Osaka/Minami

Minami(大阪 ミナミ) is the largest commercial area in Osaka, Japan.

All manner of shops and entertainment can be found in the Minami Area, which stretches from Semba (Honmachi) to the area surrounding Namba station. In Minami, locals and tourists alike can enjoy the city atmosphere of Osaka.

Get in
The beating heart of Minami is (難波, なんば Nanba), which is actually three separate but connected stations. Just plain Namba, the biggest of the three, is the Nankai Railway and metro hub, while JR serves JR Namba station and both Kintetsu and Hanshin connect to Osaka-Namba station.

By plane
Nankai's Rapi:t limited expresses from Kansai International Airport take 34 minutes and cost ¥1390. Cheaper but slower trains are also available.

Namba Station

 * Nankai - Offers services to the following cities: Sakai, Kansai International Airport, Wakayama, and Mount Koya.
 * Osaka Metro - From Shin-Osaka station and Umeda (Osaka) stations, you can connect to the city center by using the Midosuji subway line.

JR-Namba Station

 * JR-West - Offers services to the following cities: Tennōji, Nara, and Horyuji.

Osaka-Namba Station

 * Kintetsu - Offers services to the following cities: Nara, Ise, Shima, Yokkaichi and Nagoya.
 * Hanshin - Offers services to the following cities: Amagasaki, Ashiya, Nishinomiya, and Sannomiya (Kobe).

By bus
There are two bus terminals around Namba railway stations. Kansai Airport Limousine bus runs from Kansai International Airport to Namba OCAT bus terminal, ¥1050 one way.


 * Namba Highway Busterminal (なんば高速バスターミナル)
 * Ticket office window: 09:00 - 20:00
 * Nankai Bus


 * OCAT Bus Terminal (湊町バスターミナル)


 *  Kintetsu Bus (Japanese Website)
 * Ticket office window: 07:30 - 22:00
 * Tohoku - Yamagata, Sendai, Fukushima, Koriyama, Iwaki
 * Kanto - Tokyo, Shinjuku, Hachioji, Yokohama, Odawara, Kawagoe, Kumagaya, Kuki, Mito, Tsukuba, Tsuchiura Utsunomiya, Tochigi,
 * Chubu - Obama, Takayama, Gujo-Hachiman, Kofu, Numazu, Mishima, Shizuoka, Gotemba, Fujionomiya, Fuji, Ueda, Karuizawa
 * Chugoku - Fukuyama, Onomichi, Fuchu, Tokuyama, Yamaguchi, Hagi
 * Shikoku - Aki, Nahari, Nakamura, Sukumo
 * Kyushu - Nagasaki, Oita, Beppu, Kagoshima


 * Nankai Bus ::Kanto - Tokyo, Shinjuku, Tachikawa, Akishima, Akihabara, Narita Airport, Choshi, Odawara, Fujisawa, Kamakura
 * Chubu - Nagano, Kashiwazaki, Nagaoka, Sanjo
 * Shikoku - Naruto, Tokushima, Takamatsu
 * Chugoku - Hiroshima
 * Kyushu - Sasebo, Takeo


 *  Nihon Kotsu Bus (Japanese Website)
 * Ticket office window: 06:30 - 22:50
 * Kansai - Fukuchiyama, Maizuru
 * Chugoku - Tottori, Yonago, Kurayoshi


 * Ryobi Bus (Japanese Website)
 * Chugoku - Okayama, Kurashiki, Tamano

Buy
Osaka's most famous shopping district is Shinsaibashi (心斎橋), which offers a mix of huge department stores, high-end Western designer stores, and independent boutiques ranging from very cheap to very expensive. Within Shinsaibashi, the Amerika-mura (アメリカ村, often shortened to "Amemura") or "American Village" area is particularly popular among young people, and is often said to be the source of most youth fashion trends in Japan. Near Amerika-mura, Horie (堀江) is shopping street of mainly Japanese brands shops. The many shops in Umeda are also popular among trendy locals, particularly in the Hep Five and Hep Navio buildings adjacent to Hankyu Umeda Station, although these shops tend to be too expensive to captivate most tourists' interest. Shopping buildings include the“E-ma” buildings next to Hanshin department store, and “Nu-Chayamachi” (Nu 茶屋町), near Hankyu Umeda station.

For electronics, the Nipponbashi (日本橋) area southeast of Namba, and particularly the "Den-Den Town" shopping street, was once regarded as the Akihabara of western Japan; nowadays, more people would rather shop at the new, enormous Yodobashi Camera (ヨドバシカメラ) in Umeda or BicCamera (ビックカメラ) and LABI1 in Namba, although Nipponbashi still offers good deals on many gadgets, PC components and used/new industrial electronics.

Beware of tourist traps around the Kuromon Ichiba Market. Some shops (especially seafood and waygu/Kobe beef shops) charge exorbitant prices for their products.

Eat


Dōtonbori (道頓堀) is a canal north of Namba station. Lined on both sides with countless restaurants and bars, with plenty of eye-catching neon signage, it is perhaps the most famous entertainment district in all Japan and exemplifies the Osakan maxim of kuidaore (食倒れ), "eat till you burst". The busiest stretch is between Dotonboribashi to the west and Nipponbashi to the east.

Dotonbori is also the most touristy place in Osaka, for Japanese and foreign visitors alike. The neon is worth a gawk but there are better and cheaper options for a night out.

Drink



 * Try Amemura area - There you will find all kind of bars with different genre from hip-hop to reggae.

Nightclubs

 * Try Amemura area - There you will find all kind of bars with different genre from hip-hop to reggae.
 * Try Amemura area - There you will find all kind of bars with different genre from hip-hop to reggae.
 * Try Amemura area - There you will find all kind of bars with different genre from hip-hop to reggae.
 * Try Amemura area - There you will find all kind of bars with different genre from hip-hop to reggae.
 * Try Amemura area - There you will find all kind of bars with different genre from hip-hop to reggae.

Sleep
The usual suspects tend to be within a 5-10 minute walk north to north-west of JR Namba (a few blocks past the love hotel district). The big advantage here is that this district is also roughly a 10-minute stroll from Dotonbori. Thus, for the light traveller, a cost effective way to stay in a nice hotel is to simply enjoy the food and atmosphere along the canal until midnight, then take advantage of the various after midnight check-in discounts (typically about 30% off the regular night rate). For example, the Toyoko Inn reduces its single room prices from ~¥6500 to a clean ¥4500, and the Dormy Inn from a regular ¥7000 fee down to ¥4900.

Capsule hotels






Go next
The serene mountaintop temple lodges of Mount Koya are 90 minutes away from Namba by direct train.