The Tempozan Ferris Wheel was the worlds largest ferris wheel between 1997-1999. An interesting feature of Tempozan Ferris Wheel are the lights on its arms that predict the weather for the following day. If the lights are orange sunny weather is forecast, green equals cloudy, and blue signifies rain.  We were fortunate enough to see the wheel with orange lights indicating a sunny day ahead.


Osaka Castle was built as a display of power by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.  One hundred thousand workers worked for over 3 years to construct the castle, finishing the job in 1583. However the present structure is a 1931 concrete reconstruction of the original which was refurbished in 1997.

We started from the top floor to see a great view overlooking Osaka. We moved down each level but it was hard to grasp the history as it was mostly in Japanese. There were videos which helped.

Osaka Castle, the grounds of which was the estate of the Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the first man to unite all of Japan under one rule in 1590 after around 100 years of civil war. He rose from being a peasant to being one of the most powerful men in Asia at that time, the most powerful man in Japan, and one of the most powerful men in Japanese history.

After Toyotomi's death, Japan fell into more chaos when war broke out between Toyotomi supporters and the Tokugawa clan. Eventually, the Tokugawa clan lead by the patriarch of the clan, Ieyasu, and his son, the reigning Shogun of Japan, Hidetada, defeated the Toyotomi clan in 1614, destroyed the original Osaka castle, and ordered a new castle be built on the same grounds. The castle has a long and complex history but it was fascinating to learn a bit more about it.