My First Time Visiting Japan | Day 5 - Osaka Castle, Dontonbori, And Ancient Mounded Tombs

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]Good morning from Japan. Uh I would say a bright sunny day, but it's not that.

[00:00:06]It has been super bright and sunny the entire time we've been here. It's a little overcast today. You can see getting a little reprieve. I was not expecting it to be as sunny as it has been or as hot as it has been. Expect a little more rain at times, but here we go. I am ready to go today. Um I I'm I am ready for what we've got in store on the trip. I think we're going to do a couple things locally around Osaka. So, we're going back to the castle that we did on my like second day here, whatever that was. Um, a little more intensive tour of that this time, which should be good. And a couple other a couple other structures and things around Osaka, then maybe something else at night. Right now, I am walking to get Starbucks in the morning. I need to get some coffee.

[00:00:52]So, we're going to the Japanese special Starbucks. Uh, that should be good. I haven't even like done anything to my hair. It's just flopping around in the wind right now. No product in it. Looks ridiculous.

[00:01:03]That's all right. We are freshly showered. Feeling good. Ready for a new day.

[00:01:15]Everybody on their way to work.

[00:01:21]That's what I'm looking for right there. That sign. I've not loved a lot of the coffee here. I still got to try matcha. Matcha is still on my list.

[00:01:30]I wanted to wait till Japan to get matcha. Don't think we're going to do it on this one. Not at Starbucks. We'll go like a more actual local place for that.

[00:01:39]We need coffee.

[00:01:50]Here's the Starbucks. It is hot hot. Uh, but that's good. Get us started on our day. I do also going to go back and make a regular video for my normal channel because my gosh, I've been missing out on so much stuff. Uh, but I got to got to keep the work up, you know. So, we're going to make a video. Maybe I'll show you guys the pathetic setup that I have while I'm here. Um, and I think it's a little bit late start this morning for everybody. 9:45.

[00:02:18]We'll meet the group and we'll we'll get on the way.

[00:02:22]Since we are still trying to do a video here or there on the main channel, I wanted to show you guys this uh incredible setup I have. Now, look, my hotel room, I do like it. Um, and I gave you guys the tour of it. Not a huge desk space, right? Very tiny little table and some stools. I got my one of my suitcases there in the corner. Don't mind that. But this is the setup I have.

[00:02:44]So, because my boom mic couldn't attach to the table, I had to attach it to like the headboard of the bed over on this side, like extends out. And then I've just got my computer set up right here.

[00:02:55]And my camera is my camera is mounted on like a what is it? I mean, it's supposed to be for water or something, I think. But yeah, little little [ __ ] up, but we're we're getting it done.

[00:03:18]is the last shogun's family.

[00:03:21]>> He took over his position and he Toyota has reconstruct.

[00:03:32]>> Everybody's unloading here at Osaka Castle. We're going to go check it out.

[00:03:36]See the octopus stone this time. People are telling me I missed the octopus stone. So, we're going to see it this time as everybody's departing. We got about an hour here. So, you guys seen some of this stuff already in one of the vlogs. So, we're going to rediscover it a little bit.

[00:04:09]We have quite a group. We stretch all the way back.

[00:04:16]All the way back.

[00:04:18]I think there's still people that are lagging behind to be honest. I don't think this is everybody.

[00:04:24]Lot of umbrellas out today, including for me. Trying to prevent from having to wipe the camera off all the time.

[00:04:32]>> But here we go through the gate. And there is the tippy top of the castle.

[00:04:38]>> I mean, I believe it >> above all the umbrellas.

[00:04:43]>> Gates at the gate. Uh around the gates.

[00:04:47]>> These are some massive stones.

[00:04:50]>> This apparently is the octopus stone. uh uh by placing uh this kind of huge rock, they try to uh show uh how powerful uh they are.

[00:05:06]>> It's big.

[00:05:08]>> Yeah, it is.

[00:05:11]>> All right, Mike, while Ken's telling everybody about the octopus stone, I want you to tell me about the octopus stone. What is What is the importance of this thing?

[00:05:18]>> Well, it's just massive. It's a massive megalith. It's one of those things that makes you wonder like why like why would you put this here? So you don't have to put uh you know 130 ton stone in this place here for the wall. It's the only one like it. So what's the point of doing that now? And and when we get into to stones this big, how are they moving this? Right? Because it wasn't like it was ciried on site.

[00:05:45]>> This is how how old is this?

[00:05:47]>> Yeah.

[00:05:48]>> I don't know. See, the stone wall was built in 19 in 1624.

[00:05:52]>> That's what they say.

[00:05:57]>> Yeah. I'm also wondering like how much further down it goes.

[00:06:00]>> Yeah. Like how far down below.

[00:06:02]>> Yeah.

[00:06:03]>> We'll never know.

[00:06:05]>> That's amazing. She's walking the length of the stone.

[00:06:32]So, this is why I'm glad we got the tour this time because I didn't even see this view over here in the corner with the pond and the the flowers and everything.

[00:06:42]I wish I would have been here. I wish I would have seen this view when I was here when it was sunny.

[00:06:49]>> Something here in the corner. I don't know if it's a tomb or kind of looks like it possibly would be, but I don't know. Our tour guides aren't here. So, I'm just going to make up a story that it's a tomb of one of the people that used to rule this thing.

[00:07:02]That's my story.

[00:07:05]If you remember when we were here very early in the morning, it was so empty.

[00:07:09]And uh you're good. You're good. You're good. But but now I mean it is just crowds and crowds of people crowds and crowds of people even when it's you know a little rainy.

[00:07:22]So obviously me going in the middle of the day may have not been like the best uh the best indic or not the middle of the day at the very early morning probably is not the best indicator of how many people come and see this.

[00:07:35]Although I will say if you guys remember that vlog I did for day two or whatever, it was so tranquil and peaceful because there was nobody here. It was pretty amazing actually.

[00:07:46]Now it's a little more hustlebustle.

[00:07:49]So this is the line if you want to go and take a tour inside.

[00:07:53]Um, we originally thought we were going to do that, but based on the recommendations of our tour guides, essentially the inside of the castle has been really heavily like heavily reconstructed with concrete and everything, and it's just not worth it. So, I don't think we're going to go in today. It's It's not like the other one, which its restoration was done like very sparingly and appropriately.

[00:08:18]I think people are just going to admire the outside and we'll be on to the next thing on this rainy day in Japan.

[00:08:40]>> All right, we are making the walk back from Osaka Castle, the parking lot, which is kind of a trek >> with our umbrellas. Oh my god. Yeah, umbrellas were so super cool.

[00:08:49]>> But Gary, what did you think of the castle as it's in the background? Look at that. It's like perfectly silhouetted.

[00:08:55]>> It is uh great. It is awesome. But the walls around it are even better. Big rocks.

[00:09:01]>> Huge rocks. And when the thing is like this octopus rock or whatever, apparently this wall was constructed in like the early 1600s. It's not even like that old. No.

[00:09:10]>> Um but it's it's still >> kind of makes you wonder how they moved something like that. 130 tons whatever it is. How you move something like this even 500 years ago.

[00:09:21]>> Even 500 years ago supposedly a 100red years after the wall was built in Sax Wan which is much better by the way.

[00:09:28]Thing is I think that the data on this one is right but this is a carried down technology from thousands of years that you can see it getting worse as time goes on cuz the older stuff is better now. I think Sax Awan is not, you know, from the 1600s. I think it's thousands and thousands of years old. But um this one isn't. And this technology works. So they did it because it was easy.

[00:09:54]>> Yeah.

[00:09:54]>> Whatever they were doing, >> meditation, >> magic.

[00:09:58]>> Uh >> alchemy, magic.

[00:10:02]>> Yeah.

[00:10:02]>> Or uh a way to have written it down cuz if they would have had leverage uh like the guy who did Coral Castle, right? He figured it out doing it. But they would have written it down. There would have It's not like the Japanese didn't document anything.

[00:10:19]>> We came from that way, I think.

[00:10:20]>> Yeah. So maybe just levitating slaves. I don't know.

[00:10:23]>> Hey, levitating slavery.

[00:10:25]>> It's just never been done right. It's like communism.

[00:10:29]>> All right, we're at a interesting name place for brunch. I don't exactly know how to pronounce that. I've got a guess.

[00:10:36]I've got a gut feeling, but I'm not positive. But it does look like a really nice place. I said brunch, I meant lunch. But uh doing a little buffet here for lunch. One of the only places that can accommodate 80 plus people, you know.

[00:11:22]Sit down.

[00:11:43]Buffet is over. Everybody's feeling full after that. And we are I'll make sure make sure make sure I don't get hit by a car. We are here at Sakai City. I think that's what it's Sakai. I don't know.

[00:11:53]City of Sakai. see some mounted temples, mounted tombs. I don't know.

[00:11:59]We'll see.

[00:12:20]US >> going to walk all the way around. So, this gives you a really good idea of the overhead view of what we're looking at.

[00:12:46]So, the the entire thing, >> that's where we were just standing as everyone's talking about. That's where everyone's standing a little bit ago when we took those videos. But this is actually what it looks like. Apparently, it's over 800 meters. You've got a multitude of different mounds, all different sizes where people are buried.

[00:13:04]So, >> that's what we're here to look at.

[00:13:10]You can, if you're not afraid of heights, go up in one of these attached hot air balloons. I don't know if the camera can pick it up, but there's a line that attaches it to the ground, but you go up there and you actually get a really good overhead view of over across the street are where the mountains are located. Right now, we're headed over to the museum to learn a little bit more about them. I got to be real, not exactly my forte. you know, kind of the ancient history, burial mound stuff. But we'll give it a shot. We'll see what it's all about.

[00:13:49]He seems very wise.

[00:13:55]What about this guy? He seems like he would be Hold on. This guy would be the one like who disciplines people. Like don't don't mess with that guy. No patience.

[00:14:06]No patience.

[00:14:09]Walking up to the museum now.

[00:14:31]That's a happy little guy right there.

[00:14:35]I'm sure Shad would pick apart his armor.

[00:14:47]>> Sakai in the German and Yayo periods.

[00:14:50]from the yayo to kofun periods. Bro, there is so many levels to Japanese history and I have no idea what I'm talking about.

[00:15:04]>> Oh, is this like a sarcophagus?

[00:15:08]>> I do know what the things they bury people in look like. That is a level of knowledge that I can comprehend.

[00:15:31]So, this is actually pretty crazy.

[00:15:35]Again, this is like an overhead view, but a little more like threedimensional what these mounds actually look like underneath all those trees that we can see.

[00:15:44]Um quite an undertaking for something that I think started you know fourth sixth century something like that very complex.

[00:16:09]>> Lots of guns.

[00:16:13]from way back in the day. A lot of this stuff, they have no English markings.

[00:16:17]So, oh, craftsmanship and beauty of the guns in Sakai.

[00:16:23]It's very detailed. The Japanese love their detail.

[00:16:31]>> Look at the size of this.

[00:16:34]>> This is a freaking cannon.

[00:16:41]Kiko Kiko large matchlock gun from 1610.

[00:16:46]The longest Japanese gun in existence today.

[00:16:52]>> Look, I like guns. This feels unnecessary, >> but it's badass.

[00:17:10]I don't really know what these are.

[00:17:13]I'm just looking.

[00:17:15]Ancient hot air balloon thing. I I don't know. Oh, wow. This is interesting.

[00:17:41]The amount of patience, time, skill, dedication, focus it takes to do stuff like this out of the museum. And I honestly have no idea what this little uh pathway is.

[00:17:58]Could be somebody's house for all I know.

[00:18:02]But we uh let's just go.

[00:18:05]I gotta say although I think like this stuff is cool. This little stuff here.

[00:18:09]Museum really not my thing. I love museums when it's stuff I'm like really interested in.

[00:18:17]When it's stuff that I'm not, you know, or like I don't even really know what's going on.

[00:18:23]Not the biggest thing. I don't I don't even know what this is supposed to be.

[00:18:26]Could this just be a replica of like how they used to live back then? So, I'm clueless about this as well. That's what I'm going to pretend to think. This is a replica of Well, this is just a bench, but it's just like how they used to live and stuff. I think that's cool.

[00:18:45]Based on my experience in Japan and hotel rooms, as little as this uh house is from way back in the day, they they haven't really got too much bigger.

[00:18:54]They're very very minimalistic here.

[00:18:59]>> Sorry.

[00:19:00]>> Oh, you're good.

[00:19:02]>> What do you think this is? Just a replica of how they used to live or do you think we're actually walking in somebody's backyard right now? Like >> they use it.

[00:19:10]>> Somebody lives here.

[00:19:11]>> Probably ice.

[00:19:13]>> Ice cream. Yeah, maybe.

[00:19:16]>> Seems like they use commercial.

[00:19:22]>> Oh, wait. There is a shop here. What is this?

[00:19:26]Or is this just a sign? It's all Japanese, bro. I don't know.

[00:19:34]I've been sitting here on this bench out by this little garden area, pond area, just chilling for like 15 minutes.

[00:19:43]You know, if you can't find peace in a place like this, you you probably can't find it, period.

[00:19:51]That's probably the uh the only conclusion you can come to that it's just not in the cards for you.

[00:20:00]It's pretty though. I guess um there's a bunch of cherry trees along this thing.

[00:20:05]I bet for like you know the couple weeks that the cherry blossoms are in bloom. I bet it's absolutely stunning.

[00:20:13]All done with the museum. Got to be honest, not my favorite stop. I'm sure it's really cool if you're into that stuff. Um, not my favorite stop, but we are on the way. I guess I think we're going to some like shopping, eating, crazy downtown center called like Donbury or Dottenberry. Doesn't really sound Japanese. Sounds like Donbury, mate. Sounds British, but I I don't know.

[00:20:37]We'll find out what it's like, I guess.

[00:20:39]I haven't done a ton of shopping.

[00:20:41]Shopping like Japan shopping does involve Pokemon cards. So, uh, I'm looking forward to going down there.

[00:20:49]We just got to Doburi. Dot Buri. Dov Buri. This is a little more what I was thinking of when I was thinking about like Japanese cities, like hustlebustle, like all this stuff over here.

[00:21:01]Apparently, there's a lot of shopping here. I don't know. Uh, maybe we can find something. Maybe we won't stay long.

[00:21:11]>> Maybe it'll be fun.

[00:21:21]It's okay.

[00:21:49]Look what you can do in the end.

[00:22:16]Don't give me Here is the famous Running Man picture that apparently is a big uh a big picture site. Everybody's taking pictures with it. So, I guess I got to do the same thing. It's obviously packed down here and there are some interesting shops. You went into a couple like Pokémon stuff. I'm going to be honest, I'm probably although you could spend hours and hours down here, I probably don't want to do too much shopping for stuff I want to bring back until we get to Tokyo. Not cuz I want to do it in Tokyo, but I just don't want to have to deal with carrying and packing it all until the end. I'm probably going to get an extra suitcase, stuff like that. So, >> probably going to head back. Probably going to head back. Very cool to experience Dantenberry. Dantenbury.

[00:23:34]Still don't know how to pronounce it, but awesome.

[00:23:41]We're officially back at the hotel. Got the umbrella out cuz it's raining. Um, that's it. Day five in the books in Japan. Got an early start tomorrow. Not my favorite day in Japan so far, just in terms of what we did and stuff, but tomorrow we go to Tokyo. So, couple days in Tokyo. That should be fun. That should be fun over in Tokyo. Bullet train early in the morning.

[00:24:07]Who knows what could happen? I'll talk to you guys then.