Namba (Japanese: 難波, IPA:[namba]) is a district in Chūō and Naniwa wards of Osaka, Japan. It is regarded as the center of Osaka's Minami (ja:ミナミ, "South") region.[1] Its name came from a variation of Naniwa, the former name of Osaka. Namba hosts some of the city's main south-central railway terminals, as JR, Kintetsu, Nankai, Hanshin, and three Osaka Metro subway lines all have stations within this region.