![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fnerk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Cyu5FeMQ.jpg\")
<\/a>\nThere’s a reason it’s a major tourist attraction, after all – it’s pretty awesome.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0tenshu<\/em>, or main building seen here dates from (checks notes) 1931.\u00a0 But it’s a reasonable concrete and steel reconstruction of the original one built in 1630.\u00a0 And the walls and grounds are largely original.<\/p>\n And the grounds are pretty big – from the subway stop it’s quite a long walk to the castle itself.\u00a0 But there’s lots to see along the way.<\/p>\n That’s a LUDICROUS oversimplification, of course.\u00a0 The museum also didn’t have a lot to say about Toyotmi’s repeated failures to conquer Korea, for some reason.\u00a0 But it was still a really well done set of exhibits, and I would recommend it for anyone visiting Osaka with even a passing interest in Japanese history.<\/p>\n After the tour, we had lunch at a nearby rooftop restaurant.\u00a0 REALLY nearby.<\/p>\n This building is still on the castle grounds, and has signs to ward off the instagrammers who aren’t actually there for a meal.\u00a0 Or to get married, as was clearly about to happen to someone in the near future.<\/p>\n Lunch consumed, we decided to go check out some art museums further down the river.\u00a0 But first we had to get out of the castle grounds, another long, scenic, but substantially warmer walk, compared to the walk in.<\/p>\n And then when we finally got inside, we realized the museum was absolutely PACKED. Something like a thousand people waiting in various queues for different entry times.\u00a0 What was happening?\u00a0 Was there a celebrity here?<\/p>\n Turns out there was:<\/p>\n In case you’re curious, here’s the Google translation of the inventory:<\/p>\n 1st Plate<\/p>\n Smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich 2nd Plate<\/p>\n “Girl with a Pearl Earring” shortbread 3rd Plate<\/p>\n Girl with a Pearl Earring (Chocolate) It was excellent.<\/p>\n But we had not yet seen any ART, so we decamped to the museum next door, where there was a large display of contemporary art. Which was naturally far less crowded.<\/p>\n By this point it was getting on towards late afternoon, so there weren’t any other great prospects for museums that would be open much longer.\u00a0 So we decided to walk through a somewhat less touristy neighborhood north of the museums to go find another destination geocache. Said cache was in a nice quiet neighborhood park, with kids playing baseball. Just a great chance to BE in Osaka without touristing, if you catch my drift.<\/p>\n We did also find the cache, but we were absolutely DEVOURED by mosquitoes in the process.<\/p>\n For dinner we went to a group of restaurants under the famous Umeda Sky building.\u00a0 They’re in a set of hallways designed to evoke a Showa-era street.\u00a0 We went to one that serves omakase kushi-katsu, which was great fun.\u00a0 Kushi-katsu is basically things deep fried on sticks. Omakase is “you pick.”<\/p>\n Combined, it meant that we sat at a counter where we were provided with an assortment of dips, and the chef just kept frying things on sticks and handing them to us until we told him to stop.<\/p>\n It was now fully dark, and since we were in the basement of something called the “Umeda Sky Building,” it only made sense to go up into the “sky” part of the building to enjoy the view.<\/p>\n You take an elevator MOST of the way up, and then a fancy escalator from one side of the building to the other to finish the trip.<\/p>\n And then once you’re at the top, the view is pretty stellar.<\/p>\n And at this point, it was time to stagger back to our hotel.\u00a0 We did a much better job Osakaing this time.<\/p>\n Finally we were going to get a full day in Osaka uninterrupted by typhoons. And as unimaginative as it seems, we decided to go to the major tourist attraction that is Osaka Castle. There’s a reason it’s a major tourist … Continue reading <\/a> <\/a>
\nOnce you get to the castle, the interior is a museum, primarily about the second of the three “great generals” in Japanese history, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. That’s the one who rushed to get in position to take over after general number one died, and then after his death had his son supplanted on the throne by general number three.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nBy the time we got to the train station, we were absolutely melting. We reached the art museum and stopped to appreciate the fact that it’s basically a Borg cube, before dashing into the AC.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nHowever, a whole lot of locals were lined up ahead of us to see her, and the odds of getting a same day ticket were approximately zero.\u00a0 So we did the next best thing – we went to the museum restaurant and had a Vermeer themed high tea instead:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\ntomato open sandwich
\nHam and cheese hot sandwich
\nOpen-faced sandwich with nuts and figs
\nscone<\/p>\n
\nDiana and the Nymphs shortbread
\nBockenpoches
\nStroopwafel-style cookies
\nPistachio Financier
\nApple tartlets
\nOrange and Earl Grey Chocolate<\/p>\n
\nGirl with a Pearl Earring Macaron
\nopera
\nDragon Egg Mini Cream Puffs
\nBlueberry pound cake
\nVerrine d’\u00e9t\u00e9<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nFolks don’t know what they’re missing, frankly.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nThe big ceramic fish are for the used sticks.\u00a0 I don’t remember everything we had, but there was definitely shrimp, scallops, lotus root, asparagus, and beef, among other things.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"