereotypical “Osaka” culture things appear in the video… Like at 1:19 they discuss whether to go eat Udon (because it’s the Osaka thing to eat Udon, NOT Soba!), or to go to マクド (ma-ku-do) which is the Osaka slang way to say McDonalds - in Tokyo, they say マック (makku).

Of course, everyone is speaking in Osaka dialect. At 1:30 he is standing in front of Kanidouraku which is on Doutonbori in downtown Osaka. At 1:45 he’s right in front of Osaka Castle. At 2:10 he mentions that he wants the Hanshin Tigers to win. At 2:19 he gets shoved out of the way by a typical Japanese Osaka Grandma (if you’ve ever tried to get a seat at rush hour in Osaka… You know the type). At 3:50 you can see he’s right on Doutonbori Bridge with the Guriko Neon sign that appears on the JapanNewbie logo right behind him.

These guys rule.

- Harvey