Osaka’s Tanimachi 4-Chome Area (The Chuo Ward)
Scroll down to Project 2 Part 3
Project 2 Part 1
Here I present a train map of the central area of the Osaka Prefecture:
Colored in red is the area I will be exploring where the center is the Tanimachi 4-Chome Area.
Here is a google maps picture of the the area:
Force 1: Ethnicities
Although the Tanimachi 4-Chome station is two stations away from the popular main line (the red Midosuji line), not too many foreigners are visible in this area. When I do see some foreigners, they seem to be headed towards the Osaka Castle. Tanimachi doesn’t have any tourist attractions and is considered a residential area that is next to the business district of Osaka. For the most part, the ethnicities are homogenous with the majority being of Asian decent.
Force 2: Landmarks
Aside from the major shopping districts and towers in Osaka, the Osaka castle is also a huge tourist attraction. However, since most people take a subway line to go to the castle directly, unless one is inside or near the vicinity of the castle, most tourists are not wandering around the Tanimachi 4 Chome area. The castle unfortunately is not visible until one goes inside the grassland vicinity. It remains hidden and is surrounded by a body of water around it.
Force 3: Traffic
While several cars and taxi pass this area, there are many people walking and riding their bikes on the road. Most of these people are in suits. Although it is technically illegal to ride on the sidewalks, almost no one actually rides their bike on the actual roads.
Force 4: Food Convenience (& Affordability)
Convenience stores are everywhere in Osaka and are also ubiquitous in this district. One thing to note is that the grocery stores that are extremely cheap around the southern area of Tanimachi. Spices and sauces are less than a dollar in the left image above and are 1/3-1/2 of the price sold in major markets.
The image on the right shows a simple meal from a chain store “Zenya” where all this fresh and healthy food can be consumed in less than 6-7 dollars (Japan doesn’t take tip so it really is a steal). Food is definitely cheap and affordable in this district.
Force 5: Safety
Tanimachi is rated one of the safest areas in Osaka and this may be attributed to the police stations that are located there. These police stations are open 24 hours a day so their existence most likely help foster the image of safeness in the area. Hospitals and clinics are also available within walking distance.
Project 2 Part 2
Despite my chosen site covering only around a mile, it is very dense in terms of people, tourism business, and stores.
Force 1: Ethnicities
Force 2: Landmarks
Force 3: Traffic (Cars and Pedestrians)
Force 4: Food Convenience (& Affordability)
Force 5: Safety
Project 2 Part 3
Incorporating some advice to declutter/clarify my map, I muted some colors and decided to use some shapes with lower opacity instead of the feather effect. I also used decreased the amount of distinct colors used so it’s a little easier on the eyes. Here is the higher resolution version.
Hi Rona!
From looking at your final map, here are some of my impressions and interpretations:
– This map of Osaka looks like it is made for a tourist. It highlights landmarks and tourist areas/destinations, nearby train stations, and food spots, markets, and restaurants.
– I love that you separated traffic into fast, medium and slow, which might help tourists navigate this part of the city either as pedestrians or via driving.
– I like the shades and colors on your base map which clearly tells me the locations of the parks/green areas and bodies of water. I am curious what the buildings in dark gray are, since some are landmarks and others are unmarked, and there seems to be lots of blocks with no dark gray buildings at all so I don’t know whether those areas just don’t have buildings or if they contain low-rise/residential areas. This makes me deduce that the dark gray buildings are high-rise buildings or unmarked landmarks.
– One thing I would like to see (if this map’s audience are tourists) are labels for the landmarks. You did this with the train stations, and I imagine it might be nice as a tourist to know nearby landmarks since these might be my destination.
Thanks for the wonderfully clear graphic! You’re doing a great job. 🙂
Hi Rona! I’m your partner for Exercise 3.1.1!
Your map really signifies the city life. I can tell from the density of supermarkets and convenience stores that the area in the center must be residential. The correlation between landmarks and tourist location is as expected when thinking about a city. The parks and greenery are scattered throughout the area with a huge park dedicated to the majority of the landmarks. Osaka Castle seems to me as the main tourist spot based on the largest tourist spotting blue circle as well as the info bubble. Police stations surround the area and the information bubble provided confirms what I would be thinking about the quantity of stations around; it’s a pretty safe space. The traffic seems to be relatively okay, but I’m not sure if it gets worse or better throughout different hours of the day. This map also sends a message about the amount of people in the area – both car and foot traffic. I see no information about foot traffic (assuming traffic is for cars), but I can take away based on the tourist density and the amount of stores there are in the are, that there are a lot of people out and about.
Hi Rona,
Firstly– I’m simply interested in the fact that your mapping location exists in Japan. It’s very cool that you’re able to explore the space with fresh eyes and fresh perspectives coming from America.
As far as your mapping of ethnicities, as Japan is a fairly homogenous country, was it difficult actually being able to pinpoint different ethnicities? It’s understood that there might be more tourists heading towards the Osaka Castle. Do you think this force is better described as simply “Native” vs. “Tourist” or is there more evidence that other ethnicities have taken roots in this area of Osaka? For instance, my neighborhood in San Francisco nearly borders Japantown and you can tell the influence of Japanese culture due to the types of businesses and architecture. Anything like that in your map area?
Thanks!
Alex
Hi Rona,
Love the way you depicted your forces – namely the foreigners one. However, I noticed that the red swirl depicting your Landmarks area overlaps with the Ethnicities swirl in the same area. I notice you used red to depict both Japanese and Landmark areas.
I wonder how you plan on putting these forces together on the same map. Have you thought about alternative ways to depict Landmarks so that its colors don’t intersect with Ethnicities? Perhaps rather than using a color, you could indicate the region by using a dotted outline (or something similar).
Rona,
Thanks for always sharing more about your current home halfway around the world!
A few observations as you start to compile your final forces map:
– Thoroughly enjoyed you highlighting culture as a force. Currently my eyes are drawn to the swirl of colors. Is that force and location on the map ultimately where you want to emphasize the most? How might that change what you title the map and how the map gets used?
– In describing the force of safety. one effect described is that it has helped to create one of the safest wards e.g. safety permeates the map so to speak. Yet the force mapping visually renders safety as some thing much more concrete and ties it to specific places on a map. And yet despite mapping the force concretely as hospitals and police stations, a tourist or someone new to this space might still feel a sense of safety from the visual stimuli depicted. This shows how the same concept can be described and communicated in two different ways and that a map can help influence one’s experience with a particular place. Curious if you’ve thought at all about how to possibly render safety as something less concrete but still “permeates” the map?
Hi Rona,
I liked your usage of blurred colors to indicate the blending relationships between natives and foreigners. Your icons and legends add clarity to your maps. I also liked that you used green , orange, and red to indicate traffic. I think it was smart to use these colors to mimic traffic lights.
Hey Rona, love seeing all your posts about Japan! I like the way you mix the feathered brush overlays with outlined icons. It makes it really clear which things are concrete and which are vague, nebulous forces. Your base map also has an astounding amount of detail which adds to its clarity.
Hi Rona,
I really enjoyed your maps! I loved seeing where you are now and what is going on in other parts of the world!
I specifically liked how you used familiar icons to show different landmarks. I also like how you used a feather effect on your ethnicities map. This shows how the forces blend in with each other and aren’t just strictly in one space.
I also really liked how you showed police and medical clinics as a force. As someone who works across the street from a police station, I never thought about it as a force! Thanks for bringing that to my attention.
Hey Rona,
I liked the fact that you used icons on the map to differentiate convenience stores, supermarkets, restaurants, police, and hospitals and clinics. It helps indicate how much the city is covered with places to get food and where to get help.
Hi Rona,
First, great job on this assignment so far. Your forces, your imagery and narrative are all presented very concisely and clearly.
Thank you for providing such a great example of the assignment. To comment on your force maps;
The affordability map seems that it is merely conveying location of the three different types of services. When compared with your imagery and explanation from part 1, the narrative and the map work together and explain the concept very well. Alone however, the force map seems like the intent of affordability isn’t carried through and instead a focus on location of food services seems to come through without specificity to affordability.
Hi John!
I really appreciated everyone’s feedback and took into consideration of the force you talked about. I totally forget that convenience is a force entirely because Japan is so convenient in general haha. I adjusted the force to be food convenience (& affordability) as Osaka is known for it’s cheap food on top of its convenience!