Uncle Ric gets a tour of Osaka

Neice and nephew Reo and Daichi prepare to photograph the photographer on the grounds of Osaka castle.

My wife's sister and brother-in-law were waiting downstairs in the lobby and we walked with them to the parking garage across the street. The fifteen-minute stopover set them back six dollars. They had changed cars with one of their friends for the afternoon and were driving a very well equipped, late-model Toyota mini-van. A component stereo system was playing a local FM station and the GPS navigation system sat waiting for a destination to guide us to. The van also had all the accoutrements of a family with children, with toys, cloths and children's books scattered about and an assortment of food stains on the back seat.

Our niece and nephew had just been picked up from one of their first days of the school year (in Japan, school as well as most new careers begin in April). Their elementary school did not require uniforms, but they wore name tags pinned to their sweaters. Our niece proudly showed-off her new, red patent leather satchel.

Our planned destination was the Osaka aquarium, but because we were able to get such an early start, our hosts decided to take us to the Osaka castle first. We slowly made our way across the city, crawling through the thick, mid-afternoon traffic. We hopped onto a toll road for one short stretch. The brief break from traffic lights cost over seven dollars. Driving in Japan remains an expensive luxury.

Osaka is a huge city. Even when we took the glass-walled elevator of our hotel to the top, eighteen floors up, it filled the distance to the hazy horizon. Some of the city is quite beautiful. Some of it is not. Unlike Kyoto, it was not a place my wife wanted us to wander though by ourselves, so we never went any farther than the station (which, in spite of first impressions, represented only the smallest of neighborhoods in the huge urban expanse of Osaka).

An Urban Castle

A cyclist observes the cherry blossom revelers outside Osaka Castle.

Like any large, great city, Osaka is capable of providing its visitors with more than a few surprises. When it seemed like we would be traversing the narrow streets forever, we turned a corner and were greeted by a huge, tree-lined park. At its center were the massive stone walls, wide moat and distinctive architecture of a medieval Japanese castle. The gold-trimmed roof of a tall, pagoda-shaped tower rose from within. We turned into a long and wide driveway and parked amid the blossoming cherry trees. Everywhere under the trees were groups of office workers taking the afternoon off, following the tradition of celebrating this seasonal event. Portable karaoke systems were often the centerpiece of the gatherings and large quantities of food, saki and beer were being shared by the coworkers sitting on large vinyl mats.

To put it bluntly, the imposing defenses of the Osaka Castle made Kyoto's Nijo Castle look like a summer camp. However, both possessed a unique and magnificent beauty. The difference was that Osaka Castle provided it on an awe-inspiring scale. The perfectly carved stones that made up the castle's hundred-foot, turreted outside walls must have weighed hundreds of tons each. A moat as wide as the walls were tall completely surrounded the structure. Approaching from the west, the only access was provided by two drawbridges leading to heavily armored gates. Only when you got past this barrier, you would learn that the castle was actually a fortress within a fortress. Another tall, stone barrier lay within the first. The soft, white cherry blossoms and the foreboding gray stone walls created a fascinating visual dichotomy that must have existed throughout the castles long history.

The secondary walls surrounded what is now the Osaka City Museum, a large post-war building, the Osaka Castle Museum, housed in the large tower visible from outside the walls, a stretch of food and souvenir stands and two, wide plazas were various street performers were attracting large crowds. We slowly made our way to the foot of the tower, after pausing for a variety of photo ops with our niece and nephew along with ice cream and snacks under the lengthening late afternoon shadows.

The gilt-edged tower at the center of Osaka Castle is now a museum.

We started at the top floor of the museum that offered a commanding view of the castle and surrounding city from an observation walkway. I scanned the horizon for some of the uniquely shaped buildings that were near our hotel to orient myself, but they were nowhere to be seen. Even though we were still within Osaka, we were too far away and they were apparently blocked by closer and taller buildings. Once again, I was amazed by the city's size and breadth.

It is difficult to say which was more impressive, the beautifully refurbished castle museum or the remarkable collection it housed. They both painted a vibrant picture of the opulence, the power and even the violence of feudal times in western Japan. The tower was a building of breathtaking magnificence, yet its original function was primarily strategic. In the museum, alongside the delicate artwork and sumptuous furnishings of the shogunate, were examples of the terrifying armor and weapons of war from region's violent past.

Several of the floors had some of the most unique museum dioramas I've ever seen. They were three-dimensional models of various settings with motion video of costumed actors holographically projected into them. They played out short vignettes illustrating different aspects of life in and around the castle. The video and the models were integrated perfectly, right down to the video images of cherry blossoms falling from the model trees. The effect was quite striking.

There were also regular videos being shown in various locations in the museum. Several other Western tourists and I had stopped to watch a presentation of the castle's recent history. It included film of the severe damage to the castle and surrounding area caused by American bombers during World War II. I saw the guilt and shame I was feeling reflected in the faces of the others who were watching. I knew that America had the decency to avoid striking at Kyoto during the war (or at least it recognized the fact that there were no strategically valuable targets there). But it was deeply distressing to see what our bombs had done to the historic castle and the peaceful civilian neighborhoods that surrounded it.

An announcement over the PA in the museum told us that the museum would be closing shortly. I hadn't realized that we spent so much time inside. We rounded everyone up and began the walk back to the car. The street performers had begun packing up to leave, but outside the walls, many of the cherry blossom parties were still gathering momentum as the sake toasts continued.

As we drove out onto the city streets, I was beginning to realize how accustomed I was becoming to being in Japan. It is true that being a guest of friends and relatives and having very few personal responsibilities makes for one of the easiest kinds of tourism. But even though I was spending a considerable amount of times in cities (not normally my favorite environment), I was becoming quite comfortable, if not absolutely content, with where I was and the people I was with. I had feared a feeling of isolation due to my inability to communicate. But it didn't happen. I felt myself relaxing more and more each day and my thoughts rarely drifted back across the Pacific (which was quite the opposite of what I have been experiencing since my return).

Next: Plumbing the depths of Osaka Aquarium

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