is a district of

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, Japan. It is located in Chūō and Naniwa wards. Namba is regarded as the center of so-called ''Minami'' ("South") area of Osaka. Its name is one of variations on the former name of Osaka, '' Naniwa''. Namba is best known as the city's main south-central railway terminus: JR, Kintetsu,

Nankai Nankai () is a family of schools in China founded by Yan Xiu (严范孙) (1860–1920) and Zhang Boling (张伯苓) (1876–1951). The schools include: * Nankai High School in Tianjin (天津南开中学) (1904). * Nankai University in Tianj ...

, Hanshin, and three

Osaka Metro The is a major rapid transit system in the Osaka Metropolitan Area of Japan, operated by the Osaka Metro Company, Ltd. It serves the city of Osaka and the adjacent municipalities of Higashiosaka, Kadoma, Moriguchi, Sakai, Suita, and Yao. ...

subway lines have stations there. Some of the most famous images of Osaka, including the Glico Man and the Kani Doraku Crab, are located around the

Dōtonbori is one of the principal tourist destinations in Osaka, Japan, running along the Dōtonbori canal from Dōtonboribashi Bridge to Nipponbashi Bridge in the Namba district of the city's Chuo ward. Historically a theater district, it is now a popula ...

canal in Namba. Namba is also known as an entertainment district, and hosts many of the city's most popular bars, restaurants, nightclubs, arcades, and

pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game, and much more frequently for gambling. Pachinko fills a niche in Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of low-stakes, low- ...

parlors. The area is also known for shopping, with the

Takashimaya is a Japanese multinational corporation operating a department store chain carrying a wide array of products, ranging from wedding dresses and other apparel to electronics and flatware. It has more than 12 branches strategically located in 2 ...

department store (for older styles) and the sprawling underground Namba City shopping mall (for newer styles). Namba Parks is a new development consisting of a high office building, called "Parks Tower," and a 120-tenant shopping mall with rooftop garden. Various kinds of restaurants (Japanese, Korean, Italian, etc.) are located on the 6th floor, and shops on the 2nd to 5th floors. Parks Garden features enough greenery to help visitors forget that they're in the middle of the city. There is also an amphitheater for live shows, as well as space for small personal vegetable gardens and wagon shops.

NMB48 NMB48 (read "N.M.B. Forty-eight") is a Japanese idol group that debuted in 2011 as the second sister group to AKB48, produced by Yasushi Akimoto. NMB48 is named after the Namba district in Osaka city of Osaka Prefecture, where the group is base ...

bases in Namba.

Railway stations

;

Namba Station is a name shared by two railway stations in the Namba district of Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. One is owned by Nankai Electric Railway, while the other is by the Osaka Metro. The names of both stations are written in ''hiragana'' on signage within ...

:●

Nankai Electric Railway is a private railway in Japan, founded in 1884. The name ''Nankai'' (which means "South Sea") comes from the company's routes along the Nankaidō, the old highway that ran south from the old capital, Kyoto, along the sea coast. Nankai predates ...

::● Nankai Line ::● Koya Line :

::● Midōsuji Line (M20) ::● Yotsubashi Line (Y15) ::●

Sennichimae Line is an underground rapid transit line in Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Specia ...

(S16) ;

JR Namba Station is a railway station in Namba, Naniwa Ward, Osaka, Japan, adjacent to Namba Station (Nankai Railway, Osaka Subway) and Ōsaka Namba Station (Kintetsu, Hanshin Railway) operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West). JR Namba is the wes ...

:●

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

::●

Kansai Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, which connects Nagoya Station with JR Namba Station in Osaka. It is jointly run by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West), with the boundary between both compa ...

(

Yamatoji Line The is the common name of the western portion of the Kansai Main Line. The line is owned and operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West), and starts at Kamo Station in Kyoto Prefecture and ends at JR Namba Station in Naniwa-ku, Osaka. O ...

) ; Ōsaka Namba Station :● Kintetsu :: Namba Line (through service to the Nara Line) :● Hanshin Railway ::● Hanshin Namba Line

References

{{Authority control Tourist attractions in Osaka Prefecture