Osaka Trip Part 4: Osaka Castle Park

[Introduction]

I traveled to Osaka in late September. This was my first visit to Osaka except for business trips. There are several things I missed doing, so I would like to revisit Osaka in the future. In this article, I will write about Osaka Castle Park as part of Day 2.

[Visit Places (series of articles)]
* Day 1: Umeda
* Day 1: Nakanoshima
* Day 1: Nakanoshima (Light-up)
* Day 2: Osaka Castle [This article]
* Day 2: Abeno Harukas
* Day 2: Shinsekai
* Day 2: Abeno Harukas (Light-up)
* Day 3: Sumiyoshi Shrine
* Day 3: Namba
* Day 3: Amerikamura and Namba
* Day 3: Namba (Light-up)
* Day 4: Expo’70 Commemorative Park
* Day 4: Expo’70 Commemorative Park
* Day 4: Umeda
* Day 4: Umeda (Light-up)
* Day 5: Kaiyukan
* Day 5: Tempozan Marketplace
* Day 5: GLION MUSEUM & Return Home

[Travel Date]
2018.09.22-26

[Main Part]

Breakfast in Hotel Granvia Osaka

It was the second day of my Osaka trip. To begin with, I will have breakfast at Hotel Granvia Osaka where I stayed.

I chose Hotel Granvia Osaka mainly because of its variety of breakfast menu (- 100 kinds of Japanese and Western buffet menu) as well as its convenient location (- the hotel is directly connected to JR Osaka station).

Here are some photos from its buffet menu.

Here are what I had today.

Go to Osaka Castle!

On the second day morning of the Osaka trip, I am going to Osaka Castle Park. On the way from the hotel to the nearest station (Higashi Umeda station), I took several snap photos.

First, JR Osaka station (south exit).

Hankyu Department store.

Hanshin department store.

I moved from Higashi Umeda station to Tanimachi 4-chome station by Osaka Metro Tanimachi Line. When I went out of the station and passed through Osaka International Cancer Institute, I found the sky was impressive.

Osaka Castle Park

I walked for about 5 minutes and reached the gateway of Osaka Castle Park.

“Sengan Turret”, which was built to protect Ote Gate.

At the beginning, I will watch “Nishinomaru Garden”.

You can see Osaka Castle tower over there.

There was “Osaka Geihinkan (Guest House)” in “Nishinomaru Garden”.

“Osaka Geihinkan (Guest House)” is used for wedding and banquet. In addition, APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting was held here before.

Here are some photos inside the building.

Mascot character!?

I came to Hokoku shrine.

Hokoku shrine was built in 1879 in honor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

In the shrine, there was a statue of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

There were several stalls around Hokoku shrine.

I will head for Osaka Castle tower.

Osaka Castle tower came into my sight.

On the right side, there was “MIRAIZA OSAKA-JO”.

“MIRAIZA OSAKA-JO”, which used to be a Japanese military’s divisional headquarters, is a commercial facility. It has souvenir shops, restaurants and cafes.

I will move up to Castle tower.

Osaka Castle tower is open to public as a museum. While taking photos are prohibited in some areas, I took photos where taking pictures are allowed.

View from the observatory.

I will leave Osaka Castle tower.

This was “Gokuraku Bridge”.

When I passed through the bridge, I just happened to see “Gozabune (御座船)”, a cruise ship.

Here are other shots of “Gozabune (御座船)” with “Gokuraku Bridge” and Osaka Castle tower.

There were also “Road Trains” in the park.

Other snaps.

Then, I will move further and have lunch in “JO-TERRACE OSAKA”. Due to the volume in the article, I will write about it in the next post.

[Closing]

That’s it for the article about Osaka Castle Park as part of Day 2.

When there are any castles in my travel destinations, I try to visit them as much as possible. Osaka Castle is one of Japan’s most famous landmarks and it played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. If you are interested in Japanese history, I would recommend you visit it 🙂

In the next article, I will write about Abeno Harukas as part of Day 2.

[Map]

1 Hotel Granvia Osaka
2 Osaka Castle Park

I would appreciate it if you could share my article via the following SNS buttons.