Only four ancient castles remain standing from the imperial eras of Japanese history.

On our first day in Osaka, we visited one of these castles. The first thing to know about any good castle is that it’s built on the highest available elevation. The purpose was to see enemies coming from afar, and the castle itself can be seen during almost the entire climb toward its base.

[Osaka castle bridge]
It looks close, but the winding path is quite long

Osaka Castle is now a glorified museum, which closes in the evening. We were literally running late as we sprinted two miles uphill to make the admission time. Winded, we got to the castle only to climb up eight stories of stairs to the very top.

[Kasey Ben Mariam at the Castle base]
Mariam, Kasey, and Ben at the Castle’s base

Despite the climb, the view from the top is magnificent. Golden statues adorn the top corners and the entirety of the city can be seen below.

[Golden Fish]
Golden ornaments adorn the roof corners

[View from above]
Osaka from above

Unfortunately, the interior has been redone and made in to a museum, complete with holographs and HD video screens. Although this was interesting, I would have preferred a more authentic castle.

[Me and the castle]
Yeah, I conquered Osaka castle

The surrounding area and shrines are beautiful and peaceful. As always, huge stone statues guard the entrances and monumentalize the area.

[Lion and shrine]
Lions guard the temple

[Casey, sake casks, and I]
Casey and I chill on some traditional sake casks

[Zen rock]
A great place to meditate

Seeing a real castle is a cool experience. As an American, I feel like we don’t really have any truly historic buildings like these. After all, our country is only a few hundred years old, while Japanese society has essentially been in place for thousands of years.

Maybe we’ll get to visit a real castle later…