Last week, TIME Correspondent Frank Gibney visited two Japanese citiesOsaka and Nagoya. His report:
Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a tough, imperialistic warrior shogun, was the first Japanese to dream of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. As an anchor for his international conquests, Hideyoshi chose Osaka, built a castle there in the latter part of the 16th Century. Hideyoshi and Osaka got along fine, and ever since then Osaka's merchants have done their best to keep alive his spirit. They gambled when the gambling was good, hedged only when they had to. They became and...