Himeji and the magnificent white egret...

A day trip to Himeji from Nara was quite an excursion but it was due to our own bad planning, and we didn't want to miss this castle which is regarded as the "finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture". We started our second JR Pass (a 7 day model this time) a day early to cover the fare.

Himeji Castle, right up the main street from the JR Station.

Himeji's entry into the national drain cover competition (going since 1980's) is this one of white egrets, the symbol of the town and the castle.

Seen in total (as you can, even from the railway station), the castle is indescribably beautiful. It's white in colour, as distinct from Matsumoto's black, and is known as the "white egret" or "white heron" castle. Under a hazy blue sky, the whiteness of this huge complex of buildings takes on a unreal appearance. Himeji Castle featured in the James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice".

Himeji Castle, the white egret, a magnificent spectacle.

The fee to enter is castle (JPY1000) is paid to an automated machine, like buying a train ticket, the first we have seen on everything we have visited this trip. They're ready for crowds at Himeji, and it was just comfortably busy on the day of our visit. This is the most visited castle in Japan, which must do wonders for the city's economy.

Himeji Castle is photogenic from every angle.

Like many attractions in Japan, Himeji Castle has an evolutionary history, but to cut a long story short, the first fort was built here atop Himeyama hill in 1333AD and it was still being added to in 1618AD.

Detail inside the castle outer defences showing a gate on the right, mud wall construction and two square loopholes.

As you cross the moat and pass through the first gate, you begin to appreciate how well Himeji Castle was designed for defence. It is a confusing complex of 83 buildings and the spiral paths and dozens of gates are deliberately designed to confuse attackers and entrap them in indefensible choke points. There are about a thousand sama (loopholes) in various configurations for archers to use on attackers without revealing themselves, and we saw many stone dropping chutes too.

Notice board showing the complexity of access paths up to the main bailey of Himeji Castle.

The only triple floored gate in the castle.

Perhaps the greatest defence measure is the "long corridor", essentially a long narrow building which circles much of the castle, and in peacetime was used by princesses and thei ladies in waiting. There is a sad story about Princess Sen who lived part of her life in the long corridor - she was married at age 7 in Osaka but her husband suicided. She had to be rescued from a fire which burnt out Osaka Castle. She remarried a Himeji lord at 20 but suffered more tragedy by losing her only son in infancy, and her second husband dying at an early age, a legal problem for her, apparently. She retreated to Edo, became a nun, and mourned her misfortune until she died at 70.

View of the long corridor from the west bailey.

The long corridor from inside.

Princess Sen in her rooms.

During WW2, Himeji city was heavily bombed, but the castle survived intact. Presumably the Americans thought or knew that the castle had no military purpose. This castle must be blessed, because in 1995AD, it also survived the Great Hanshin earthquake while the rest of the city was very seriously damaged. From 2009-2015AD, "the Showa Era Restoration" project took place, which is why the castle is such a treat today.

Shachi, such as this mounted example, look like a fish with the head of a tiger. They adorn ends and corners of rooflines, and provide protection.

Inside, Himeji Castle is much like any other in Japan. The main bailey is roughly pyramidal in shape, so the floor area gets smaller as you climb (with no shoes on, and slippers which seem to be designed to be difficult to keep on). Inside is dark with wooden floors and massive pillars (some original pillars are preserved on display). There are shuttered windows and more loopholes and stone drops, nooks and crannys for special purposes, armories and royal suites. On the top floor there's a shrine whose bell was getting a good workout from the visitors (throw your money in, ring the bell, clap once, bow deeply, clap twice). What Himeji does have is excellent interpretative signage in English.

Inside the castle at a lower level.

Is this a nook, or a cranny?

Shrine on the top floor of Himeji's main bailey.

These "original" pillars from Himeji Castle looked so dry that they would shatter under a sharp knock.

Really good interpretative signage, this one proves we got to the top floor on our perilous slippers.

Our day trip to Himeji involved shinkansens to and from Kyoto, and we were able to observe and enjoy these amazing trains at the stations at both ends. These bullet trains travel at around 300km/hr which you only appreciate when you see one going by at that speed at close quarters, such as at Himeji where many don't stop. They don't slow down either, but thunder through the station with a tremendous roar just one track away from the platform.

The speed of these trains is not the only amazing thing about them (as you dream of a fast train joining Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane!) but also, how do they manage so many on the same track at a time? Like regular trains in Japan, shinkansens have the equivalent of "local" trains which stop at all (shinkansen) stations, then a number of levels of expresses which stop at fewer and fewer stations. Timekeeping and speed maintenance must be immaculate so that the express trains can roar through in the few minutes that the stopping trains are at a station. We've seen examples where there is only 6 minutes between trains on one line, all doing positively scary speeds.

Osaka and its crazy station...

After almost a week of staying in traditional ryokans, we then moved on to Osaka and the ultra-modern Hilton Hotel. We got here via local train to Okayama, then shinkansen to Shin-Osaka. Alan Gibson had recommended we then catch a taxi to our digs. Having discovered that taxis struggle a bit with our luggage, we elected to just take a local train the one stop to Osaka Station. Then we discovered the real background to Alan's recommendation!

Osaka Station in the Kita or Umeda district of the city and is a huge ants' nest of underground passages going in all directions at multiple levels with insufficient helpful signage or maps (in any language). Even though our hotel was "next door" it was quite hard to find an underground route to it (although there is one, as we figured out later), and we gave up and came to the surface. Basically, Osaka Station looks like an unplanned mess which has evolved rather than designed. To give credit where it's due, a lot of work is going on around the station contributing to the problem and which will hopefully make it better when finished. There looks to be a massive reconstruction project getting going in adjacent goods yards.

Osaka Station, a huge unplanned rats nest of confusing passageways.

Amazing Sky Garden building in downtown Osaka.

View of Umeda and beyond from our hotel room.

Big ferris wheel in central Osaka.

Over our three nights in Osaka, we kept rehearsing our eventual route back to the station when we depart. We try to avoid steps wherever possible, and this is no mean feat in Osaka which is blighted by numerous half flights of stairs, some with escalators. So called "accessible ramps" do exist but are out of the way and hard to find, and are apparently an afterthought here.

Hilton Hotel is directly opposite Osaka Station.

Osaka itself is a huge city, the second largest in Japan, and the major city in the Kansai urban "triangle" of Kyoto, Nara and Osaka in the central part of the island of Honshu. We used our stay in Osaka to relax a bit and get our laundry done. Our sightseeing here was restricted to walking around Osaka Castle, the Dotombori area, and gazing at the view from the "Top of the World" bar at the Hilton over a cocktail.

It was raining quite heavily on the day of our JR and subway excursion to Dotombori (or Dotonbori, there seems to be some dispute on the anglicisation), yet this weird cafe, theatre and hotel strip running parallel to the Dotomborigawa Canal was seething with visitors wielding umbrellas. Many side lanes are covered arcades, so these were very crowded in the rainy weather - it's in one of these that we lunched at the tinyest ramen bar you can imagine where we got the last two seats, but at least did not have to wait for them.

Love Hotel in Dotombori.

Weird facade can make an ordinary hotel fascinating.

A very soggy day in Dotombori.

Great ramen lunch had in this tiny cafe in Dotombori.

Outlandish shopfronts charcterise the eccentric lane which is Dotombori.

Canal-side section of Shinsaibashi neighbourhood.

We easily made it to Osaka Castle (on a fine but overcast day) using the JR Osaka Loop Line to Osakajokoen station. This is one of Japan's most famous and popular castles, and is surrounded by huge parkland and two rings of moats. It is made very pretty by lots of gold leaf. The multi-storey castle is built atop huge stone ramparts, so it is very imposing.

JR Osaka Loop train arriving at Osakajokoen Station.

Osaka Castle has had a long and difficult history. It was constructed in the late 1500's by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a samurai and "great unifier", whose primary objective seems to have been to imitate but surpass another castle. In 1614 the castle's imposing defences protected it against an attack by 200,000 men. The present walls were built in 1620 in a reconstruction project. In 1665 the castle was burned down after a lightening strike. In 1868, the castle was severely damaged in uprisings of the Meiji Restoration, and not restored until 1928. WW2 bombing caused major damage in 1945, the site a target because of its use as an arsenal, and this damage was not fully repaired until 1997.

Some elements of a multiple time capsule buried 15m in front of the castle are not due to be opened for 5,000 years. We wonder if anyone will be here by then?

Threatening sky only serves to highlight the beauty and colours of Osaka Castle.

Gold leaf detail on Osaka Castle.

Early cherry blossoms have just bloomed.

Castle's grounds are overlooked by a modern Osaka Business Park.

This odd building next to Osaka Castle belonged to the military and then the police, but now is the province of souvenir shops and eateries.

For a small fee, you can don samurai gear and have a photo taken.

Osaka Castle seen across Hojoen Japanese Garden.

Inside the Aoya-mon gate at Osaka Castle.

We had a big pile of washing and wanted another coin laundry. Our own research on Google Maps revealed one that was straight-forward to get to in the suburb of Fukushima, about 1.5km away. We walked there, but then realised there was an easy subway option, so used that on the way home. We note that while almost everything in Japan seems to be tidy and efficient, coin laundries are the exception. All we have used so far, including Fukushima, are cramped, grubby and littered with "out of order" machines which should be removed. We saw on NHK TV a segment on the next generation of coin-laundries, bright breezy places complete with cafes - we can't wait to see one!

Tiny coin laundry in Fukushima.

The barista in U-En in Fukushima know how to make a macchiato!

Intersting decoration outside a sake bar in Fukushima.

Fukushima house has outdoor aquarium.

That said, we got everything done without fuss, and while waiting enjoyed a fascinating walk around this unpretentious suburban neighbourhood, including having good coffee at a pleasant back-packers hotel, U-En.

Matsumoto and the Kiso Valley...

The Super Azusa at Shinjuku Station.

Our departure from Tokyo was via Super Azusa from Shinjuku Station, a 2.5 hour trip in a very fast train to Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture. The train is named after Matsumoto's river, Azusa. We felt relieved that we were able to get our bulky Osprey Shuttle bags on board without having to navigate a single flight of stairs. Our Green Car was nearly empty the entire trip, and we snacked on sandwiches bought at the railway station. Once we left Tokyo's massive urban area, we seemed to be climbing slightly and passed through long tunnels from one valley locality to another. At Matsumoto, we were pleased to find escalators and lifts.

This floral clock in Matsumoto probably looks better in spring.

Matsumoto is a regional city at an altitude of 600m and with a population of 250k. It fills a broad valley and is surrounded on all sides by snow capped mountains. The downtown area is very walkable, and we set out for our Buena Vista Hotel, only to (happily) discover a hotel shuttle bus waiting at the railway station - just a fluke we saw it. Most of our hotels are within walking distance, but we'll keep an eye out for shuttle buses now!

Hotel Buena Vista was opposite a tiny park atop a car park.

A clear morning from Buena Vista Hotel restaurant.

Know nothing about this Stingray, but it looked pretty cute on matching truck.

Dog for sale in Matsumoto pet shop.

Poster seen about town.

This city's main claim to fame, and it is a substantial claim indeed, is Matsumoto Castle. This 29m tall castle, right in town, was completed in the 1590's and (unlike most others) is an original, it has never burned down. It is a "plain" castle, so was defended by a series of walls, gates and moats radiating out some distance, only remnants of which still exist in downtown Matsumoto. Only the keep is intact, and some inner gates and buildings have been reconstructed. Magnificent grounds have been preserved around the castle, but because it is built on the plain, it is all but invisible from the streets of Matsumoto CBD.

Matsumoto Castle in spectacular sunset light.

Golden hues of Matsumoto Castle seen from the west at sunset.

Koi, we assume, in the castle moat.

The castle, which is also called Crow Castle because it is black, was essentially built in the Tensho Era by lord Kazumasa Ishikawa. It includes features common to many castles including special provisions for warfare (stone-drops and archers' holes) and warriors, luxurious quarters for the lord, food-stores, watch-towers etc. We saw examples of armaments and armour in the castle, and also at the Matsumoto City Museum.

Decoration in gate to Masumoto Castle.

The castle is open for visitors, and it was fascinating to climb up the 5 or 6 stories and see all these features in the dark interior. The stairs were steep and narrow, it was pretty crowded, but they have a clearly marked route and facilitators on hand.

Horrendously heavy looking armour.

Upper-level interior of Matsumoto Castle.

Matsumoto from the castle.

Looks as though the defenders of Matsumoto had access to modern weaponry.

Dad helping son with interpretative materials about this steam pump in the City Museum.

Seven Gods of Fortune aboard the Treasure Ship.

We particularly liked the (certainly reconstructed) masugata or square-shaped gate which was possibly the main, secure entrance to the castle compound, consisting of two huge misaligned wooden gates set into a square of massive rock walls.

Twin doored square style gate controlling access to Matsumoto Castle.

Map of Matsumoto Castle with its moats, and Metoba River at the bottom.

Apart from the castle, we were able to explore downtown Matsumoto pretty well. It is a flat, compact, highly walkable town, bisected by the Metoba River (also the outer moat of the castle), which was at a pretty low level.

Very cute bookshop jammed between two hopelessly unsympathetic buildings.

Springs abound in Matsumoto, made into special features, and their water flows in very pleasant aqueducts all around the town.

Frog sculpture in need of a paint touch-up at Nawate Street.

View along Nawate Street.

Yes, real gas lights on this old bridge across the Metoba River.

Narrow and pretty, Nawate Street is a pedestrian mall, runs along the river and is packed with tiny, interesting shops of cafes, crafts, antiques and even hardware. Everything in Nawate Street has a frog theme.

Footbridge across Metoba River in Matsumoto.

Nearby Nakamachi (which means central area), is a one-way one lane boulevard of interesting buildings containing shops, cafes and other traps for visitors. We're late lunch eaters, and found we could nothing in this area after 2:30pm when all cafes seem to close. But we did find Tully's Coffee in Agatanomori Street open long hours and know how to make cappucino, so we patronised this friendly cafe frequently during our stay. We could even pay Tully's with our Pasmo card.

Shop and shopper in Nakamachi.

Lovely detail in Nakamachi 2nd Floor.

Complicated awning components in Nakamachi.

And we also had our most formal Japanese dinner of this visit so far, shoes off, on tatami, in Matsumoto, at a restaurant called Furashima. It was exquisite, as you would expect, but we had tremendous language problems negotiating the menu. The kimono-clad staff tried, but their English matched our Japanese and it was very hard going.

Alan Gibson from Trans Orbit in Sydney had recommended that we take a day trip from Matsumoto to a town called Narai. Narai is along a valley road called Kisoji which itself was part of Nakasendo, the road between Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto in the Edo Period (1603-1867), and near a difficult crossing. Looking at today's map, this would have been a "long way round", but maybe topography made more direct routes impractical.

Narai is one of the few orginal post (toll?) towns still inhabited. It has reinvented itself with inns, cafes and local craft souvenir shops, and the narrow main street overhung by old buildings make it a very pleasant place to visit. At Narai, the valley is just wide enough to hold a one street town, a railway, a river and the main road (which bypasses the town, thus saving it).

Train winds through Narai in its narrow valley.

Our visit there taught us a lot about how JR operate small local train services, and how small towns can make themselves appeal to visitors. Our JR Pass paid for our local train trip to Narai. The train was just two carriages, absolutely immaculate inside and out. The floor was polished lino, and sparkling clean. It was 80% full on our outward journey, and standing room only coming back. The driver managed everything: on arrival at a stop he leaned out of his cabin to activate the doors (front doors only), then opened his window to the main cabin to collect tickets or fares. Naturally, the train was exactly on time at every stop.

Kiso Ohashi big bridge is one of many pedestrian bridges spanning the Narai River.

From inside the local train to Narai.

Local train passing through Narai.

On arrival at Narai, the station-master greeted us personally, gave us a town map in English, and made sure we knew the times of the return trains, which he had marked on a huge card.

One of many springs in Naria, in a shady, frozen spot.

Statuesque tree with shrine on a Narai side street.

This cafe is not open yet.

The main street is about 2km long ("Narai of 1,000 buildings") and the town is one of Japan's Nationally Designated Architectural Preservation Sites, with the buildings much like they were in the Edo period. The town was indeed as pretty as a picture, and a delight to walk through, exploring some of the side lanes to the river on one side and up into the hills on the other. The shops sold mostly locally produced crafts like laquered chopsticks and various kitchen utensils.

The Taiho-ji Temple and bell in Narai, backing into the hill.

Famous painted ceiling dragon in the shrine at Taiho-ji Temple, Narai.

Cemetery in Narai.

Tori gate, tree and shrine in Narai.

Finally in this Matsumoto post, it's amazing how you quickly start to take certain Japanese peculiarities for granted, and notice when they are absent. Once, the Buena Vista had a long scheduled power-outage overnight. That quintessential feature, the heated toilet seat, went cold! It was very distressing!

One of many craft outlets in Narai - this a display of beautiful lacquered chopsticks.

Steam engine exhibit in Narai.

Colorful family of cultural statues in Narai.

The train home from Narai proved to be "standing room only" with many passengers carrying ski gear.