I heard that they are considered “not good areas” by the locals. When I ask why, I can never get an answer other than : it’s ok for you, there’s a lot of foreigners. I found a fairly cheap apartment very close to a train station and right next to a 24h supermarket, but the reputation of the neighborhood (Nishinari-ku) is making me hesitant. Should I rent it?
I’m from a small city in Canada where safety isn’t an issue, ever.
The apartment is near hanazonocho station*
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Do you mean Shin Mamiya station? The residents are former day laborors who have long been retired.
There isn’t a single part of Japan I would be afraid to live. Especially as a foreigner.
Hiii, Nishinari is known for having homeless people hanging out. If you don’t mind drunk, screaming old men in the broad day light I think it’s completely okay. The area is slowly becoming gentrified and many foreigners live there.
I also came from Canada, currently living in Nishinari equivalent place in Tokyo (Sanya area). Sometimes the neighborhood smells like pee but eh rent is cheap. Drunk old men in japan just sit down and chat and nap. It’s honestly a lot better than drunk younger people that bothers you in metropolitan area.
There exist no place in Japan that is patently unsafe to live in.
I lived in nishinari for a while (the rent was really cheap) and this is still greeted by shocked Pikachu face by Japanese people if ever comes up.
I believe it actually used to be a full on slum, but then they upped the game a bit and built a lot of public housing and other city infrastructure
It’s not a nice place though – a lot of alcoholic old boys, homeless people, shitty Pachinko places, – but I also wouldn’t describe it as dangerous. Never felt anxious walking around, even at night, but that’s just me.
If you can handle living in a particularly low socioeconomic area by Japanese standards, you will be fine.
Key word is “locals”. By Japanese standards, Nishinari and Naniwa are dumps because the residents are temp staff, laborers, and “bottom of the bucket” types. They aren’t bad people, the locals are just jerks.
My closest friends are from there and I live in a Naniwa-like area in Tokyo (Adachi). If you’re not bothered by it, don’t worry what the locals say.
>right next to a 24h supermarket
Probably a Super Tamade. 😉
I live further south in Sakai, but I love old/rundown atmospheres so I’ve explored Nishinari and the Shin Imamiya area a bit and gone barhopping in as many seedy izakaya and tachnomi, etc that I could find in the area. As others have said, lots of homeless, lots of people just hanging around outside, and at night lots of drunk dudes milling about making noise. It’s actually quite lively and fun if you’re out to explore the “night life” in the area, such as it is.
As others have also said, Japan is all around quite safe and I never felt like I was in any real danger in the other. The asterisk on that is that I am a guy, and I’ve heard more than enough stories from women who were followed or otherwise made uncomfortable (or worse) by creepy guys in public. So if you’re a young woman, you may feel unsafe in some areas at night. But again, as a general rule, there really aren’t any muggings or violent crimes, even in these “bad” areas.
I lived in Tengachaya for a couple years, it was perfectly safe and *most* areas in Nishinari-ku are. The area around and to the east of Shin-imamiya can be a bit feral, but not unsafe if you’re not stupid. Dobutsuen-mae and south of it for a few blocks (or at least used to be) isn’t super safe – it’s where homeless from most areas of Osaka would get delivered and processed near the little triangular park (Haginochayaminami Park). They don’t move far after arriving there. Lots of tourists go there for cheap hostels, but it gets dodgy at night. Lots of homeless people, people who’ve run out of luck and won’t think twice about hassling a foreigner. Quite a few of the yakuza pass through there.
I was mugged passing through Dobutsuen-mae – wrong place, wrong time. If I’d travelled a few blocks west, it would have been fine.
Edit: Holy shit, just looked up Haginochayaminami Park on street view, and it’s been REALLY cleaned up. a decade ago, it was a cardboard and scrap wood shack village. as /u/piisunosain said, it looks like it’s really becoming gentrified.
[Google Maps link – change streetview to 2009 to compare](https://www.google.com/maps/@34.6447803,135.5012919,3a,75y,274.87h,75.21t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1suInS5m1qoFeYcql0w2F87A!2e0!5s20201001T000000!7i16384!8i8192)
I ended up finding something in tennoji for the same price so I went there instead, thank you for your answers!