Osaka Castle
Yesterday Steve played hooky and we took a train or two into Osaka to see the castle. Once again, the castle grounds were huge and my feet started to swell by the end of the day. And it was hot as hell, I think I got pretty cranky by dinner time.
There's a nice park with a fairly large band stand with a fair amount of seating (there were bands playing that day) a baseball park and what appears to be the remains of a forest. There is also a rather nice jinja on the grounds. Since there is some walking from the train to the castle, we decided to check out the wooded area.
The castle itself is something of a surprise and I started to think about something. You know, I doubt that you could actually find a structure here in Japan that is much older than the oldest structures in the USA. Everywhere you go there are signs describing the reconstruction of this ancient bit of architecture. Reconstruction made necessary by frequent fires and wars. Most of the structures at these "ancient" sites are at best only a couple of hundred years old. Not to mention the Japanese tendency to tear down temples and jinjas once in a while, only to rebuild it anew.
The castle is pretty new. The exterior looks very old, but once you get in it is completely modern. Not much photo ops in the castle, like many sites taking photos are forbidden. There were great looking and modern educational av tools, but all were in Japanese. The signs were both in Japanese and English though.
But the museum shop didn't have a single book on the castle and it's history. Despite the fact the one or two of the displays showed books with a price tag!! Did I mention the lack of museum catalogs printed in English? Most site I have been to print their catalogs in many languages, including Japanese and Chinese. Considering the proximity, you would think they would at least print a Chinese version.
I think I would have enjoyed this day trip more if it were Spring or Autumn. It's just too hot to run around trying to figure out trains in foreign languages and figuring out maps that are not to scale. I can't seem to find a map that is to scale. You would think, given their reputation for detailed and precise thinking that they would be able to make tourist maps to scale. At least the station stops are in romajii. Last time I was in Japan, most of the stations were not.
There's a nice park with a fairly large band stand with a fair amount of seating (there were bands playing that day) a baseball park and what appears to be the remains of a forest. There is also a rather nice jinja on the grounds. Since there is some walking from the train to the castle, we decided to check out the wooded area.
The castle itself is something of a surprise and I started to think about something. You know, I doubt that you could actually find a structure here in Japan that is much older than the oldest structures in the USA. Everywhere you go there are signs describing the reconstruction of this ancient bit of architecture. Reconstruction made necessary by frequent fires and wars. Most of the structures at these "ancient" sites are at best only a couple of hundred years old. Not to mention the Japanese tendency to tear down temples and jinjas once in a while, only to rebuild it anew.
The castle is pretty new. The exterior looks very old, but once you get in it is completely modern. Not much photo ops in the castle, like many sites taking photos are forbidden. There were great looking and modern educational av tools, but all were in Japanese. The signs were both in Japanese and English though.
But the museum shop didn't have a single book on the castle and it's history. Despite the fact the one or two of the displays showed books with a price tag!! Did I mention the lack of museum catalogs printed in English? Most site I have been to print their catalogs in many languages, including Japanese and Chinese. Considering the proximity, you would think they would at least print a Chinese version.
I think I would have enjoyed this day trip more if it were Spring or Autumn. It's just too hot to run around trying to figure out trains in foreign languages and figuring out maps that are not to scale. I can't seem to find a map that is to scale. You would think, given their reputation for detailed and precise thinking that they would be able to make tourist maps to scale. At least the station stops are in romajii. Last time I was in Japan, most of the stations were not.