The city of Himeji is about an hour and a half from my place by slow train, between Okayama and Kobe. It is widely considered the best castle in Japan. It has been designated a UNESCO world heritage site. I believe it was originally built some time in the 1500s, and is one of the few remaining Japanese castles that has not been rebuilt out of concrete (many Japanese castles have been destroyed in fires and wars and then rebuilt).The castle is absolutely amazing. You're allowed to go inside, and can go all the way to the top floor, from where you can look out over the incredibly extensive grounds. The walls and moats were very well-designed to keep out intruders. The guy who had this built must have had some serious enemies. He didn't screw around.
The first picture I took last month in May during hanami (cherry blossom) season. The castle grounds were full of groups of people having hanami parties.The picture here on the left is from inside one of the halls of one of the access buildings.
I've been living here in Okayama City now for about 5 months, and yet I still haven't written a blog about the city itself. That might lead you to believe that there's nothing worth seeing here. Not so. Although it's a pretty quiet city and not much happens here, there are some really nice places to see.
There are 2 main reasons why tourists come to the city. The first is Okayama-jo, the castle at the top. It's a very beautiful black castle, about a 15 minute walk from the centre of town. Although I've been to the castle several times, I've never actually stepped foot inside the building because I've been too cheap. I think it's about 800 yen (8 bucks).
The second is Korakuen (below), a garden right across the river from the castle. Korakuen is considered one of the top 3 gardens in Japan, which is quite an accomplishment, considering how seriously the Japanese take their public gardens. It is a nice place for a stroll, or to just go and relax. And it's cheap. I think it's only 350 yen for admission.
Having lived in Japan now for more than a year, I'm used to seeing the English language butchered on a regular basis. There is a kind of prestige attached to using English on signs in many types of companies, even though most potential customers are unable to understand most of it.
T-shirts are the worst. They've got the bizarrest (is that a real word?) expressions on them. For example, "Happiness and joyful living take the world to the heartfelt insides." Huh???
We were in Kurashiki on the weekend in a store that sold cat stuff. Not like a pet store, more like a store where they sell everything you can possibly think of with a cat theme. You know like cat-themed-pictures, cat-themed-dishes, cat-themed-clothing (for people, not for cats). Anyways, you get the point. Don't ask what I was doing in there. The point is, I came across the picture at the top here. It cracked me up because it's a really good example of the types of things I see everyday on Japanese goods. It's a picture from some kind of handbag. There's a free cat-shaped-popsicle maker for anyone who can tell me what the hell it means.
The lower picture here, we also saw in Kurashiki the same day. At least this one I can understand, but it still made me laugh. The French at the bottom translates the same as the English.
The city of Himeji is about an hour and a half from my place by slow train, between Okayama and Kobe. It is widely considered the best castle in Japan. It has been designated a UNESCO world heritage site. I believe it was originally built some time in the 1500s, and is one of the few remaining Japanese castles that has not been rebuilt out of concrete (many Japanese castles have been destroyed in fires and wars and then rebuilt).
The first picture I took last month in May during hanami (cherry blossom) season. The castle grounds were full of groups of people having hanami parties.
