Nishinari-ku is also home to a number of shitamachi ("lower-town") shopping streets, increasingly a rarity in fast-developing urban Japan.
Kamagasaki in Nishinari-ku is home to many day-laborers and most of the homeless people in Osaka.
[1] Nishinari has a historical reputation for being "sketchy and dangerous",[2] but it is currently undergoing gentrification.
[3] Public elementary and junior high schools are operated by the Osaka City Board of Education.
The public high schools are operated by the Osaka Prefectural Board of Education.