Naniwa-ku, Osaka

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Minato-machi River Place

Den Den Town

Parks Tower

Naniwa (浪速区, -ku) is one of 24 wards of Osaka City, Japan. It has an area of 4.37 km², and a population of 51,567.

1 General Information
2 Attractions
3 Landmarks
4 Mass media
- 4.1 Newspaper
- 4.2 FM Radio Station
5 Train stations
6 External links

[edit] General Information

Largely a residential area itself, Naniwa-ku is adjacent to and has in recent years blurred into the Namba district, which is south Osaka City`s transport hub and centre of commerce, entertainment, shopping and culture. In fact, modern day Naniwa serves as a buffer zone sandwiched between the bustling commerce and youthful energy of Namba and the deprivation of Tennōji-ku, whose sleazy entertainment district neighbours the permanent concentration of Osaka City`s homeless. Most of Osaka's homeless are from other areas of Japan, who relocate in order to seek refuge from hometown societal shame. Naniwa retains significant Burakumin and Korean communities. The plight and struggle of both communities in Japan is represented in Liberty Osaka (Osaka Human Rights Museum) Partly due to its promixity to Tennoji and a significant Yakuza presence in the ward, Naniwa is often perceived as an undesirable residential area. However, despite Naniwa's negative reputation from the native Osakan perspective, by the standards of western urban areas, street crime is not a serious concern. Consequently, its relatively cheap rental accommodation and promixity to the nightlife of Namba attracts a large number of western residents from the English language teaching sector. Almost the entire ward was decimated in air attacks during bombing in March, 1945. Few buildings pre-dating WWII remain.

[edit] Attractions

Naniwa is the site of a number of well-known commercial areas. Nipponbashi, locally known as Den Den Town (Electric City) was traditionally a concentration for Osaka's electrical appliance outlets, though the emergence of several large electrical department stores over in recent years has seen its shop space make a gradual shift away from the electrical appliance sector. Naniwa also borders the now ironically named Shin Sekai (New World), a seedy entertainment area famous for the Tsutenkaku Tower, Janjan Alley, and the massive shopping, dining and entertainment complex, Namba Parks. Amongst Naniwa's historical sites are the Imamiya Ebisu Shrine which sponsors the lively Toka Ebisu Fair, and Gansen-ji Temple, the famous Kare Sansui (dry landscape) style garden. Naniwa is also the site of the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium (Osaka Furitsu Taiiku Kaikan) where the Grand Sumo Tournament is held in March (Ozumo Sangatsu Basho), and Liberty Osaka - the Osaka Human Rights Museum.