Osaka's Ghetto Filled with Charm, Good Value

Always good keeping tabs on my home city of Osaka, Japan.

On my last trip, a couple of months back, I stayed in an area that might be considered the slums of the city. In fact, it's still relatively "taboo" for Japanese to mention that they live in Dai-ko-ku-cho, just South of downtown. If you dared affiliate yourself with the adjacent train station, Shin-i-ma-mi-ya, you'd be shunned for life.

But things have change, at least to some extent, as the area has gradually been witnessing a degree of gentrification over the years, but not necessarily due to an influx of native Japanese, but due to visiting foreigners who know little about the local stigma that the area carries. And its a good thing.

Youth hostels, guest houses and ultra-modern dorm-like hotels have been popping up all over the area which largely caters to international back-packers and budget travelers like myself. Most accommodations run between $ 15 and $ 50 per night; a steal by any standard!

I should also note that crime, at least by Western standards, is virtually non-exisant anywhere in the Japan, including Daikokucho.

Years ago, when I stumbled into the country from South LA, Daikokucho was a welcomed setting. I didn't have to worry about the residence here staring or gawking, considered routine for "respectful" Japanese, even today.

Moreover, people of Daikokucho are more down to earth than their Japanese counterparts uptown or those who commute into the city from the suburbs. Rarely, in fact, do the midtown urbanites "panic" when they suddenly find themselves face to face with a foreign visitor. If anything, the people of South and East Osaka are the least afraid to show you what REAL Osakans are all about.
After twenty-three years, I still go to the same barber in the same part of town.

As I was strolling through a crowded shopping area in the vicinity of the famous Osaka tower (Tsu-ten-ka-ku), never-the-less considered the ghetto, two fashionably dressed young ladies were passing by when I heard one of them say to the other, "Nanka Kowai na" - Something about this place scares me! - Whereas her cute young friend was quick to reply, "Zen zen kowakunai" - Don't be silly. Its not scary at all.

The Japanese government and the people of the more affluent parts of Osaka may be less proud of their economically repressed brothers from across the tracks; but to me, this is one of my favorite places in the world, mixed with the most genuine and less pretentious kind of folk you'll find anywhere.