Osaka Japan,Osaka Travel Guide

Osaka Travel Guide
Osaka Japan : If Tokyo is Japan's capital, one might call Osaka its anti-capital. With what you will call it so, however, is left much open to your own findings upon the visit to the city. Veiled much with a commercial-centric city touch, you may as well start from picking up the lively intonation of Osaka dialect, heard from the people as you ride on the escalators standing on the right, instead of the left in Tokyo; then discovering the contrast of popular food to eastern Japan, as you look for places to lunch. The deeper you get inside, and at the end of your stay, it is not completely impossible that you may have compiled your own original list of reasons covering from history, culture, sports, to business.

Osaka Japan : Osaka Castle
Osaka's best known sight, although it's a concrete reconstruction that pales in comparison with, say, Himeji <http://wikitravel.org/en/Himeji>. Still, it's pretty enough from the outside, especially in the cherry blossom season when Osakans flock to the castle park to picnic and make merry. Open 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM daily, adult admission ?600 (Children up to middle school free). Closed at the end and beginning of the year. The park can be accessed on a number of lines, but the castle is closest to Osaka- Koen station on the JR Osaka Loop Line. Naniwa Palace Site Park or Naniwanomiya can also be found south to Osaka Castle Park (although it's one of Japan's oldest habitats and palace sites, today it's little more than an empty grass field where the outlines of Naniwa's palace foundations from around 643 AD have been partly recreated in concrete). Admission fee is only required to enter the actual castle, and entry to the castle park and surrounds is free.

Osaka Japan : Osaka Museum of History
1-32 Otemae 4-Chome Chuo-ku Open 9:30AM-5PM (on Fri 9:30AM-8PM) Closed Tue but on Wed instead if Tue is a Holiday (5min walk from subway Tanimachi 4-chome Station but also accessible via Osaka Castle or from JR Osaka-j? Station) An ideal place to learn all-abouts of Osaka's history. Enjoyable view over Osaka Castle and the OBP skyscrapers. Admission: ?600

Osaka Japan : Umeda Sky Building
<http://www.skybldg.co.jp/>. 1-1-20 Oyodonaka, Kita-ku (10 min on foot from JR Osaka or Hankyu Umeda), Built in an attempt to upgrade Osaka's somewhat downbeat Kita district, the project wasn't quite the hoped-for commercial success but this bizarrely shaped 40-story, 173-meter building is still a city landmark. Take the escalator through midair to the rooftop observatory for an open-air view of Osaka, which is particularly impressive on a clear night. Observatory admission ?700, open 10 AM to 10:30 PM daily (entry until 10 PM, varies by season). The basement features a recreation of a Meiji-era street, with a few small restaurants and bars in appropriate style

Osaka Japan : Sumiyoshi Taisha
one of Japan's oldest Shinto shrines, with a history stretching back 1800 years. Its traditional architecture is unusual amongst Japan's shrines, and its park-like surroundings with the sacred bridge arching over a tranquil pond make it a restful break from the busy environment of Osaka. Best of all, it's free! Access is from the Nankai line station of the same name; local trains run from Namba station in central Osaka.

Osaka Japan : Japan Mint
Temma Kita-ku (15 min by walk from subway Temmabashi Station), [7] <http://www.mint.go.jp/eng/menu/index_e.html>. It's not widely known even by people from elsewhere in the country that Japan Mint is actually headquartered in Osaka. For Osakans, Sakura-no-trinuke , cherry blossom tunnel road) is a synonym for this facility, attracting a large number of visitors (close to 1 million in just 7 days) during a limited, planned week of mid-Apr. A must-see if you are fond of nature and happen to drop into Osaka in season. Admission free. Check for official announcement beforehand.

Osaka Japan : Osaka dates back to the Asuka <http://wikitravel.org/en/Asuka> and Nara <http://wikitravel.org/en/Nara> period. Under the name Naniwa , it was the capital of Japan from 683 to 745, long before the upstarts at Kyoto <http://wikitravel.org/en/Kyoto> took over. Even after the capital was moved elsewhere, Osaka continued to play an important role as a hub for land, sea and river-canal transportation. (See "808 Bridges" infobox.) During the Tokugawa era, while Edo (now Tokyo) served as the austere seat of military power and Kyoto was the home of the Imperial court and its effete courtiers, Osaka served as "the Nation's Kitchen" , the collection and distribution point for rice, the most important measure of wealth. Hence it was also the city where merchants made and lost fortunes and received repeated cheerfully ignored warnings from the shogunate to reduce their conspicuous consumption.
During Meiji era, Osaka's fearless entrepreneurs took the lead in industrial development, making it the equivalent of Manchester <http://wikitravel.org/en/Manchester> in the U.K. A thorough drubbing in World War 2 left little evidence of this glorious past - even the castle is a ferroconcrete reconstruction - but to this day, while unappealing and gruff on the surface, Osaka remains Japan's best place to eat.

ALL ABOUT CAR ADVICE	ALL ABOUT GOLF GUIDE	CHILDCARE ADVICE	FASHION GUIDE	BEAUTY GUIDE
BUSINESS GUIDE	ALL ABOUT HOTEL ADVICE	DIGITAL CAMERA ADVICE	EDUCATION FOCUS	AIRLINE TICKET GUIDE