I have been here for two weeks after two years in Tokyo, and loving it so far. Locals are a lot funnier to be around for sure! But my wife and I miss hanging around more laid back neighborhoods similar to the backstreets we had all around Jingumae or Ebisu, and around (actual) parks (I liked nakanoshima and the one around the castle but that is not it compared to Yoyogi, Ueno, Shinjuku…). I am not trying to compare both cities, but obviously we are not familiar with Osaka, and wondering if we missed such places?
We live around the Kitahama Station if that helps. Thanks !
by hugongogo
5 comments
For parks try Utsubo (smaller but nice) and for a bigger park try tsurumi ryokuchi.
For neighborhoods try Horie and orange street, (maybe a little busier than you want?) or Fukushima (very tangled web of small streets.)
For bigger parks you have choice between Hattori Ryokuchi Koen, Tsurumi Ryokuchi Koen, Nagai Koen, Osaka Castle park, and Expo Park. You can easily access most of these from Kitahama (Hattori and Nagai on the Midosuji line, Expo Park on the Sakaisuji/Hankyu Kyoto line via Minami-Ibaraki, Ryokuchi on the Nagahori-Tsurumi-Ryokuchi line). These all have nice flower gardens or Japanese gardens.
You’re also not far away from Ougimachi park and Utsubo park, which are pretty decent.
Hey neighbor!
Best thing is just to get the feel of the city, settle in and then start having a nose around the places that interest you.
Sounds like Nakazakicho and Temma are exactly what you are looking for in terms of relaxed backstreets.