Originally Posted by
AtomicLush
... After my 3rd castle, I was a bit castled out (because they kind of all look similar) - and for some reason, I thought they would have preserved the rooms and furnishings inside the castle but they don't. They've turned the castles into museums with displays for art, history, and other things - which is interesting, but not what I was expecting. ...
Too late now but the reason for your disappointment was that you chose absolutely the wrong cities to see castles. Nagoya and Osaka castles are modern reconstructions of the originals, with elevators, ferro-concrete construction and all the trappings of modern tourism - more like Disney castles than the real thing. Nijo Castle in Kyoto is pretty much original even though it is more palace than castle. So are Himeji and Hikone Castles. There are a lot of almost original feudal-era castles in Japan, just not in Tokyo, Osaka or Nagoya.