Souvenir Shops: Kobe Nagasaki and Nishinari Ward

souvenir shops: Shukan Gendai June 22-29 reports that plans are in the works to create a Chinatown. ; The gradual influx of restaurants or other businesses owned or operated by ethnic Chinese whose numbers have overtaken Koreans in recent years as Japan's largest foreign minority convinced investors to develop the district into a snazzy enclave that would boast not only restaurants but bakeries, souvenir shops, fortune-telling stands and so on, according to The Japan Times. If the plan goes through, Osaka would join the domestic cities of Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki in hosting a Chinatown. Nishinari Ward, an arguably sordid section of the city perhaps best known for its large population of day laborers, is on the verge of becoming cosmopolitan. While some acknowledge that such a development would doubtless contribute to the neighborhood's economic vitality, others have expressed a few reservations, with some arguing it could create problems. If the total number of foreign residents in Tokyo's central 23 wards are not counted as a single figure with the wards treated as separate cities then Osaka ranks No. 1 in foreign population, with more than 130,000. According to a report on foreign residents and their percentage compiled by the city of Osaka, as of the end of 2018, foreign nationals accounted for 22 percent of the population in Osaka's Ikuno Ward and 13 percent in Naniwa Ward. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.