The official Hyogo Five Nations Federation Project(a site about Hyogo Prefecture) featured a “Koshien” joke in one of its four-panel comics.
（This information was provided by Iroha, a Nishitsu supporter. Thank you!)
Quoted from Koshien | Hyogo Five Nations Federation (U5H)
Many people outside Kansai mistakenly think Koshien Stadium is in Osaka, but
Koshien is in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture.
Here it is on the map↓
The address is 1-82 Koshien-cho, Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture.
The Yahoo! Chiebukuro questions are wild
As Nishinomiya residents, we’re going to introduce a parade of questions that make us go, “Huh?”
Are there many people who mistakenly think Koshien Stadium is in Osaka Prefecture, not Hyogo Prefecture?
This is a positive question, so that’s good! Let’s look into it on this page!
Is Koshien Stadium located in Nishinomiya City, Osaka Prefecture?
Lol, no way.
Since when was Nishinomiya City incorporated into Osaka Prefecture?
Why do so many people mistakenly think Hanshin Koshien Stadium is in Osaka?
Exactly. It’s a problem. Why is that??
Whereabouts in Osaka City is Koshien Stadium?
No. So. Umm. Well.
Is Nishinomiya City in Hyogo Prefecture not going to change its name to “Koshien City”?
That question kind of catches you off guard. Are there people who actually want that?
- いやいやいや、それはない85.6%(862票)
- してもいいかも14.4%(145票)
Do people from Osaka think Koshien Stadium is in Amagasaki City?
In response to this question:
- People from Osaka don’t really know whether Koshien’s address is specifically in Amagasaki or Nishinomiya
- People from Osaka probably don’t know that the Muko River is the boundary
Whaaaat!!! Even people from Osaka are getting it that wrong… ( ﾉД`)ｼｸｼｸ…
Koshien Stadium is in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, so why are so many Hanshin fans from Osaka?
For this one, if we trace the history… we’ll get to that later.
What prefecture and city is Koshien in? (lol)
What kind of quiz-format question is that? And “(lol)” too.
The search results are wild too
Yahoo! Chiebukuro was something else, but we also tried searching on Google.
- A place that is actually in Hyogo but is generally thought to be in Osaka – Amaru.me
- Koshien is in Hyogo Prefecture, not Osaka Prefecture
- What prefecture is Koshien Stadium in? Isn’t it in Osaka?
- Which one is Koshien in? The difference between Osaka and Hyogo
- People who mistakenly think Koshien Stadium is in Osaka Prefecture, not Hyogo Prefecture
There were quite a few pages investigating this, and they gave reasons why people make that mistake.
The main reason seems to be this
- In 1935, Hanshin Electric Railway established “Osaka Baseball Club Co., Ltd. (Osaka Tigers)”
- In 1940, due to wartime restrictions on katakana, the team called itself “Hanshin-gun”
- In 1961, the name was changed to “Hanshin Tigers”
It seems that the current Hanshin Tigers were based in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, while still using “Osaka” in their name until 1961. However, the media had apparently already settled on calling them “Hanshin,” so the team changed its name to the “Hanshin Tigers.”
So originally, the team was named Osaka Baseball Club and Osaka Tigers, and it had many fans in Osaka.
That’s the historical background behind the misunderstanding.
Other Hyogo place names mistaken for Osaka
- Itami Airport’s Itami City is in Osaka(actually, its address seems to be Toyonaka City, Osaka, and the airport spans Itami City, Toyonaka City, and Ikeda City)
- Amagasaki is Osaka
These misunderstandings are common too, but, well, they’re understandable. Itami borders Osaka and is also called Osaka International Airport, while Amagasaki borders Osaka too and even has an 06 phone number.
But,
Koshien (Nishinomiya City) does not border Osaka at all.It’s close, though
So, Nishitsu would like to ask everyone across Japan: can we please finally get you to remember that Koshien is in Nishinomiya City? Seriously, please
※Iroha, Nishitsu supporter, thank you for the tip!!
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