Ikuno-ku, Administrative ward in southeastern Osaka, Japan
Ikuno-ku is an administrative ward in southeastern Osaka with a large Korean community whose shops and restaurants concentrate particularly in the Tsuruhashi district. The ward spreads across several neighborhoods with residential buildings, schools, and local markets threaded by wide streets and narrow lanes.
Families from Jeju Island and other regions of Korea settled in this part of Osaka during the 1920s and established shops, schools, and religious communities. The postwar period brought additional migrants who expanded the Korean infrastructure of the ward and shaped the neighborhood around Tsuruhashi.
The Korean shops and restaurants in the district sell kimchi, traditional hanbok garments, and modern Korean skincare products that attract visitors from across Japan. Bilingual signs hang on storefronts at street corners, and Korean music drifts from the open doors of small family-run businesses.
The ward sits along several train lines including the JR Loop Line and Kintetsu connections to Nara, making it easy to move around the city. The Korean shops and restaurants cluster around Tsuruhashi Station, where the Sennichimae subway also stops.
More than one-fifth of the residents here are foreign nationals, marking the highest proportion in all of Japan. Many of these families have run the same shops for generations, passing down recipes and craft techniques from parents to children.
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