Amerikamura (アメリカ村, American Village) is usually referred to by locals as "Ame-mura." It is a sizable retail and entertainment area near Shinsaibashi

Shinsaibashi

Shinsaibashi is a district in the Chūō-ku ward of Osaka, Japan and the city's main shopping area. It centers around Shinsaibashi-suji, a covered shopping street, that is north of Dōtonbori and parallel and east of Mido-suji street. Associated with Shinsaibashi, and west of Mido-suji street, is...

 in the Minami district

Chuo-ku, Osaka

, Osaka is one of 24 wards of Osaka, Japan. It has an area of 8.88 km2, and a population of 60,085. It houses Osaka's financial district, as well as the Osaka Prefecture offices and principal shopping and tourist areas.-Diplomatic missions:...

 of Osaka

Osaka

is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

Amerikamura is identifiable by a small-scale reproduction of the Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...

 that peers down on the streets. It is a well-known haunt of expatriate

Expatriate

An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...

s, and centres on Triangle Park, a concrete rest area surrounded by retail outlets of Western fashions, bars and nightclubs, some of which are run by Westerners.

Its reputation as a hangout for foreigners is a matter of degree. Osaka's registered foreign population is a small fraction of the total population; the makeup of the crowds and retail space in Ame-mura is predominantly Japanese. Locally, Ame-mura is known for being a place for observing some of the more "fashion

Japanese street fashion

Japan began to emulate Western fashion during the middle of the 19th century. By the beginning of the 21st century it had altered into what is known today as 'street fashion'. The term 'street fashion' is used to describe fashion where the wearer customizes outfits by adopting a mixture of current...

 intense" manifestations of Japanese pop culture.

Its name originated from the intersection in Amerikamura which looks similar to the katakana

Katakana

is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...

 character ア "a".

Triangle park is located at 34.672086°N 135.49796°E

Establishments

• Big Cat: This is a live music venue in Osaka. In the same building — Big Step — there are domestic boutiques (Urban Research, Anna Sui, Jelly Beans, Ships, Stussy
  Stussy
  Stussy, or Stüssy , is a clothing brand and private company started in the early 1980s by Shawn Stussy. The company is one of many that benefited from the surfwear trend originating in Orange County, California, United States but has largely been adopted by the streetwear and hip-hop...
  
  , United Arrows) and restaurants.

External links

• Happy Jappy Travel Guide - Amerikamura