Osaka Castle

     The construction of Osaka Castle started in 1583 on the former site of the Ishiyama Honganji Temple, which had been destroyed by Oda Nobunaga thirteen years earlier.Toyotomi Hideyoshi intended the castle to become the center of a new, unified Japan under Toyotomi rule. It was the largest castle at the time.

However, a few years after Hideyoshi's death, Tokugawa troops attacked and destroyed the castle and terminated the Toyotomi lineage in 1615. Osaka Castle was rebuilt by Tokugawa Hidetada in the 1620s, but its main castle tower was struck by lightening in 1665 and burnt down.

It was not until 1931 that the present ferro-concrete reconstruction of the castle tower was built. During the war it miraculously survived the city wide air raids. Major repair works gave the castle new glamor in 1997. The castle tower is now entirely modern on the inside and even features an elevator for easier accessibility. It houses an informative museum about the castle's history andToyotomi Hideyoshi.

The castle tower is surrounded by secondary citadels, gates, turrets, impressive stone walls and moats. The Nishinomaru Garden, encompassing the former "western citadel", is a lawn garden with 600 cherry trees, a tea house, the former Osaka Guest House and nice views of the castle tower from below. Unlike most of the rest of the castle grounds, the garden requires an admission fee.

The entire Osaka Castle Park covers about two square kilometers with lots of green space, sport facilities, a multi-purpose arena (Osakajo Hall) and a shrine dedicated to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The park is one of Osaka's most popular hanami spot during the cherry blossom season, which usually takes place in early April.

My opinion:

Definitely worth a visit. The grounds are magnificent and the castle is awe-inspiring. Osakajou shows how far Japan as a society has come from its recent feudal past. And there are lots of little store that sale food around nice park to have a walk on a sunny day.

Namba

     Located around Namba Station, Minami is one of Osaka's two major city centers. It is the city's most famous entertainment district and offers abundant dining and shopping choices. The district is easily accessible as it is served by three train companies as well as three subway lines and a highway bus terminal. The other major city center is Kita which is located around Osaka and Umeda Stations.

My opinion:

Lots of brandnames store and others fashion goods made this place is the one interesting shopping area in Osaka. Surprisingly to see lots of brandname stores both sides of road. This area is connection to Shinsaibachi. And Namba is full with adult clubs mote so than neighborhood environment. Must visit at night after 10 which becomes even more alive with people. It feels very safe compare to kabukicho in tokyo

Dotonbori

One of Osaka's most popular tourist destinations, this street runs parallel to the Dotonbori canal. It is a popular shopping and entertainment district and is also known as a food destination. At night it is lit by hundreds of neon lights and mechanized signs, including the famous Glico Running Man sign and Kani Doraku crab sign.

Shinsaibashi Shopping Arcade

Shinsaibashi Shopping Arcade and the surrounding Shinsaibashi area is Osaka's premiere shopping center. Approximately 600 m long, this area is unique as it combines chain retail stores and trendy boutiques with expensive department stores and top designer fashion labels. My opinion: Shinsaibashi is a place for people who love shopping, they are so many shop on the streets and it like the whole place are shops, many kind of shop.  Namba Parks Built to resemble a natural canyon, Namba Parks is designed to be a break of nature amidst the sprawling urban landscape. It features a 120 tenant shopping mall including a cinema, amphitheater, and a rooftop garden. The 6th floor is made up of numerous restaurants including some Korean, Italian, and Vietnamese places.

Osaka

    

     With a population of 2.5 million, Osaka is Japan's third largest and second most important city. It has been the economic powerhouse of the Kansai region for many centuries.

     Osaka was formerly known as Naniwa. Before the Nara Period, when the capital used to be moved with the reign of each new emperor, Naniwa was once Japan's capital city, the first one ever known.

     In the 16th century, Toyotomi Hideyoshi chose Osaka as the location for his castle, and the city may have become Japan's capital if Tokugawa Ieyasu had not terminated the Toyotomi lineage after Hideyoshi's death and moved his government to distant Edo (Tokyo).

My opinion:

Good place to visit. You will see a lot of thing different from tokyo. And you don't miss Universal Studios Japan, Namba, Osakajou. They is a signature of Osaka.  

Nihonbashi

     Nihonbashi is a city district of Tokyo, just north of Ginza and northeast of Marunouchi and Tokyo Station. The bridge, after which the district is named, has been the kilometer zero marker for Japan's national highway network since the early Edo Period.

Formerly a wooden bridge, the Nihonbashi was reconstructed in stone during the Meiji Period, and was covered by an expressway in the 1960s. You can cross a partial 1:1 replica of the original wooden bridge in the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Ryogoku, while a half sized replica of the bridge connects the fourth and fifth floors of the International Terminal at Haneda Airport.

     As the "center of Japan", the Nihonbashi district has enjoyed much commercial prosperity over the centuries, and the area has flourished with bustling shops lining the streets and shipping canals (most of which have been filled in in the meantime). Many shops with centuries-long histories are still operating in the district today and make for pleasant strolls. During the Edo Period (1600-1867), the Mitsui family, one of the most powerful merchant families, opened a highly successful textile shop, the Echigoya, in Nihonbashi. Its successor, the Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi, became Japan's first department store and still stands in the district's center.

My opinion:
Nihonbashi is the traditional centre of Japan all distances were measured from the Japan Bridge. Today the bridge is overshadowed but there is some of the best shopping. Mitsukoshi should not to be missed. There is also plenty of interesting architecture.

Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi

     The first department store in Japan, construction of Mitsukoshi's current seven story flagship store was completed in 1935, and was later designated as a historic structure in 1999. There is an adjacent 10 story annex building that has direct connections on a few floors. It is possible to spend an entire day shopping here, and many of its shops are decidedly high end.

Coredo Muromachi

     Located just across the street from the Mitsukoshi department store, Coredo Muromachi is a newly redeveloped shopping and dining complex comprising of multiple elegant skyscrapers. The trendy area has a modern, yet traditional style inspired by the district's past. Many of its stores offer traditional goods and foods from across Japan, and some have operated in the district for many centuries.

Mitsui Memorial Museum

     The museum has elegant exhibition galleries in which objects are displayed from the art collection of the Mitsui family, the same family that opened the nearby Mitsukoshi department store. The museum was opened in 2005 and has regularly changing themed exhibitions and a reconstruction of a teahouse. It is located in the Mitsui Tower complex that also houses the Mandarin Oriental on its top floors.

Ueno

     Ueno Park is a large public park next to Ueno Station in central Tokyo. The park grounds were originally part of Kaneiji Temple, which used to be one of the city's largest and wealthiest temples and a family temple of the ruling Tokugawa clan during the Edo Period. Kaneiji stood in the northeast of the capital to protect the city from evil, much like Enryakuji Temple in Kyoto.

During the Boshin Civil War, which followed the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Kaneiji suffered nearly complete destruction in a battle between the victorious forces of the new Meiji government and loyalists of the overthrown shogunate. After the battle, the temple grounds were converted into one of Japan's first Western style parks and opened to the public in 1873. A statue of Saigo Takamori, one of the generals in the Battle of Ueno, stands near the park's southern entrance.



My opinion:
This is a nice park with wide walking areas. Best time to visit is in April/May for sakura. The water fountain presentation is epic and one of a kind unique. There is a few national museums inside the park and nice cafe and restaurants.

Kaneiji Temple

     During the Edo Period Kaneiji Temple was one of the largest and wealthiest temples in the city. It was destroyed during the Boshin War, and remnants of the original temple complex, such as its five storied pagoda and Toshogu Shrine, are scattered around the park. The current Kaneiji is a relatively unremarkable, small temple located in a quiet neighborhood near the northwest corner of Ueno Park.

Tokyo National Museum

     The oldest and largest museum in Japan, the Tokyo National Museum is made up of multiple buildings, each like a separate museum in itself. They house the largest collection of national treasures and important cultural items in the country.

Ueno Zoo

     Opened in 1882, Ueno Zoo is Japan's oldest zoo. Its most popular residents are giant panda bears, which first moved here in 1972 on the occasion of the normalization of relations between Japan and China. The zoo temporarily had no pandas after the death of Ling Ling in 2008, but received two new baby pandas in February 2011.

Shitamachi Museum

     Shitamachi is the name of the artisan and merchant part of old Tokyo. This nostalgic museum has exhibits and reconstructions that show what life was like in Tokyo from the late Meiji to early Showa Periods.

Asakusa

     

     Asakusa is the center of Tokyo's shitamachi (literally "low city"), one of Tokyo's districts, where an atmosphere of the Tokyo of past decades survives.

Asakusa's main attraction is Sensoji, a very popular Buddhist temple, built in the 7th century. The temple is approached via the Nakamise, a shopping street that has been providing temple visitors with a variety of traditional, local snacks and tourist souvenirs for centuries.

Asakusa can easily be explored on foot. Alternatively, you can consider a guided tour on a rickshaw (jinrikisha, literally "man powered vehicle"). A 30 minute tour for two persons costs around 9000 yen. Shorter and longer courses are also available..

My opinion:
You can feel deeply the Tokyo in past decades survives via the street, shops and restaurant. There are many shop stores which sell many tradition souvenirs and local snacks. And you can buy a huge of gifts for your family and friends and all of them can be packaged in Japanese style for free.

Sensoji Temple

     Sensoji ("Senso" is an alternative reading for Asakusa and "ji" means temple) is Tokyo's most famous and popular temple. Built in the 7th century, it is also one of its oldest, although the current buildings are postwar reconstructions.

Kaminarimon (Kaminari Gate)

 

     Kaminarimon is the first of two large entrance gates leading to Sensoji Temple. First built more than 1000 years ago, it is the symbol of Asakusa. The Nakamise shopping street leads from Kaminarimon to the temple grounds.

Nakamise Shopping Street 

     The Nakamise shopping street stretches over approximately 250 meters from Kaminarimon to the main grounds of Sensoji Temple. It is lined by more than 50 shops, which offer local specialties and the usual array of tourist souvenirs.

Shin-Nakamise Shopping Street

     Shin-Nakamise or "New Nakamise" runs perpendicular to the Nakamise Shopping Street. It is a covered shopping arcade lined by various shops and restaurants.

Sumida Park

     
     This riverside park stretches along both sides of Sumida River for several hundred meters. In spring it becomes a popular cherry blossom viewing spot, while on the last Saturday of July it becomes the site of the Sumida River Firework.

Akihabara

     Akihabara, also called Akiba after a former local shrine, is a district in central Tokyo that is famous for its many electronics shops. In more recent years, Akihabara has gained recognition as the center of Japan's otaku (diehard fan) culture, and many shops and establishments devoted to anime and manga are now dispersed among the electronic stores in the district. On Sundays, Chuo Dori, the main street through the district, is closed to car traffic from 13:00 to 18:00 (until 17:00 from October through March).

     Akihabara has been undergoing major redevelopment over the years, including the renovation and expansion of Akihabara Station and the construction of new buildings in its proximity. Among these newly opened buildings were a huge Yodobashi electronics store and theAkihabara Crossfield, a business complex with the aim of promoting Akihabara as a center for global electronics technology and trade.

My opinion:

This place is the center of anime. Most of the figures, songs, toys are selling here. If you are looking for low price figure you may look for 'Radio Kaikan'. And if you are looking for games, the 'Sofmap' is here for you. Ready you passport and VISA card for TAX refund and additional discount. 

Sofmap

     Sofmap operates 12 shops around Akihabara. In addition to their main store, they have many specialty branches that feature a type of item such as Apple products, CDs or games, as well as a number of outlets for used products such as used computers, cameras, CDs and software.

Yodobashi Camera

     The Shinjuku based discount electronic store giant Yodobashi Camera opened its huge Akihabara branch in September 2005. Unlike most other electronic shops, it is located on the east side of Akihabara Station. This branch offers one stop shopping for computers, games, watches and cameras, and sells tax free and international models.

My opinion:

If you want to buy some electronic device in Japan, this is the place where you must go. There are tons of stores and electronic things of everything.

Maid Cafes

     Maid cafes are cosplay themed restaurants where guests are served by waitresses that are typically dressed as French maids. In addition to serving food, the maids engage in conversation and games with the customers and treat them with the care and respectful language due to the master of a house. Maid cafes are popular with both men and women, and some cafes, like the @Home Cafe, offer English speaking maids.

Tokyo Anime Center

     The Tokyo Anime Center is found on the fourth floor of the UDX Building of Akihabara Crossfield. It stages anime related exhibitions, hosts anime related events and contains a shop selling toys, stationery and other souvenirs.