First of all, I would like to wish all my readers Ramadhan Mubarak. Hope everyone is making the most of Ramadhan, insyaAllah.

This week I’m going to complete my final 3 posts of the “long overdue” Kyoto and Osaka Trip posts. To recap on my previous #KyotoAkuDatang post, head on to this page.

Osaka city was our final pit stop before heading back to KL. Our “main meal” of the trip was Kyoto and we love our 2.5 days in Kyoto so Osaka was more of relax, dine and shop kind of destination for us. Don’t get me wrong, Osaka has hundreds of tourists attractions from castles to temples but we had enough of sightseeing after Kyoto and decided to just take it easy.
Nevertheless we did utilise our free passes to check out two attractions in Osaka — the Osaka Castle and Umeda Sky Building.
Osaka Castle is one of the most famous landmarks of Osaka. It is so famous that you would most probably see a picture of Osaka Castle on many tourism collaterals promoting the city. We went there early in the morning to enjoy the nice walking weather.

The Osaka Castle, the original structure built in 1583 but was destroyed, rebuilt, caught fire, rebuilt, destroyed and finally in 1931 present ferro-concrete reconstruction of the castle tower was built.

Head on to Japan-Guide for history of Osaka Castle.

The Osaka Castle tower can be accessed from different sides so make sure you get off at the right train station to avoid long walk. We learn that the hard way! Not that it was too bad as the long walk allowed us to check out the Osaka Castle Park, a large area of greenery surrounding the castle.

I like how important part of history is being preserved despite modernisation. A blend of greenery, skyscrapers and ancient building is always nice to have in modern cities.

For those that love unique manhole covers, plenty of different ones can be seen in this area.

There’s a fee to enter the museum inside the castle’s tower but it is part of most sightseeing/travel/train passes. If it’s not part of it, I would recommend just skipping it and enjoy the castle from the park.

We went in, took the lift and enjoy a bit of history lessons inside the tower.

View from the top of the tower.

After the long (and quite tiring) walk at Osaka Castle, we wanted to make use of our passes to check out another attraction. I wanted to have a glimpse at Osaka’s skyscrapers and the urban side of the city so we went on to Umeda Sky Building.

Famous for its unique architectural design, this 12th tallest building in Osaka is worth a visit if you love tall and modern structures. Fees apply if you want to check out the Floating Garden Observatory but for us its part of our sightseeing pass.

View from the 173m high garden. Love the bridges and buildings.

Skyscrapers.

The lock thingy is everywhere lah!

For those who love architecture and engineering, this building should be in your to-see list if you visit Osaka.

Need some quiet time to enjoy the view?

Our travel pass gave us free access to more than 30 sightseeing sites within Osaka but we had enough for the day.

A quick stop at Loft’s to check out this cool shop and buy some souvenirs.