We started the trip by getting into Osaka in the evening on Saturday after teaching in the morning for extra pay. In the airport, we watched some sumo wrestling on TV, while I was entertaining myself by admiring the Japanese money. One of the coins, which are worth about 50 cents, have a hole in the middle! I was amused by this and even took a picture of the sumo match being watched inside the coin. Cool!
Once we arrived, we headed to the first authentic sushi restaurant we could find in the train station and ate our first amazing and delicious sushi! After I sat there mesmerized for a few minutes from the tasty meal, we went to pick up our bullet train passes. Traveling by bullet train in Japan is by far the easiest and fastest way to get around. Although the ticket is around $350 US for a 7-day pass, it’s definitely worth it and will save you in the long run. You must buy these before arriving in Japan. We used a travel agent to book our flights and our bullet train pass.
Since there is not much to see in Osaka besides the typical big city attractions, we decided to head straight to our first stop: Himeji Castle. It was a 2 hour train ride and we found the trains very easy to take and the train was always exactly on schedule and left the exact minute it was supposed to leave. This made travel very quick! We were already ahead in time for our trip. The trains were also very clean and had nice seats and lots of leg room. You could even order food, snacks and drinks on the train if you wanted.
When we got into Himeji area, we found a Comfort Inn hotel (we didn’t book before) and called it a night since we were going to start seeing sites early in the morning. The hotel was very affordable and also very nice and close to the castle. We even got lucky and the people at the counter were able to book Comfort Inn hotels for our next destinations (Hiroshima and Kyoto).
After getting up at around 7am and having breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to see the very famous castle. Since the city of Himeji was severely bombed during WWII, only the castle is popular to see or has survived. Himeji Castle is a well-preserved building and a good representative of all the castles in Japan, therefore, it is listed as a World Heritage.
The castle is known as also Shirasagi, or “The Castle of the White Crane”, because its white plastered walls and silhouette from a distance. It is popular for its traditional wooden architecture, its castle stone walls and white plastered walls, and since it’s one of the few original medieval castles remaining in Japan. In 1333, the ruler of the Harima District built a fort and in 346 his son built premises. Later the Kotera and Kuroda clans ruled this area. The Cosmetic Tower, 27 ‘yagura’, 15 gates, and 1,000 meter-long earthern walls have been registered as important cultural treasures. The main tower is supported by three smaller towers and three rings of defense compounds, which have loopholes for firing guns or arrows at enemies. There are also ishiotoshi openings where rocks or boiling oil could be dropped onto attackers. The castle had a great defense system during its day in Japan.
Although the castle looks amazing in photos, unfortunately the castle is going through construction/restoration for the next five years. Therefore, part of the castle was blocked off. It did not look the same but it was still interesting walking around the castle and walking into the West Bailey Building, which is right next to the castle. This area is where Princess Sen spent here days after she got married to Tadatoki Honda.
After spending a few hours walking around the castle area and in the West Bailey Building, we headed back to the train station and made our way to Okayama to see the gardens and another castle.
One thing I already noticed about Japan is that, like Korea, many people will use umbrellas not just for the rain, but also to block the sun from getting them tan. Also, there are tons of bikers in Japan! The public transportation is great and quick, but also bikes are convenient and probably half the population uses them.
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