Day 2 of University Graduation Trip, Osaka on May 1, 2017
Second day of our graduation trip in Japan.
The plan of the day was to visit the sights in Osaka City, returning to our apartment for a party dinner, followed by Japanese-styled spa in the evening.
Since we won't be travelling much in Osaka City, my friends generally got up late today.
The images in this post are hosted on Imgur. Email me should there be any display problems.
Since this is a public post, usual components of graduation trip such as poker games, pillow fights, ghost stories won't be part of the post. By the way we used 1-Day Osaka Amazing Pass at 2500JPY for this day's transportation and attraction admissions.
Osaka Castle
Osaka Castle(大坂城) is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka. The 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. It used to be the palace for Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣 秀吉), while in 1614 Tokugawa Ieyasu(徳川 家康) defeated Toyotomi in the Siege of Osaka and claimed this castle. It's one of the Three Major Castles (link in Japanese) in Japan.
I liked the way my Nexus 6P phone managed clarity in this shot.
A closer look would find that all the moat water in Osaka Castle was piped in...
There were a lot of local schoolboys and girls on field trips that day, so it was quite a lively scene in Osaka Castle.
Otemon Gate was roughly the main entrance in Japanese cities and castles.
The first corner after Otemon Gate, a geological advantange for setting up archer ambush.
Like inner main gate, with views of Takoishi and Tenshukaku in the background.
The Takoishi (a kind of stone) has a height of 5.5M, width 11.7M and weighs about 130 tones. It's an offering from Tadao Ikeda(池田 忠雄, link in Japanese) residing in Okayama(岡山) Domain. The stone got this name for its slightly color left part that resembled an octopus. This is said to be the largest stone in the city of Osaka.
Tenshukaku
Tenshukaku of Osaka Castle was destoryed in an uprising during Edo period. The current structure was rebuilt in 1950.
So Tenshukaku today was a museum displaying arts and relics, and the stories of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣 秀吉) and Tokugawa Ieyasu(徳川 家康) and the battles between them.
And we covered our Tenshukaku ticket with our "Amazing Pass".
Toyotomi Hideyoshi used to worry that people would poison this well water, so he put gold in the well to de-poison it.
Fish is to keep the building from catching fire, tiger as a symbol of strength, flower should be some family emblem.
Garage Kit Exhibition in Tenshukaku
Battle between Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣 秀吉) and Tokugawa Ieyasu(徳川 家康).
Then we proceeded to the top of Tenshukaku for paranomical views of the city of Osaka.
Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarter
Downtown Osaka
Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarter, Osaka Museum of History and South Osaka
Southeast Osaka, with Mount Shigi barely visible in the distance.
Osaka Castle Hall and baseball field
Osaka Business Park
North Osaka
Northwest Osaka
After this, my friends and I decided to try out Osaka Castle Tour Boat in the photo(which was also covered in "Osaka Amazing Pass"). But since there were still time till the first available boat tour, we decided to head for nearby Osaka Business Park for lunch.
And surrounding Osaka Business Park.
鱼介豚骨面/Row 2 Column 3 on the ordering machine.
Everything's automated under Japan's high labor cost.
A sign of Japan's well-developed anime industry.
Oh, the same animation ad around Osaka Castle was the one I watched weekly.
With Osaka Business Park in the background.
At the same time, Google deemed that the moats for Osaka Castle was waterway, so I happily began my hunt of water-type Pokemons.
Barely visited walls under trees.
Osaka Castle Tour Boat
The whole Osaka Castle Tour Boat lasted 20 minutes while cruising along Inner Moat for Osaka Castle.
It's said that the Northeast Gate of Osaka City was "Ghost Gate", so this stone with human face was put here to exorcize evil spirits. But now its grains were weathered, so I hardly recognized this stone on the tour boat.
First the tour boat took us under this human-faced stone. Times passed and this stone didn't look very much different to the rest (then can it still fight off evil spirits?), so with the help of our boatman pointing + picture guide + my friend taking photos, I finally knew which was this special stone. And my friends were seriously doubtful about my cognition abilities.
The rest of the cruise was basically for us to take photos of Tenshukaku. According to the onboard audio guide, Osaka Castle's Inner Moat would look fabulous when it's cherry season (cry).
Inner Moat for Osaka Castle and Tenshukaku
With Osaka Business Park in the background.
My first stop of the day should be Nishinomaru Garden, but usually Nishinomaru Garden was closed on Mondays, so I walked past it in the morning. But later in the day my friends told me that since it's the Golden Week that followed, Nishinomaru Garden was open, so I walked back to pay it a visit.
Son of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣 秀吉), died at age 23.
Nishinomaru Garden
Nishinomaru Garden is famous for its 600 cherry trees (including someiyoshino) that bloom gloriously in spring. The night cherry blossom viewing event is held during blooming periods, accompanied by artificial lights and attracting a large number of viewers.
I searched online and found that during the blooming periods people flocked to Nishinomaru Garden, but now it's not cherry season and it's barely visited by people, with more gardeners than visitors. So I took it as a nide place to take pictures of Tenshukaku.
According to the brochure of "Osaka Amazing Pass", Ichitamon Turret was also open to visitors. But the fact was that I wasn't able to locate its entrance (I guessed it's closed for renovation). Since it's not early in the day, I decided to head back and begin preparing tonight's party.
After our party dinner we headed for Spa World, which was a Japanese-styled Onsen pool complex. The place was nice as we enjoyed it, it's just that the tickets we purchased online that were much cheaper than their walk-in price, which surprised me a little bit.
After an Onsen night some friends of mine decided to head for Umeda Sky Building Observation Deck for night views of Osaka city before it closed. So it was a metro rush and we reached it half an hour before it closed.
Umeda Sky Building Observation Deck
Umeda Sky Building didn't have a very high observation deck (just 150 meters), but since it surrounding buildings weren't high either, there were still some nice views.
And it got flat railings, on which I can place my camera for long exposures, and that's good.
The design of this escalator hanging in the air was fabulous, just too much metal support on its exterior.
Waxing crescent in the sky.
After leaving Umeda Sky Building we just wandered back to the subway station, and took the subway back to our apartment to end the day.
A gloriously decorated modern structure lined with shops.
Frozen noodles from convenience store, reality quite different from the package pictures.
END