Kitahama, Osaka Is Great.
Where Is Kitahama?
Kitahama is the area on the south side of the river from Nakanoshima. The nearest station is Kitahama Station on the Keihan line. It’s one of Osaka’s major business districts, home to the Osaka Exchange and part of the city’s financial center. If I had to compare it to somewhere in Tokyo, I’d say Nihonbashi or Kabutocho.
Kitahama still has a remarkable number of early modern buildings, and the whole neighborhood feels almost like an open-air museum of architecture. So, let me tell you about Kitahama.
Walking Around to See Early Modern Architecture
Sitting grandly at a major intersection is the Osaka Exchange, and it has incredible presence. Completed in 1935, the building was once dismantled and preserved only as an exterior facade. In other words, it’s what’s known as a “waist-wrap building.”
Personally, I’m not that fond of these “waist-wrap buildings.” I tend to think architecture includes the interior space too, so if only the outside is kept, I don’t really feel that counts as preserving the architecture itself.
That said, visually speaking, I think the Osaka Exchange does this fairly well. Because the high-rise portion is set so far back, the whole “facade-preservation building” feeling is greatly softened, and I imagine plenty of people wouldn’t even realize it unless they were told.
Onward Along Sakaisuji!
For this article, I’m walking along Sakaisuji within the Kitahama area. This is the Arai Building, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1922. Apparently, it was originally a bank.
https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00000256
https://arai-bldg.com/
Just a little farther ahead is the Koraibashi Nomura Building. It was built in 1927 by the Nomura conglomerate. Financial power, indeed.
You can’t really tell from the front, but it’s actually incredibly thin, which is part of what makes it so interesting. The ground floor, meanwhile, is occupied by an entirely ordinary Saint Marc Cafe.
Across from it stands the Osaka-Chuo Branch of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. It’s a former Mitsui Bank building, and it’s still very much in active use today…! Since it was completed in 1936, it’s actually one of the younger buildings compared with the other early modern architecture around here (lol).
Even just a short walk along Sakaisuji brings you face to face with so many early modern buildings, and if you keep going a little farther, there are even more to discover. Kitahama really is a magical place.
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