Minami sightseeing, gourmet, and list of links
Anyone who visits Osaka for sightseeing wants to come to the abundantly unique "Minami" at least once
"Minami" is one of the world's busiest shopping streets, connecting shopping streets, side streets, and diverse areas. If you walk around you will find some discover at your destination and you will never run out of interesting things, which is why it is an "interesting" town. By the way, Tennoji and Shinsekai are neighbors to "Minami" so please don't mix them up. They are separated by 1 or 2 stations by subway.
About the area called "Minami"
So, what is the extent of Minami? Even people from Osaka might be unsure if asked this question, so let's introduce Minami separated into 3 areas.
Firstly, the most traditional area is here
This is the area known for its famous places like Soemon-cho, Sennichimae, Namba, Ebisubashi-suji, and Shinsaibashi-suji. It is about as 4 times as large as the Koshien baseball field,
Doton Nariyasu of Hirano-go dug Dotonbori River with the permission of Hideoyoshi Toyotomi (1615) and proceeded with development of the region. The south side of Dotonbori River became a theatre street, with 5 red-light districts popping up in the vicinity (Soemon-cho, Kuroemon-cho, Yagura-machi, Sakamachi, and Namba Shinchi = "Nanchi Gokagai" the Minami 5 Red Light Districts). Shinsaibashi-suji and Ebisubashi-suji developed as shopping streets. Due to the fact that it was located south ("Nanchi" in Japanese) of central Osaka in the area called Semba and Shimanouchi, and the fact that Dotonbori River was first called "Minamihorikawa River", this are came to be called "Nanchi" and then "Minami".
Area where the business district gradually expanded from the Meiji era till the pre-war era
The south side changed into Takanoshima Osaka Branch, Sennichimae Doguyasuji, and Namba Kagetsu, while the East side changed to Kuromon Market and Nipponbashi (previously a used book street), and on the north side Shimanouchi changed into a business up to Daimaru Department Store and Nagahori Street. This area is almost 20 times larger than Koshien!
The current area which continued to expand
Which areas are included in Minami changes with the times. On the south side there is the area that includes Namba City, and Namba Parks, Ota Road, while on the east side there is the National Bunraku Theater and on the West side there America-mura, Horie, and Minatomachi (O-CAT, etc.). The size of 50 Koshien baseball fields. It is impossible to see it all in one day so please come enjoy it many times.
In this way, Minami started from the Dotonbori River to develop into one of the world's biggest business districts.
Minami spirit
Minami, town of humanity
It is said that the conversations of people from Osaka sound like Manzai (comic stage dialog). People in Osaka express their feelings of caring about others in their dialogue (Tokyo University: Keisuke Onoe).More than inflected words and intonation, the great thing about the Osaka dialect is in its art of communication. People of Osaka will insist on telling people how to get somewhere in an easy to understand way. Ask someone the way somewhere and experience the true "Osaka dialect". Minami is a town of merchants, a town of laughter, and a town filled with humanity.