Nishinari-ku (西成区) is one of the 24 wards of Osaka, Japan. It contains some shopping and entertainment areas, such as Tamade. It lies directly south of the Namba transport hub and extends further south toward Sumiyoshi Park. It is served by the Nankai Railway lines as well as the Yotsubashi and Sakaisuji subway lines. Nishinari-ku is also home to a number of shitamachi ("lower-town") shopping streets, increasingly a rarity in fast-developing urban Japan. Kamagasaki in Nishinari-ku is home to many day-laborers and most of the homeless people in Osaka.[1]
Crime and safety edit
Nishinari has a historical reputation for being "sketchy and dangerous",[2] but it is currently undergoing gentrification.[2]
Two designated yakuza groups, the Sakaume-gumi and the Azuma-gumi, are based in Nishinari.[3]
Transport edit
West Japan Railway Company edit
Osaka Metro edit
- Midōsuji Line: Dobutsuen-mae Station
- Sakaisuji Line: Dobutsuen-mae Station, Tengachaya Station
- Yotsubashi Line: Hanazonocho Station, Kishinosato Station, Tamade Station
Nankai Railway edit
- Nankai Main Line: Shin-Imamiya Station, Tengachaya Station, Kishinosatotamade Station
- Kōya Line: Shin-Imamiya Station, Haginochaya Station, Tengachaya Station, Kishinosatotamade Station
- Shiomibashi Line: Kizugawa Station, Tsumori Station, Nishi-Tengachaya Station, Kishinosatotamade Station
Hankai Railway edit
- Hankai Line: Minamikasumicho Station, Imaike Station, Imafune Station, Matsudacho Station, Kitatengachaya Station, Shotenzaka Station, Tenjinnomori Station, Higashitamade Station, Tsukanishi Station
Education edit
Public elementary and junior high schools are operated by the Osaka City Board of Education. The public high schools are operated by the Osaka Prefectural Board of Education.
Elementary schools edit
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Junior high schools edit
High schools edit
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Notable people edit
- Yoshie Kashiwabara, singer
- Yashiki Takajin, singer and television personality
- Kiichi Kunimoto, mixed martial artist
See also edit
- Kamagasaki, Day Laborers' District
- Tobita Shinchi, brothel district
References edit
- ^ Johnston, Eric, "NISHINARI WARD: In Osaka, a place the homeless call home: Nishinari draws in the forsaken of the nation", Japan Times, December 8, 2009, p. 3.
- ^ a b "Nishinari, the slum of Osaka, now at risk of gentrification after becoming a tourist hotspot". January 18, 2020.
- ^ "2010 Police White Paper Chapter 2 : Furtherance of Organized Crime Countermeasures", 2010, National Police Agency (in Japanese)
External links edit
- Official website of Nishinari (in English)