Asia Travel Guide

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Osaka
OSAKA, Japan's third largest city after Tokyo and Yokohama, is a vibrant metropolis, inhabited by famously easy-going citizens with a taste for the good things in life. Osaka is an international city and one of the oldest in Japan and owes its prosperity to its predecessors' forward-looking approach in urban development. Osaka is still growing in the 21st century as an international city with an enterprising spirit and respect for freedom.
Osaka also feels a more welcoming place for foreigners. It has Japan's largest community of Koreans and a growing gaijin population. There's also a willingness to face up to uncomfortable social issues, exemplified by the city's admirable civil rights museum, Liberty Osaka, which among other things focuses on Japan's untouchables, the Burakumin.
Fact
Area Code: 81-06 Time Zone: GMT + 09:00 Electricity: 220V, 50HZ
Airport: Kansai International Airport (KIX) Distance: 55 km from the city center
Average Temperature (oF)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
42.5 42.5 48.5 59 67.5 74.5 82 84 77 66 56 47
Tourist Attraction
Aerial Garden Osaka Castle Twin Towers City Hall on Nakanoshima lsle
Other Attraction
Shopping: Shinsaibashi department stores    
Night Life: Dotombori Hard Rock Caf¨¦ Balabushka  
Gala Event
Aqua Liner
 
Aerial Garden
The Aerial Garden Observatory is on the 40th floor of the building and enjoy full view of the city of Osaka
Opening Hours:   Recommended Time for a Visit: 2 - 3 Hours
¡¡   Distance to City Center: KM
Osaka Castle
Construction on Osaka Castle (Osakajo) 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.
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 was built. Major repair works gave the castle new glamor in 1997.
Inside the castle is a museum that documents Toyotomi Hideyoshi's life and the history of the castle
Opening Hours: 9:00 am-5:00 pm
 Recommended Time for a Visit: 2 - 3 Hours
¡¡ Last admission to the Main Tower is at 4:30pm Distance to City Center: KM