OSAKA, JAPAN: Osaka Castle & Museum

by Heather Hopkins Clement

I have to start with a confession; I’m a Japanese castle snob.  After seeing numerous castles throughout Japan, I simply am not a fan of recently reconstructed concrete castles.  So, if my cruise ship stopped at the port of Osaka for the day and I wanted to see a Japanese castle,without a doubt my first stop would be Himeji Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  As the prototypical Japanese castle, Himeji Castle is the most visited in all of Japan, and I highly recommend it.

On second thought, I guess I have another confession.  After having lived and worked in Osaka, I consider it my Japanese hometown, and the castle is an iconic symbol of the city.  The castle figures significantly in several major historical events of Japanese history in the feudal period.  So, for historical and sentimental reasons, I still think it is well worth a visit—it just would not be my first or one and only stop in the area.

Before I go into more specifics about the castle’s cultural and  historical significance, let me give you the basic info:

• Address:  1-1 Osaka-jo, Chuo-ku, Osaka City 540-0002
• Tel.:  +81-(0)6-6941-3044
• Hours:  9 AM  to 5 PM daily, but last entrance is at 4:30
• Admission:  600 yen for adults; free for children 15 and under; group discount available for group of 15+
• Accessibility:  Elevator available.  Restrooms are located on the second floor only.
• Website:  http://www.osakacastle.net/english/ (also available in Chinese and Korean)
• Time Required:  2 hours+

Osaka Castle is the backdrop for some pretty interesting historical events involving the so-called “Three Great Unifiers of Japan”:

• Oda Nobunaga
• Toyotomi Hideyoshi
• Tokugawa Ieyasu

The original castle was built in 1496.  During his campaign to unify the country, warlord Oda Nobunaga burned the castle to the ground in 1580.  His successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, rebuilt the castle.  Upon the death of Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, took control of the castle in 1615 as his consolidated his power to set up rule by Tokugawa shoguns for the next 250+ years.

The castle fell into disrepair throughout the next few centuries and was damaged by bombing raids on the city during WWII.  The current structure is a concrete facade. 

Inside the castle, you can view historical artifacts in the Osaka Castle Tower Museum.  If you make your way to the top of the castle tower, you can enjoy a panoramic view of the city from the observation deck that stands 50 meter above the ground.

The castle grounds are a nice place to people watch too.  In the early spring, it is a great place to view cherry blossoms, and you will see people out exercising and enjoying picnics together in the park.  You may want to try out a local delicacy from one of the street vendors.

How to get to Osaka Castle from Tempozan Pier:

Walk about 5 minutes to the nearest subway station, Osaka-ko, on the Chuo (Green) Subway line.  You will want to board the train on platform #1 to head towards the castle.

A. KAIYUKAN Aquarium
B. Market Place(shops and restaurants)
C. Giant Ferris  Wheel
D. Suntory Museum
E. Hotel Seagull Tempozan Osaka
F. Osaka Bay Cruise (Santa Maria)
G. Cruise to USJ port (Captain Line)
H. Tempozan Park including Mt. Tempozan, the lowest mountain in Japan
I. Cruise to Kobe, Shodoshima island and Takamatsu in Shikoku island
J. Tourist Information
K. KAIYUKAN Information (on the second floor of Entrance Building)
A - G, J and K: Tempozan Harbor Village

From there, the fastest route is the take the green line to Tanimachi-4-chome (about 30 minutes).  From that station, take the closest exit to the castle—Exit 1B.  It’s about a 20 minute walk from there, so this is a good opportunity to interest with the locals to make sure you are headed in the right direction.

You can also take a slightly longer, more circuitous route to view the city from your train en route.  To do so, take the Chuo (Green) Subway line from Osaka-ko to Bentencho.  From there, you will need to purchase a second ticket to ride on the JR Osaka Loop lLne to Osaka-jo Koen (Osaka Castle Park) station.  From here, you will still have another 20 minute walk.

FUKUOKA, JAPAN: Dazaifu’s Tower of the City (Tofuro)

GATEWAY TO JAPAN:

• Located in Dazaifu, 500 m from Kanzeon-ji
• Hours:  9:00 – 16:30; closed M, mid-Aug, NY

Like Taga-ju near Sendai in Tohoku, this was an outpost of the Yamato government against independent and rebellious tribes, such as the Kumaso in south Kyushu.  Dazaifu was also used as a staging areas for military adventures in Korea.  When Japan’s ally Paekche capitulated to Silla and Tang China, the Japanese, fearing invasion, fortified the area even more strongly.  As the government headquarters of Kyushu, Dazaifu was built on a rectilinear plan, similar to Nara, but at about half the scale.  The foundation stones of the Tofuro, which was the heart of Dazaifu, show the outlines of several buildings arranged axially within a surrounding wall.  A small museum occupies the southeast corner of the site.

SHANGHAI, CHINA: Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre

A scale model of Shanghai in 2020 spans an entire floor at the Urban Planning Museum in People's Square.  Ariana Lindquist for The New York Times

• Address:  Renmin Da Dao 100, Shanghai
• Location:  Huangpu (northeast of the Shanghai Museum; entrance on east side)
• Phone:  021/6372-2077
• Price:  Admission ¥30 ($4.30/£2.15)

NEW YORK TIMES: 

This museum tells the story of Shanghai’s evolution with a spectacular collection of archival photos, meaningless but beautiful exhibitions on wastewater management and other public works, and a scale model of Shanghai circa 2020 that spanned an entire floor.  Virtual Shanghai, a computer-generated flyover of the city projected onto a 360-degree movie screen was the highlight. The camera swoops along highways, over the Huangpu and around the Pudong skyscrapers of an idealized city that may or may not exist. The souvenir shop carries Hu Yang’s “Shanghai Living” catalog — 140 photographic glimpses of the city’s present, frozen in time.

FROMMER’S:

Filmmakers and science-fiction writers have imagined it, but if you want to see what a city of the future is really going to look like, take yourself over to this museum on the eastern end of People's Square. Housed in a striking modern five-story building made of microlite glass, this is one of the world's largest showcases of urban development and is much more interesting than its dry name suggests. The highlight is on the third floor: an awesome vast scale model of urban Shanghai as it will look in 2020, a master plan full of endless skyscrapers punctuated occasionally by patches of green. The clear plastic models indicate structures yet to be built, and there are many of them. Beleaguered Shanghai residents wondering if their current cramped downtown houses will survive the bulldozer (chances are not good) need only look here for the answer. The fourth floor also offers displays on proposed forms of future transportation, including magnetic levitation (maglev), subway, and light-rail trains that are going to change even the face of the Bund. The rest of the building includes a U-shaped mezzanine with photographic exhibits of colonial and contemporary Shanghai, a temporary exhibit hall on the second floor, and a cafe and art gallery on the fifth. There are restaurants and retail outlets crafted in the style of 1930s Shanghai on the underground level that connects to the Metro. The museum is well worth an hour of your time.

NATIONAL GEOGRPAHIC TRAVELER:

“Back to the future Shanghai-style: exultant visions of the Shanghai to come.”—Damian Harper. Museum features miniature replica of Shanghai today (ground floor) and a scale model of the city’s future (entire third floor); exhibits chronicle Shanghai’s colorful history. 100 Renmin Dadao; tel. 86 21 6318 4477.

LONELY PLANET:

Urban Planning Exhibition Halls - where the creaking cities of yore are triumphantly redesigned by developers into fabulous metropolitan visions - are all the rage in New China (Běijīng has one). It's pitched as a tourist attraction, but this is really just a massively optimistic self-appraisal. Most Western visitors are in town to see how the city used to be rather than how it may be.

The diorama of the Shanghai of the future on the third floor is worth a circuit, while the brilliant (albeit self-congratulating) Virtual World 3-D wraparound tour of Shanghai is a dizzying computer simulated tour. Balancing it all out are photos of 1930s Shanghai and historic maps, and topping it all is a café and observation lounge. Exit the building through a basement street of mock 1930s cafés.

CHINA: 15 places worth visiting in China: terraced rice fields in Yuanyang county

The terraced rice fields in Yuanyang county, Yunnan Province have 
been cultivated for at least 1,300 years by the Hani people. The 
fields are mainly located 1,000 to 2,000 meters above sea level. 
Rice can grow only once a year in the fields. Crops in the terraced
fields are planted every April and harvested from mid-September to 
mid-November.

2009-12-01 17:02 BJT

Editor: Jin Lin | Source: China.org.cn

View Article on CCTV

RUSSIA: On this day: 19 February

On February 19, 1861, Emperor Alexander II carried out the first and the most important of his reforms – he declared the abolishment of serfdom in the Russian Empire to improve the Russian economy and avert a possible revolution.

The history of serfdom in Russia began in 1649, when Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich issued a decree which prohibited peasants from leaving their lands and gave landowners full control over the peasants. This decree was followed by a number of others depriving peasants of their personal liberty and turned them into actual slaves – into “baptized property”. The peasants had to work for their owners and to pay them labor rent, while the owners had the right to buy and sell them, often separating families; to punish them; and even to exile them to Siberia for crimes such as escape attempts or for trying to dodge army recruitment.

The defeat in the Crimean War (1853-1856) exposed all the drawbacks of Russian industry, economy and agriculture, and served as a trigger for Alexander’s II reforms. That war put the peasantry in hard straits. For war purposes, the government had raised taxes, regularly commandeered peasants’ horses and cattle, and conducted extra recruitment among serfs. At the time the service lasted for 20 years, and that considerably affected landowners’ incomes, which in turn led to landowners increasing labor rents. Recruited serfs were also treated with scorn and were often left hungry and poorly equipped.

In 1857, 192 mass riots took place, and in 1859 there were already 938 riots. Sometimes, the peasants of several neighbor villages rose together against their owners. The armed clashes between the rebels and the military forces became frequent. The country was ripe for revolution, and the reform was meant to prevent the upcoming catastrophe.

The “Royal Manifest of the Abolishment of Serfdom” returned personal liberty and civil rights to serfs. The landowners were obliged to give them plots of land, and a special commission defined the sizes of those plots. However, nine years after liberation the peasants still had to pay the rent for the given land and to work for the landowners. Only at the end of the term were they able to redeem the rented plots.

The reform brought Alexander II the nickname “Liberator”, but the terms offered by the Royal Manifest actually supported the interests of the landowners and the government. The plots given to the peasants were usually small scraps of soil, inconveniently placed and often infertile. If the peasant wanted to redeem the land, the government lent him 80% of its price out at 6% per year, demanding the payment to be stretched over a period of 50 years no less. Former serfs ended up paying about 300% of the actual cost of their lands.

However, the liberation of the serfs amended the Russian economic situation. The peasantry became an active part of the economy, entering exchange relations, and the inner market started to develop. Many peasants left the countryside, moved to the cities and turned into wage laborers, becoming a part of the qualified industrial force. Still, the reform failed to develop agriculture, and for a long time it remained backward.

View RT Article

VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA: Passenger ship terminal

A viaduct leads us from the Railway terminal to the Passenger ship terminal. In the early 1860s the “Aleut” schooner station was located at the place. The schooner crew cut an opening to the new stone wharf at the Zolotoy rog (Golden Horn) bay. The opening had became Aleutskaya street by the end of XIX century. The first building of the passenger ship terminal was also situated there. But that building was pulled down in 1959. Architects from “Morsoyuzproekt” institute used the old walls to construct a conceptually different building – a glazed terrestrial seaward liner.

Source:  Google & Russian Railways