I’m not used to which days are holidays and which ones are not. Monday was “Health/Sports Day” apparently still celebrating the opening ceremony of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics as a national holiday. I am not going to complain about any day off, but, really?
I decided to trek out to Himeji, mainly to see the castle, and to venture somewhere other than Kobe. Himeji is about 40 minutes west from where I live, and when you imagine a Japanese castle that has a multi-tiered keep surrounded by smaller guard towers, walls, gardens and enclosed by a moat, you’re probably imagining Himeji Castle. Said to be the most beautiful and a world cultural heritage site, it is one of very few castles in Japan where the main keep and surrounding structures still stand. Either spared or woefully missed by the American bombings (yay?), Himeji Castle survived WWII while everything else in its surroundings were leveled. Akashi, where I live also has a castle, but the main keep is gone, all that remains is the moat, two smaller guard towers and a wall between them. The rest of the grounds has been turned into a baseball field, two tracks, and a park.
Himeji Castle is impressive. Its main keep, inspired by a white egret, just finished its restoration earlier this year and was looking extra bright and gleamed in the morning autumn sun. You can’t miss it from the station. There are signs pointing towards it everywhere, and once you get onto the main road it’s a straight shot northward for about a 10 minute walk. Top tip: visit on a weekday or get there right when it opens at 9am. It gets very crowded. They actually hand out vouchers to get into the main keep which I assume they run out of later in the day. Koko-en Garden is next to the castle and it is possible to buy a combined ticket which is a pretty good deal, which I got. The garden is a good escape from the crowds, and I imagine it is best to visit either in the spring or fall. The leaves had just started to change colors when I went, and should be at their peak sometime in November. Himeji Castle has a very long history that any history enthusiast would enjoy and an architectural marvel. I’m not going to get into too much detail and going to keep writing short on this one, here is the visual journal:
Back to modern times, here are a few shots of very stereotypically Japanese things.
