Suminoe-ku, Osaka
Suminoe-ku is one of 24 wards of Osaka, Japan, stretching along the south-west border of the city. It borders the wards of Minato-ku, Taisho-ku and Nishinari-ku to the north, and Sumiyoshi-ku to the east. It has the largest land area of all the wards in Osaka, and includes about half of the Osaka Bay harbor area.
Suminoe-ku is connected to the region by three municipal subway lines, as well as two rail lines and three expressways. The ward is also home to the Osaka international ferry terminal with services to Shikoku and Kyushu, as well as international destinations Shanghai, China, and Busan, South Korea.
Attractions
Within the ward are multiple large parks, museums, international business facilities, and arts facilities.Kitakagaya Creative Village
- A largely pre-war neighborhood, with a large concentration of galleries, artist workshops, studios, urban farms, and other creative facilities among factories and old wood-frame homes
- Chidori Bunka – a community arts and crafts complex, built inside a collection of old interconnected buildings
- Creative Center Osaka – a large dockside arts and performance complex
- Morimura@Museum – interactive arts museum by Yasumasa Morimura, a well-known contemporary Japanese artist
- The Branch Art Lab – ecological art gallery with urban garden and residency program
Landmarks
- Former Kansai Electric Nanko Power Station – former gas power plant, now decommissioned
- Intex Osaka – one of the largest conference and exhibition centers in Japan
- Osaka Prefectural Government Sakishima Building – formerly known as Osaka World Trade Center, at 256 m is the third tallest building in Japan, with shops, restaurants, and observation deck
Other Galleries and Museums
- Osaka Maritime Museum – an award-winning maritime museum, designed by architect Paul Andreu but which closed in 2013 just a decade after its opening
- Mizuno Sportology Gallery
- Wine Museum Osaka
Parks and Recreation facilities
- Osaka Nanko Bird Sanctuary – 19-hectare wetland park serving as a stopover point for migratory birds coming from as far as Siberia and New Zealand, with public observation towers
- Sumiyoshi Park – opened in 1873, a storied park that is the oldest in Osaka City
- Suminoe Park
Shopping and Entertainment
- Asia & Pacific Trade Center – large international trade complex and shopping mall
- Zepp Osaka music hall
Education
International schools:- Kongo Gakuen, a South Korean school
- South Osaka Korean Elementary School, a North Korean school
Notable people
- Ai Otsuka – Female J-pop singer-songwriter, illustrator and pianist on avex.
- Yusuke Maruhashi – Japanese footballer.
- Soichiro Fujitaka – basketball player.