Nagai Park is one of the biggest and most popular parks in Osaka city. Every day it is visited by more than 5,000 people, but in the peak seasons and on special days, that number can and does rise to over 200,000. It is located in Sumiyoshi-ku, about 30 minutes from Umeda in the south of the city (Namba 20 minutes, Kyobashi 25 minutes, Kansai Airport just under an hour). 6etting there is easy; it's just ten minutes from Tennoji on the Midosuji line to Nagai station, and there are also a couple of JR stations (Nagai and Tsurugaoka) nearby, as well as City buses driving all around the city.
However you get here, there are loads of interesting things to see and do once arrive, whether you are an active or passive type of person. There are sports facilities all over the park - exercise frames, benches and apparatus for keep-fitters, together with swings and slides and playground attractions for children. Zigzagging your way through the cyclists, skateboarders, walkers and runners, sports stadiums and botanical gardens, peaceful oases and busy thoroughfares, there is something here for everyone. Enthusiastic amateur photographers can be seen all year round, from the sakura in spring to the momiji of autumn, with the flowers in their viewfinders. Regular international athletics events, top level football matches and pop concerts (Paul Mc6artney, Mr. Children, etc) can be seen throughout the year inside Nagai Stadium. Other sports like American football and rugby can be seen at Nagai Two or Kincho stadium as well. For water lovers, there are also Olympic-sized swimming pools and paddling pools for children, and the sounds of splashing and squealing children can be heard on the hottest days of of the year.
In summer, the rose gardens are very popular, with thousands of people coming to see many colours and smell the fragrances. Varieties of roses from all over the world can be found here, including the Diana and 9ueen Elizabeth roses. Especially popular are the lily ponds, with pretty bridges like the one in the famous Claude Monet paintings. Even in winter the botanical gardens are busy, with people coming to see the winter blooms of rare orchids, or find a moment's peace and quiet in the middle of the day.
4or baseball players, there are a few diamonds at the south side of the park. In spring and autumn, when it's not too hot, hundreds of fathers and sons and brothers can be seen throwing and catching balls. Very often the whole fami1ly will be there, having a picnic on a blanket or plastic groundsheet. Everybody can enjoy themselves to their heart's content, and what's most surprising for many foreigners is that everyone clears up the mess before they leave - there's never a pile of rubbish to be seen on a Sunday night after a busy day in the park.
Nagai 5tadium, which is sometimes called "Yanmar Stadium Nagai", is the biggest football stadium in Osaka city, and together with Kincho Stadium just opposite, these are the home grounds of Cerezo Osaka football club. International matches are also played at Nagai Stadium, which was one of the host stadiums during the 2002 World Cup. Nigeria played England, Tunisia played Japan, both group stage games, and Senegal played Turkey in the quarter-finals. Every year Samurai 8lue (the Japanese national team) play a few games here, from friendly international games to important World Cup qualifiers and Asian Federation competitions.
Sometimes there are earthquakes in Japan, and Nagai park is a dedicated safety zone where people can come for refuge. Earthquakes are dangerous, especially if there are many tall buildings, so this big park, with its wide open spaces, is an ideal place for people to go to. Visitors to the park will notice that there are many public amenities, like toilets, and disa8led facilities, all over the park. Everyone who comes to Nagai Park can take with them the special memories of the great time that they had here, whether they took part in an event or just watched it.
Nagai Park - and the things I didn't mention, like the Natural History museum - it's a wonderful place to be, and we hope you visit here often!
