This past Saturday some friends and I went to Osaka Castle Park where we got to go inside the famous Osaka-jo (Osaka Castle). If you are planning a trip to Japan and are going to be in the Osaka area seeing this castle is a MUST. The castle and surrounding area are absolutely beautiful and you get to experience some of Japans history and traditional culture. The park contains traditional Japanese gardens complete with koi fish where we saw many tourist and Japanese taking walks and enjoying the surroundings. There are also some tourist type shops, street performers and food stands selling delicious grilled squid on a stick! Yummmm!

As for the castle itself you can purchase a ticket for about 6000 yen to actually go inside the castle where there is a museum of the castles history. Most of the exhibits have information available in both Japanese and English which was great. On the 8th floor is a balcony where you can view almost the entire city of Osaka. It was breathtaking. It is definitely worth the time to check out this amazing place.