I live in Hirakata, the same town that holds the Kansai Gaidai University. If we look to the facts,
Hirakata is a city with more than 400,000 inhabitants, and it's not an inconsiderable cipher at all, especially when compared with my hometown, with almost the half of population. However, when I talk about Hirakata with some Japanese friends from the university I usually hear expressions like "Hirakata is a countryside town".
City or town?At first this is kind of shocking, but when you take a walk around you understand what they mean. No matter how big is it, you can get a similar feeling to the one you get when walking across a small town. Silent alleys, paddy fields in the most unexpected places, almost no people on the streets... Where are these almost half million people hiding? Even when in the center, around Hirakata Station, big crowds of people are rarely seen. In short, as for what I've been able to see in the month I've lived in Hirakata, it is a city with almost no urban feeling.
No crowds hereA city without urban feeling might sound strange, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. Being at 30 minutes by train of such monster cities as Osaka and Kyoto, who needs busy streets, neon lights and noisy speakers? A quiet zone is necessary even though it can sometimes inspire boredom. As for the little people that can be seen on the streets during the whole day one can imagine that a lot of people leave everyday their homes to go to work somewhere outside the town, maybe in the big cities where commerce and big enterprises gather, restless metropolis that never sleep. However these people have a peaceful place to come back and release the stress of the day, a place to call "sweet home". Hirakata is just one example more of this kind of places, but as a hometown of so many thousands of people (among which I maybe could include myself), it is also a very special place, a well defined community with its own identity after all.
Peace is in the air
City or town?
No crowds here
Peace is in the air
Inaka is the term for country-side or rural area. Some Tokyo people might refer to Osaka as being inaka. That being said, we are talking about perspective. Certainly there are a lot of rural areas in Hirakata. Please do some more exploring and at different times of the day than you have before. You will see more urban settings and lots more people walking, driving and bicycling about.
I like your last photo - it would seem to indicate some some or urban going on in your peaceful air. Personally I find much of Hirakata's air to be on the dirty side...