osaka castle

last time we were in osaka, my in laws and her colleague went to osaka castle before going to universal studio. but since it was raining and we were tired, husband decided to skip osaka castle since he thought the kids wouldn't understand anyway. so, when i knew that we could go in osaka for this trip, the only definite agenda was osaka castle. i knew i had to go there.. so i told my husband, i didn't have any other plan in osaka beside osaka castle and kuromon ichiba market. and he was like okay.. we could decide later since osaka was the last city in our itinerary. anyway.. it was supposed to be rainy later that day, but thank God it was a sunny day in the morning. so i dragged my husband to go to osaka castle before it was raining. anyway... we've been using the kansai area pass for the last 4 days and it was expired so we decided to just buy separate tickets for the rest of the trip. but if you wanted to save some money, you could buy metro all day pass but you need to buy it beforehand and then got it from the airport. you couldn't buy it at the ticket machine in the station.

the walk and gardening stuff seller (no need the map.. just walk toward the castle)

the playground near starbucks

so.. you could get to osaka castle easily, but since we were from shinsaibashi station, we arrived at morinomiya station then we walked for quite some time to get to osaka castle. along the way we saw some area where people sold plants and gardening stuff. the flowers were very pretty but unfortunately i couldn't bring it home. and half way, i could see a big starbucks and before the starbucks was a kids playground. i saw some students playing over there. so if you brought your kids and they were tired afterward, you could bring them there to play in the playground while you take turn resting in starbucks. the walk toward osaka castle was quite far, and it involved several stairs. after the stairs, there was another walk a bit around and then across the bridge to finally get to the outer field. husband forced me to take some rest in the outer field before went in to the castle. oh well.. it was a chance to take a few photos though..  that day it was very crowded. there were a lot of students there. and as cute as it is, in japan, the rule was never take picture of the students, because it violated their privacy.

another view from the walk to the castle

i think there's a shrine nearby

anyway, the outer field was a big open space, so when it's raining, you would have to bring your own umbrella because i didn't see any bench under any shade. there was toilet at the outer field, but we didn't go there. there was a ticket vending machine on the right side (when you faced the castle, it would be on your northeast side). there was an english menu, so you could totally do it yourself. choose the right number of adult (or kids) and then put your payment and got the ticket. you had to hand out the ticket to the booth and got a booklet there as well. now, at the booth, i saw a sign "no stroller allowed in the castle today". well, before going in, i thought perhaps it was temporary. but after going in, i would say you shouldn't bring any stroller. there was another flight of stairs going up the castle. and as you went up, you got to decide whether to use the elevator or the stairs. you needed to wait in line to get in the elevator, but you could go upstairs instantly. and the elevator would only stop at the 5th floor and if you wanted to go up to 8th, you'd have to take the stairs and then use the stairs again to go down to the first floor. so, that's way i thought it wasn't wise to bring a stroller even though they allow it. better use your carriers.

crossing the bridge

osaka castle

yep.. me while waiting husband

anyway, the field was crowded, but there was a short line in the elevator line, so we decided to take the elevator. we didn't go up to the 8th, so we only explore from the 5th downward. anyway, you should follow the directions because it would lead you to circle the castle in uniform way so that when you've finished the whole floor, you could take the stairs to go the floor beneath you. and the stairs were separated, the upstairs and downstairs. the reason was the stair was quite narrow and only fit for an adult to pass, so if you took the wrong stair, you might jeopardize the flow. and you couldn't take any picture or video on the 3rd and 4th floor. and they put an officer to make sure anyone didn't violate the rule. on the last floor, you could take picture with the old japanese clothing in front of a green screen, and the green screen would change into osaka castle background. anyway.. there was a lot of information about japanese history especially the one involving osaka castle.

the ticket machine. 600 yen per adult

left to wait for the elevator, and right if you wanted to walk up the stairs

floor map

there was several toilets, but i didn't think they had both female and male toilet on the same floor. i totally forgot whether or not it had changing table, btu the toilet was clean as usual. anyway.. i think you could spend an hour or more in the castle. it was totally informational and it was up to you whether you want to see everything slowly or skip some things. there were not only displays and pictures, but also some videos as well. i think bigger kids could enjoy it, but smaller kids especially the ones that still couldn't read or understand english might not. but they display were pretty interesting with some clothing display and stuff, so probably they might enjoy it too.

another look from the side

lake around the castle

can you see the tiny boat?

anyway, there was this big lake surrounding the castle, and since we didn't take the same exit as the way we came from, we could see that you could ride a boat circling the castle. on the side of the castle there was another hall where you could watch magic show but at night only. you could also enjoy fine dining there as well. there were several stall selling snacks and of course lots of vending machine selling drinks, so you didn't need to worry when you were thirsty or hungry. i totally recommend visiting this castle as it's quite historic, but some mentioned that since the castle was not an original castle from the past, and it was rebuilt, they didn't like that this one had lost its authenticity. if you had similar view with those people, then you should head to another castle, himeji or another one which i couldn't remember the name.