Ms. Yuka Kimba of Keihanshin L Magazine Co., Ltd. is the person who knows so much about Kansai area that people often say, “Just ask her if you want to know something about Kansai!” She served as the Editor- in-Chief of leading information magazines and ones for women in Kansai. In 2021, She serve as the desk for ‘Maidona News,’ a news site by media with the participation of newspaper publishers, broadcasting companies, radio stations and magazine publishers. In this way, she has walked around various areas downby herself and became a professional town watcher. Especially, the area around Dojima is just like her own back yard. She says that she knows it inside out.
“Nakanoshima is a district where a hospital of Osaka University was once located. The district, including the expansive campus of the hospital, was turned into a cultural area having many such facilities like art museums, libraries, and science museums.”
Because Nakanoshima is a small district located between Okawa and Tosaborigawa rivers, you can enjoy watching both art and beautiful landscapes by rivers in one day, which is an important point of the walking in here. Even if you only have a half day to visit there, you can fully enjoy its charm, she says.
For example, she recommends you go to NAKKA to watch a special exhibition first, and then have lunch at a cafe restaurant on the first floor. Since there are the shop of HAY, an interior brand, and a museum shop on the same floor, you can enjoy shopping of items including souvenirs, too.
“On fine days, how about going to the HQ building of Kansai Electric Power from the second floor of the Museum through a pedestrian walkway to have a coffee time at a resting space of the building while enjoying the landscape of a river? It is a refreshing way to spend your time.”
In addition, Nakanoshima houses not only large art museums but also small and hot design studios and galleries such as a creative unit ‘graf.’
“When you drop in the studio and see products like kitchen or interior goods, you can have a chance to check trends.”
Nakanoshima near the financial district has many masterpiece buildings constructed during the socalled ‘Age of Great Osaka’ from Taisho to Showa period. There are historic buildings in this district, too, including Osaka City Central Public Hall, which is brilliantly lit up in the evening as well as Daibiru Main Building and Nakanoshima Daibiru, which were restored by utilizing the old ones. If you walk around Nakanoshima to watch those retrospective buildings, you can certainly have time to know Osaka’s interesting history and culture more deeply. The true beauty of Osaka lies not only in its food culture but also in its history.
Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka
