Osaka seems to have all the typical Japanese tourist attractions without having to deal with the size and travel times of Tokyo.  The Osaka castle is much more impressive than the portion of the imperial grounds that is normally open to the public.

From Fuji we traveled by Shinkansen, 300 km/hr trains, to Osaka.  This is a great way to travel with to the minute scheduling, no security, lazy boy sized seats, WIFI if you want it, easy connections to Metro and something besides clouds to see out the from the expansive non-porthole windows.

Once in Osaka we were within a block of our apartment but couldn’t find it.  Our hosts had put the pin in the wrong spot and had sent an email the day before check-in with instructions – useless if you don’t have continuous connection to the internet.  Luckily we found a travel agency who let us use their phones for almost 30 minutes before we finally got the instructions and codes to get in.   The next day we had to travel across the city to their office to pay in person despite booking online. Stupid…

no host at hotel

sending guide one day early

shitty check-in plan

Our first day we had McDonald’s for breakfast and then headed to the Osaka Castle.  The original burned down in 1868 but was reconstructed in the 1960s.  It was very busy with many Japanese tourists but we don’t really look at the same things as they do so they didn’t impede our progress too much.

Seedy hotel spot

Golden Arches, pay hotel

Osaka Castle

 

We also booked a walking tour through Osaka.  It was a great way to see a few of the out of the way sights in Japan and have an actual Japanese person to talk to and ask questions of for a few hours.