Osaka Castle

Mike and I went to Osaka Castle. This castle has a lot of history and was destroyed numerous times by fire and during battles. Thus, the present castle was rebuilt from scratch and is very modern. Inside the castle there is a museum, shops, and even a built in elevator. These modern touches make it less appealing to me because it's not as authentic. From all the castles I have visited thus far in Japan, my favorite is still Hikone Castle. This castle is one of the few remaining original castles in Japan. There are no elevators inside or shops. You get to see what an actual castle looked like during the Edo period. I get to ride past it everyday when I teach at Hikone Nishi. :)
One of the cool things about Osaka Castle though was that it still has some remaining original stone walls. These walls are also unique in that they vary in different sizes. When they first built this castle they got stone walls from all over Japan's islands and even other countries. When I saw how large some of the stone walls were, I was amazed at how they could have carried those stone blocks thousands and thousands of miles. It kind of reminded me of the Egyptians and how they built the pyramids.