Hankai Railway

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When foreign tourists come to Kansai district, the most popular place is Kyoto doubtlessly. We live in southern Osaka area, but when we were asked about viewing spots in Osaka, sadly we didn't have many alternatives except Osaka Castle, Bunraku, Minami(Dotonbori), USJ and Kaiyukan(Osaka Aquarium), and they are in central or northern part of Osaka. Of course, there are beautiful temples and shrines at places (also near our office), but they are not gathered in small area like Kyoto, and towns of southern area of Osaka is at sixes and sevens. People in the southern Osaka are thought to be sturdy and pragmatic. Mothers(Obachan) are tough, and Osaka is said to be the most difficult place to make - "It's me" fraud. Obachan are tough and smart enough to detect rapidly that the callers are not their sons. Boys and girls in Osaka never want to be smart and cool like students in Tokyo. All of us want to do something funny and make friends laugh! Hisami san is born near Tokyo, and when she worked for us, she was often surprised and said, ' It is really Osaka's way. It is incredible for us Kanto person!' Because we are so we are not eager to dress up, so in a way, our town is not prepared for visitors but only for satisfying our own naked needs.

Till recently, sadly we thought we didn't have recommended spots for foreign travellers in our southern Osaka area. However, in these days, we noticed that 'Osaka is wonderful spots, baas our area has strong Asian chaos and energy, whose other Japanese areas don't have. So the viewing spots must be completely different different from Kyoto's or Tokyo's - they may not be sophisticated or cool like Kyoto or Tokyo, but they have the genuine charm of Osaka style!"

By the way, what is the best travel ways to know Osaka? Yes, we have a tramcar!

Hankai Railway was originally established in Meiji 30(1897), and at that time, horses drew the carriage on the rails of street. Because of the modernization, most many tramcars in Japan disappeared ( Kyoto also had tramcar), but Hankai Railway's tramcar survive. Now the tramcar connects Tennoji and Sakai area with two lineds, and becomes the convenient feet of the common people of down town.

There is not enough English or other languages' sign( there are the signs of each stations - station names are written in English below the Japanese, so you can confirm where you are by checking the stations' signs ). However, never worry. If you are puzzled, Obachan or some Ojisan must help you TOO much. Anyway, even if you miss to drop off the station, you can walk back from the next station in several minutes. And you must be able to enjoy really the wonderful atmosphere and high touch of southern Osaka by the tramcar.

There are more than several spots along the line, which are worth to visit. ( We strongly recommend Sumiyoshi Taisha!) So if you buy 'One Day Free Ticket - Teku Teku Kippu', you can enjoy one day trip around southern Osaka at very low price. It is 600 yen for adult, and 300 yen for children.

Some explanation may be necessary to non-Japanese to use this one day ticket. You must peel the silver spots as to display the date of you use. The upper part is the year. It is written in Heisei , Japanese traditional era name. So for the year 2009, you must peel '21' ( Heisei 21). For the year 2010, peel '22'. Middle part is month and lower part is the day. It is difficult to explain it only by text. So please check photos. ( If you think the first part is too difficult, but staff must help you. Don't worry. We added a photo of this ticket.)

This ticket can be bought at Tenoji-ekimae Station, Minami-Kasumi-cho Station, Abikomochoi Station, Hamadera-ekimae Station, Ebisu-cho Station, Sumiyoshi-koen Station.

To ride the tramcar, door in the middle part is the entrance, and when drop off, go to the head part, and show your ticket to the driver, and get out from the anterior door.

Our recommended one day itinerary is: (1) ride at Tennoji-ekimae Station, (2) get out at Sumiyoshi station and visit Sumiyoshi Taisha, (3) ride again at Sumiyoshi Station, (4) Sakai Hamono Museum(if you interested in Hocho/knives - Sakai is the most famous product center of Japanese knives - or other temples/shrines you like, (5) at Kaminoki station, take bath at traditional 'Sento'( Japanese public bath ) (5) get out at Ebisu Station and visit around Tsutenkaku Tower.

About the 'Sumiyoshi Taisha' and 'Sento', we will write precisely in other articles.

Anyway, we promise that one day tramcar trip must give you wonderful experience, which differs from usual tourist's ones!

Official site

http://www.hankai.co.jp/index.html

Map of Osaka

Sakai Hamono Museum †

Official page http://www.sakaihamono.or.jp/museum01.html

Please add your comment here! †

Original text is written by Ichiro on 4th Feb 2009. You can read the original text in this frozen page Hankai Railway(Original) This site is hosted by ICHIROYA