Tamatsukuri & Osaka Castle

This is going to be a post with less talking, more showing. Namely, it's going to be full of photos that I finally managed to download to my laptop ~

As I am trying to uphold some sort of chronological order here, I'll start with the local shrine in Tamatsukuri called literally Tamatsukuri Inari Shrine ("Inari" here refers to the type/name of the deity which this shrine is dedicated to, namely the fox god of harvest), which I literally just ended up wandering into one afternoon, as I attempted to walk to Osaka Castle. I also found out a fascinating tidbit regarding how Tamatsukuri itself was named and why. I found it a pretty cool historical fact. (Check out the picture of an information board with lots of text.)

After I was satisfied with my wandering, I headed to Osaka-jo, or Osaka Castle in English, and found out that even though it looks damn cool, and so is the history, the building nowadays called 'Osaka Castle' is but a museum build on the place of the old castle and depicts the history of the old castle, but does not look like the actual castle inside at all. Outwardly it is pretty stunning though. And although i is surprisingly high, 8 floors, it is not very big inside. Still, worth going definitely, even the grounds, park and moat were stunning sights.

Additional info: at least during late-summer/early-autumn in Osaka Castle park there is a night illumination show which I recommend! I unfortunately was at the grounds too early to actually see it at its' best, but I did see the staff building it up during the daytime.

Under are 31 photos of Osaka Castle, the moats and the park so please be patient while looking through them! They're in the chronological order so at first there is the park and moat before I actually entered the inner yard and after that are the glorious pictures of the picturesque and glittering Osaka Castle. After there are my scenic photos from the sightseeing deck on the 8th floor of the castle and the last picture (the 31st) is the one with hanging trees on the side of the moat.

(There are multiple photos in this, click the difficult-to-see arrow on the right to see more pictures.)

I have to admit, sightseeing alone is a mysterious feeling. It is both exciting and boring at the same time and I still can't completely figure it out how that can be. Being alone means I have no schedule, no need to worry what my company would want and absolutely no need to stress even if it becomes late or I missed the timing for something. It leaves me with time to enjoy the sights in quiet, pay attention to what I want and ignore what I don't care for. But at the same time, I have no one to speak about the things I have seen, no one to get excited about anything nor no one to keep me on schedule or give me courage to enter places I wouldn't dare to enter alone.

Lastly, I suggest you never ignore the gift shops, even though they are over-priced more often than not. It's an unique opportunity to get something to remember the experience by, beside the photos. Also, I prefer to buy something that I know I couldn't buy anywhere else, or is actually useful so that I am not only buying stupid stuff that will end up in the trash or behind a cupboard eventually. This time I bought a black magatama-shaped keychain with a golden drawing of the Osaka Castle. It looks cool, helps me not only remember the castle but also Tamatsukuri, the area where my hotel was, and the magatama-shape is unique to Japan. Although it is a keychain. Luckily I use a lot of keychains :)

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