Nishinari-ku, Osaka

Location of Nishinari-ku in Osaka City

The rooftops in Nishinari

A shopping arcade in Nishinari

Nishinari-ku (西成区^?) is one of the 24 wards of Osaka, Japan. It contains some shopping and entertainment areas beloved to many Osakans, e.g. Shinsekai and 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 a large number of day-laborers and most of the homeless people in Osaka.^[1]

Crime and safety

Two designated yakuza groups, the Sakaume-gumi and the Azuma-gumi, are based in Nishinari.^[2]

Transport

West Japan Railway Company

• Osaka Loop Line: Shin-Imamiya Station

Osaka Municipal Subway

• Midōsuji Line: Dobutsuen-mae Station
• Sakaisuji Line: Dobutsuen-mae Station, Tengachaya Station
• Yotsubashi Line: Hanazonocho Station, Kishinosato Station, Tamade Station

Nankai Railway

• 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

• Hankai Line: Minamikasumicho Station, Imaike Station, Imafune Station, Matsudacho Station, Kitatengachaya Station, Shotenzaka Station, Tenjinnomori Station, Higashitamade Station, Tsukanishi Station

Education

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 Imamiya Elementary School Kishinosato Elementary School Kitatsumori Elementary School Koji Elementary School Senbon Elementary School Tachibana Elementary School Tamade Elementary School Tsumori Elementary School Tengachaya Elementary School Nagahashi Elementary School Haginochaya Elementary School Bainan Elementary School Matsunomiya Elementary School Minamitsumori Elementary School

Junior high schools Imamiya Junior High School Tsurumibashi Junior High School Tengachaya Junior High School Seinan Junior High School Bainan Junior High School Tamade Junior High School High schools Imamiya Technical High School Nishinari High School

Notable people

• Akai Hidekazu, talent
• Koki Kameda, boxer
• Yoshie Kashiwabara, singer
• Katsura Zakoba, comic storyteller
• Shingo☆Nishinari, rapper
• Takajin, singer and popular culture commentator

See also

• Tobita Shinchi
• Kamagasaki Day Laborers' District
• Tobita Shinchi, brothel district

References

1. ^ 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.
2. ^ "2010 Police White Paper Chapter 2 : Furtherance of Organized Crime Countermeasures", 2010, National Police Agency (Japanese)

External links

Media related to Nishinari-ku, Osaka at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website of Nishinari (English)

Coordinates: 34°38′6″N 135°29′40″E / 34.635°N 135.49444°E / 34.635; 135.49444