After hiking up a mountain I decided to go visit Osaka Castle. In this quite large area there was a big park open to the public to walk around free of charge, as well as a smaller area called the Nishinomaru Garden which can only be accessed after paying a fee, and I decided to not go in there, as it didn’t look too interesting to me at the time.
Instead, I made my way over to the castle itself, the center of attraction and the very reason I came to this area. The closer I got, the more impressive it looked. And if that wasn’t enough, I spotted a line of people who were waiting to go into the castle. Eager to see what’s inside of it, I joined the cue. It took a while to clear it up, but after getting my temperature checked I was able to buy a ticket and go inside.
It turned out that inside the castle there is a museum, telling the story of both Osaka Castle itself as well as the man who was in charge of building it, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was one to unite Japan. Every floor of the castle (now a museum) showed different part of its history and the people who were involved in it. Scrolls, armor pieces, paintings, and miniature models, all portraying an important part of the history of place.
At the top of the castle there was an observation deck with a full view of the city in all directions which I found quite enjoyable. After going through it all, I made my way back to the first floor and exited the castle.
After getting a bit of rest, I rode the train to the Tempozan area, for the last part of my journey in Osaka. First, I went to the Glion Museum, which features a nice selection of classic cars and is divided into a few different areas, each area with a different collection of cars.Most of the cars were from American and European companies, but there were a few Japanese cars as well. While it wasn’t the most exciting exhibit (especially when comparing it to the Toyota Automobile Museum), it was still great to be able to look at those old classics, especially in such great condition. As the place was fairly small, it didn’t take too long to go through it, and soon enough I was out.
Then it was time for one final attraction- The Tempozan Giant Ferris Wheel. It might have been due to the rainy weather, but there weren’t many people around when I got there. As I chose to have a cabin with a glass floor, I had to wait around for a bit longer before I was able to go on the ride.
There were semi transparent images on each side of the cabin, detailing the view and telling me what it is that I’m looking at, or rather, supposed to be looking at. Due to the weather, visibility wasn’t the best, so while I managed to see the tall, and relatively close, building around the harbor, the mountain line and beyond was just not clear enough. In addition to the images, there was also an audio guide of sorts coming from a speaker fixed at the top of the cabin. Unfortunately, the volume was not very loud and it was difficult to hear it, as the sound of the rain hitting the roof was quite distracting.
After about fifteen minutes the ride was over, and with it my time in Osaka. It is an interesting city without a doubt, and there are more points of interest that are worth exploring, but I felt it was time for me to move on to another place.