豊中

Toyonaka is the fifth-largest city in Osaka Prefecture, with a population of around 400,000. During the rapid-growth period of the 1960's and 1970's, Toyonaka became a popular place for affluent middle and upper-class families to escape cramped housing conditions in the inner city, and now it's hard to tell where Toyonaka ends and Osaka begins without looking at a map.

Southern and western Toyonaka, around the Hankyu Takarazuka line, are the older parts of the city. Osaka University and Osaka International Airport are both located on the western periphery. The areas around Toyonaka and Hotarugaike stations are great places to get drunk, and once you go beyond walking distance from the station, you'll find some of the most palatial houses in all of Japan.

The northeast corner of the city, where the Osaka City Subway Midosuji line and the Osaka Monorail meet, is Senri New Town, which spills over into the cities of Suita and Minoh. The houses in this area are newer, patterned after the new towns developed in Britain, and the area around Senri-Chuo Station is highly developed, with several corporate offices nearby (Seiko and Tokio Marine, among others).