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Eight Hundred Hostesses. By day, the city is in the throes of major construction that fills the air with dust and snarls traffic along its tree-lined boulevards and across the 1,700 bridges that span its ancient networks of canals (some of which are being filled in to provide 40 miles of expressways and parking space). By night, its theater and nightclub districts glow in gaudy neon. Fun-loving citizens fill dozens of giant cabarets, one of which offers 800 hostesses to entertain customers, or ogle the sights from a 338-ft. observation tower, the symbol of the city's growth. Osaka's myriad restaurants are noted for their epicurean meals—and it is just as well. The new trains from Tokyo carry buffet stalls but no dining car. Reason: the railway claims that its trains go too fast to leave time for full-course dinners.