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
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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
editWest Japan Railway Company
editOsaka 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
editPublic 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 schoolsedit
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Junior high schoolsedit
High schoolsedit
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Notable people
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- 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
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- Official website of Nishinari (in English)