신오사카(新大阪), 오사카

Shin-Osaka is Osaka's shinkansen gateway, a purpose-built transport hub in Yodogawa Ward in the northern part of the city that was created specifically to serve the Tokaido Shinkansen when it opened in 1964. It is primarily a transit district — a place where people arrive in Osaka, transfer to the city's subway network, and continue to their actual destinations — but it has developed enough surrounding infrastructure to function as a practical base for visitors to the city.

The name Shin-Osaka (新大阪) simply means "New Osaka," an unremarkable name for a station that was built at a distance from the existing city center because the original Osaka Station in Umeda could not be integrated into the Shinkansen network at the time of construction. 

The distance between Shin-Osaka and central Osaka is one of the defining minor irritations of travel in western Japan, though the subway connection from Shin-Osaka to Namba takes about 12 minutes and is entirely straightforward.

The district surrounding the station has the predictable character of a major transport hub — business hotels, chain restaurants, convenience stores, and the kind of transient commercial infrastructure that serves people who are passing through rather than settling in.

How to Get Around from Shin-Osaka

Shin-Osaka Station is served by the JR Tokaido Shinkansen and Sanyo Shinkansen, the Osaka Metro Midosuji Line, and the Osaka Metro Imaze Line. Namba is 12 minutes south on the Midosuji Line.