Street & neighbourhood · Osaka
Nakazakicho
中崎町
Nakazakicho is a few blocks of narrow lanes and wooden row houses (nagaya) just north-east of Umeda. They survived the wartime air raids that flattened much of Osaka. By the 2000s many stood empty, until a local café and a volunteer project began fixing them up.
Today the old houses hold tiny cafés, vintage clothing shops, galleries, bars and salons. The lanes are too narrow for cars, so it's a slow, quiet wander, ten minutes from Osaka's busiest station.
What to see and do
Coffee under low wooden beams. The area has many small independent cafés for its size.
Second-hand clothes, handmade goods and small galleries tucked into former homes.
The café that started the neighbourhood's revival.
An old local public bath in the north of the district, open 15:00–23:00.
Good to know
- Many shops open late morning or midday and close on some weekdays. Afternoons, and weekends especially, are the liveliest.
- People still live in these houses. Keep your voice down, and ask before photographing inside shops.
More art nearby
Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka
A giant black cube that opened in 2022. Modern and contemporary art and design by the river.
National Museum of Art, Osaka
Almost entirely underground, entered through a sculpture of silver steel tubes. Contemporary art from Japan and abroad.
掬茶 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsMuseum of Oriental Ceramics
One of the world’s great collections of Korean and Chinese ceramics, on the island of Nakanoshima.
＋－ · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsTenma Tenjin Hanjotei
A theatre just for rakugo, Japanese sit-down storytelling. One performer, a fan and a cloth play every role.