Osaka Castle Reigns As Top Draw To Foreigners

Above, yours truly at Osaka Castle in 2015.

Over the years, I have been to Osaka Castle twice.

The first was during the 2004 G-TOUR, a tour of Japan of Godzilla fans to sites and attractions associated with "The King of the Monsters." Osaka Castle was featured in Godzilla Raids Again (1955). The second time was during my 2015 trip to Japan.

Above, Osaka Castle in 2015. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

According to an article posted by Kyodo News, Osaka Castle reigns as the top draw among foreign visitors.

It begins with:

TOKYO, Japan Wire - Osaka Castle was the most popular of Japan’s castles among foreign visitors in 2025, topping rankings for both Asian and Western tourists, according to an analysis by travel app provider Navitime Japan Co. 

While the two visitor groups showed different preferences further down the rankings due to travel styles, Osaka Castle reigned as the universal favorite between January and December last year, in rankings based on an association list of 100 notable castles in Japan.

Tokyo-based firm Navitime Japan used GPS data and survey responses gathered from users of its travel service app for foreign visitors, Japan Travel by Navitime, to compare the number and length of visits to castles between Asian and Western visitors for the analysis published in April.

Among visitors from Asia (predominantly Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea, and China), Nagoya Castle and Kumamoto Castle made up the top three behind Osaka. 

Nijo Castle, in Kyoto, and Himeji Castle completed the top three for Western visitors (predominantly from the United States, Australia, and France). 

To read more, go here.