Osaka– category –

The Line Before the Gates — Osaka Castle's Nishinomaru Garden An hour before opening, there was already a line outside Nishinomaru Garden. My first thought: the main keep must be chaos. I'd spent the last half hour photographing the moat...

The monks fought back. For ten years, they held a fortress on this exact ground against the most powerful warlord Japan had ever produced. They survived sea blockades, artillery, and the full military weight of Oda Nobunaga — the man who...

The Man Who Knew "No way." I said it quietly, to no one. A Western man stood alone at the gate, holding up his phone—not toward the castle, not toward the skyline, but at a wooden pillar. A pillar that no one ever photographs. A pillar w...

Clear skies. Cherry blossoms at full bloom. A Sunday. I am not optimistic enough to expect Osaka Castle to be quiet under these conditions. But at 9:00 a.m., the moment the gates open, I walk straight toward the keep without breaking str...