Osaka Castle

Trip Start Apr 02, 2006

Trip End May 17, 2008

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Flag of Japan Ōsaka-shi, Ōsaka, Japan
Friday, December 31, 2010

On the New Year's Eve, I left for Osaka. The only destination of the city was Osaka Castle. Osaka Castle has the largest donjon of Japan, although it is a smaller replica than its original one struck by a lightening. Interestingly, it has an elevator as well as an automatic door, that is a historical modern building. The original donjon built by Hideyoshi Toyotomi was larger than the present one, but it is obvious that the present one is much more popular in terms of visitor's number. Some people say it is not a castle any more, but it is a great building built with the donation gathered from the citizens in 1931. In fact, the donation reached the necessary amount only in a half year, which proved that the citizens were eager to rebuilt the donjon. It was the first and highest donjon which was rebuilt from the Showa Period onward. In 1995, the donjon got a new facility, an elevator for the handicapped. Some people say it spoils the appearance of the castle, but it must be very helpful to the handicapped

Osaka Castle

. All in all, the donjon is very different from the original one Hideyoshi built, but it is still a great donjon.

I visited the castle on the New Year's Eve, although I knew I couldn't get into the keep. The purpose to visit was seeing the illuminated keep on the night. After I got off the JR Kanjo Line at Morinomiya, I walked up to the keep. The castle site was a park at the present and more spacious than I expected, so I had to walk for 15 minutes or so to get to the keep. On my way, I didn't care about the infrastructures such as moat, stone walls, and gates, because it was dark in the park and I was a bit in a hurry. When I arrived at the keep, there were only a few visitors viewing it. A lot of Japanese visit shrines and temples on the New Year's Eve to make a wish, but not castles. Fortunately, I was neither religious nor superstitious like them and I was able to see the beautifully illuminated castle keep. After that, I walked down to Osaka-jo Koen Station and I felt that the station was a bit closer to the keep than Morinomiya.

Osaka Castle Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pgiAOEV4FE&feature=related
The footage shows only its external appearance....

I took the JR Line from Osaka-jo Koen to Umeda, where I was scheduled to take a night bus to Hiroshima. I had only 20 minutes left until I got on the bus, but I still wanted to see something in Umeda. It was Umeda Floating Garden, or Umeda Sky Building Observatory. Of course, I didn't intend to go up to the observatory, but I felt like viewing the top from the bottom. On the opposite side of the elevated railway tracks, I caught sight of the building in the distance. If I remembered correctly, it was scheduled to throw a New Year's event on the night there, but I doubted it, because the building was very dark. Eventually, I left Umeda without visiting the building.

Osaka Cruise Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp1WySv3O8k&feature=related

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