Hankyu Umeda is located in Kita Ward, Osaka City, and is known as one of Osaka’s two major downtown areas. Generally, it refers to the bustling district around Osaka Station and Umeda Station, which serves as the area’s gateway. Around Hankyu Umeda Station you’ll find Hankyu Umeda Main Store, HEP FIVE, and the Hankyu Higashidori Shopping Street, and locals often call this area ‘Kita’ to distinguish it from ‘Minami’ (around Namba). Hankyu Umeda Main Store, which reopened in November 2012, is one of Japan’s largest department stores with a total floor area of about 84,000 square meters, and it is highly popular as a ‘fashion-leading’ flagship store. It carries top-tier luxury brands and one of western Japan’s largest cosmetics sections, and with annual sales of 240.3 billion yen, it ranks second in Japan after Isetan Shinjuku. It is known as the western counterpart to Isetan Shinjuku—often phrased as ‘Isetan Shinjuku in the east, Umeda Hankyu in the west’—reflecting its strong focus on fashion and beauty. Hankyu Men’s Osaka, located in HEP NAVIO, is also known as Japan’s first department store operated by a railway company, conceived by Ichizō Kobayashi, founder of Hankyu Railway.