I spent 6 nights in Osaka. Below are photos of the street just outside Osaka Station and an average street off the main thoroughfares (notice the wider sidewalk space).
Rating: A-
No photos allowed. On their website, under Permanent Exhibits, click a floor to see sample pictures. This is the first museum I've been to of its kind. Each floor represented a different time period in Osaka's history. They had life-sized dioramas of inside buildings, or streets with building faces and bridges, along with life-sized people mannequins. They also had miniature dioramas of castles, temple complexes, and typical neighborhoods of the time period, each with a fantastic level of detail. The lower rating is because they had minimal information in English and even the Japanese information that I translated left out details that left me with lots of questions. I took the photos below off the web to wet your appetite.
More information on the Osaka Museum of History website.
Rating: C (disclaimer below)
No photos allowed inside. The outside of the castle is absolutely beautiful. The park is nothing special. It's free to look at the outside so you should if are in Osaka. The inside is NOT a castle, it is a museum, and I had to wait in a 30-45 minute line to get in. The museum talks about the man who commissioned the castle, a short history of the next ruler who moved in, and then the big battle where the castle was taken by the opposition. Much of the story is told by old paintings and walls of text. A few artifacts from the original castle found during the reconstruction are also displayed. You might appreciate the museum more than I did.
More information on the Osaka Castle and Park website.
Rating: B
No photos allowed inside. A nice shrine but nothing I had not already seen in Kyoto. Worth seeing if you aren't visiting shrines in Kyoto.
More information on the Osaka Tenmangu Shrine website.
Rating: A-
This is a nice park with a long, long hike up a tree-covered valley, along a rock-filled river, to the waterfall. Seriously, do not underestimate the time and energy it will take to hike from beginning to end. It was worth it, but you should plan less strenuous activities for the rest of that day unless you're athletic. Seeing wild monkeys is hit or miss and, as you will see in my photos, I hit. My one gripe, and this goes for most of the parks in Japan, is there is too much civilization marring the view. Poles with power lines, chain link fences holding back nature, random pipes, maintenance shacks, etc. broke up the natural beauty of the trees, rocks, and river.
Video of Minoo Park rocky river.
Video of Minoo Park falls 1.
Video of Minoo Park falls 2.
More information on the Minoo Park website.
Rating: B
More information on the Shitenno-ji website.
Rating: A+ A must-see
This was my favorite castle. Not only is it beautiful on the outside (although Osaka Castle still wins for outside beauty) but it also has some elements that aren't in most other castles like arrow/gun holes of various geometric shapes, and secret rooms. The onsite tour guide I paid for did a great job of explaining things and answering my questions.
More information on the Himeji Castle website.
Rating: A-
Video of Garden 1.
Video of Garden 2.
Video of Garden 3.
Rating: B
A nice, cozy, colorful, inner-city shrine.
More information on the Ikuta Jinja website.
This location has several tourist destinations in walking distance of each other (the next few items). You can spend a whole day here, but I did a 3/4 day. Ikoma District should be a seperate trip from the Nara Park area unless you only hit 1 or 2 destinations per district, but I think Nara deserves two full days.
Rating: A
This is a large temple complex with multiple buildings and structures, including the Daihozoin (Great Treasure Gallery), a small museum with some large-sized examples of old religious art, statues, sculptures, etc. Its biggest claim to fame is having the world's oldest surviving wooden structures. You can explore their website for more pictures of what you can see there.
More information on the Horyu-ji website.
Rating: B-
This is a very small temple that is distinct for the main hall being surrounded by water (like a moat). They charge more money than I think it's worth to see it. But if you're already at Horyu-ji, this interests you, and money isn't tight, here it is. They do not allow pictures of the main hall, even from the outside, so here's a pic from the Internet.
More information on the Chugu-ji website.
Rating: F
This is a very small temple that is part of Horyu-ji but geographically seperate. The few buildings and grounds were unattractive and unimpressive, the route to get there was unattractive, the entrance ticket seemed high, the information pamphlet was too brief, and I considered the whole thing a waste of time. Maybe you need to visit it to finish your Temple bingo card? I wouldn't. It's the biggest regret on my list of places I chose to visit.
More information on the Hoki-ji website.
Video of a garden with butterflies that I passed on the way to Hoki-ji.
Rating: B-
I visited lots of areas of Osaka that you're supposed to see to get a feel for the city like Kuromon Ichiba Market (reference my description and photos of a market in Kanazawa), Umeda area, Namba area, Dotonbori, etc. It's mostly just restaurants, bars, shopping, people watching, and the occasional small temple or shrine. I walked these areas to soak in the culture but my friends know me well enough to know why this stuff didn't excite me.