Osaka castle is probably the most impressive castle I've seen in Japan.  It's absolutely gorgeous, is set in beautiful grounds and has the most imposing double moat arrangement and enormous walls.

I spent a lot of time walking around taking pictures, enjoying the sunshine and enjoying the huge variety of people.

I'm pretty allergic to queues so I didn't bother joining this one to get into the castle.

I got to the castle by taking a subway from near my hotel to the main station and then taking a mainline train to a stop called Osaka Castle Park.  That seemed to be an optimum route though I discovered later on my way back to town that there is a service bus that would have done the job for me more effectively.  It doesn't seem terribly well publicised and I wondered given the enormous number of taxis at the main entry point to the castle whether this is an arrangement that suits the cabs nicely.

I got that bus back and it turned out to be a bonus bus because it dropped me more or less in the middle of a holiday weekend junket in Nakanoshima Park.  This is a relatively small area between two rivers that was covered in food stalls, amusement stalls, second-hand book stalls and the like.  It was teeming with people and music and general liveliness.  I lingered here and there, had a snack, watched some frenzied dancing, found a restaurant by a rose garden and scoffed some deep-fried shrimps screaming of garlic lying on a bowl of rice with salad trimmings.  It was all a very pleasant experience.

 

Tiny dogs in silly outfits being wheeled around in pushchairs I found verging on the repulsive though.