Himeji

The garden at Koko-en next to Himeji Castle

The garden at Koko-en

I particularly liked this boddavista because of all the arms. It reminded me of Polanaki's film "Repulsion" where the girl sees all the arms coming out of the wall

The cable car. I noticed there were a group of houses at the bottom- you just hope the cablecar never fails and drops on top of them.

Richmond Hotel Himeji - its a business hotel, well situated and good value.

Listening to the candidates at the train station. They were a very polite crowd - no heckling - but probably wouldn't be heard over the loudspeaker

One of the many staircases at Himeji Castle. You had to take your shoes off and climb these in socks so you needed to be careful.

Himeji Castle

One of the rooms in the castle. They must have heen awfully dark and cold back then.

A very relaxed looking boddivasta

The West Wing of Himeji Castle

Stone throwing holes - this was one way to keep the enemy at bay

Another view a temple

One of the Buddhist temples at Mt Shosha. They were all beautifully constructed out of wood

There were some truly scary figurines inside. Enough to give a child nightmares

A mythical creature

This was an odd one. I used the camera on Google Translate and found out these people were wanted for some fairly serious crimes. Murder, robbery, having explosive weapons. But why was it at Mt Shosha not somewhere like the middle of town?n?

There were dozens of these figures about 5 metres apart all the way into the temple complex. I liked the wavy shape of this one.

My hotel in Himeji. Its only classified as a 3 star but I think its nicer than that. I think some manager has decreed they have to play classical music in the foyer all day. The staff must love that.

Entrance to the temples

I left Kii-Katsuura on Wednesday morning for Himeji, further south. Breakfast was slightly better than dinner. Boiled egg, rice, miso soup with tofu, natto (salty and sticky soy beans), pickles (I thought they were pineapple pieces) 😔, yoghurt, green tea. And another bloody fish complete with eyes and tail. I didn't touch it. I only had one futon to sleep on and a German guy in the room next door snored all night so I was rather tired in the morning. I had ear plugs but...

Essentially the whole area from Osaka down to Himeji seemed one big conurbation. There were areas that looked a little more suburban with little plots of veges growing but it was built up the whole way - that's about a 90 km stretch. I've noticed the houses always seem quite closed off to the outside world. There's no indoor/outdoor flow that many other cultures enjoy, including my own. The balconies are small and are generally used for washing or storing air conditioners or satellite dishes. I have seen almost nobody sitting outside enjoying the sun and I couldn't find anywhere much to sit outside at the homestays. The curtains or blinds usually seem to be drawn in most homes - perhaps that's a privacy issue. The first thing I've done in nearly all the rooms I've stayed in, is to open the blinds and the window, where possible.

Wednesday was an admin afternoon. I got to Himeji mid arvo, had a shower, and washed my hair. Then did my washing downstairs in the laundry. I had to ask the young woman from reception to help me unlock the machine. The buttons were mostly in Japanese with some English but I'd missed the button to unlock the machine. I learnt I could sit in my room watching my laundrey's progress on the TV screen. Such fun. I did this while listening to a political candidate drive past delivering her campaign speech on a loudspeaker.

Another admin job. I had to pop down to the station to pick up my last reservation and buy a ticket to the airport on the Narita Express. The office was full so I took a number and sat down to wait. I was gratified to see that everyone else was Japanese so that it wasn't just foreigners like me who found the train system complex. I got served in about 20 minutes by a very competent young man who whizzed over the keys and handed me the tickets. What a never ending job for those poor guys.

I don't know what the local issues are but the candidates and their supporters have been out and about on the streets handng out leaflets and giving speeches. How it's done here is that the political hopefuls drive round the streets speaking over a loudspeaker and waving out of the car window. They all wear white gloves too, which I thought was curious. Perhaps it's to give the idea of service in the same way the bus and train drivers wear them. There was campaigning happening outside the train station last night and there was a good crowd, but I noticed no-one seemed to be asking any questions. I went to find a loo at the top of the station shopping centre and joined a queue of women for what I thought was the ladies. When I got to the head of the queue, the man directing operations looked at me strangely. I realised I'd joined the queue for what looked like a polling booth. The loo was next door. Oops.

Last night I was wondering if I would find enough to do in Himeji but I couldn't have been more wrong. I loved today. First thing I walked to Himeji Castle and was second in the queue behind an Italian couple. Once it opened, I headed straight to the top - it was up a hill then up about 7 flights of steep stairs. Any invading horde would have been exhausted before they could attack. The castle survived the bombing of WW2 but it was completely dismantled and restored from 1956-1964. They did a great job on the restoration. The wood and stonework is so impressive. Its known as The White Heron Castle - I've forgotten why now.

There are very pretty gardens attached to the Castle and a large West Wing where the women of the castle used to live. It was designed with right angles and hiding places for warriors to prevent surprise attacks. The garden was full of plants I recognised - wisteria, azaleas, camellias, rhododendrons. I think the climate must be very similar to home. One thing I did notice was the platoon of quite elderly gardeners working in the Castle grounds. At home landscape gardeners or council gardeners are mainly young and fit men and women.

One last fact about Himeji Castle - Tom Cruise filmed part of The Last Samurai here. He also filmed it in Taranaki - the mountain standing in for Mt Fuji.

I had a nice lunch in a little vegetarian restaurant run by an older couple, picked up some baked goods and then headed back to the hotel to sort my luggage. I've forwarded my bag to the last hotel in Shinkuku so I don't have to schlep it through a really busy station. I just have my backpack.

Once I'd sorted this I took a bus to Mt Shosha. I didnt know anything at all about this place but I came away feeling so pleased I'd gone there. It was really beautiful - peaceful and calm and quite spiritual. You took a cable car up there and then walked around a series of Buddhist temples amongst the trees. Its been a centre of Buddhist worship and learning for about 1000 years. Some of the trees themselves were very old - one cedar was huge and estimated to be about 800 years old. There were a number of people there but nothing like the busyness of Himeji Castle. I noticed several Japanese had brought books with them which they got stamped and then a monk added some calligraphy to them. It was fascinating to watch him do this.

Before we went into any of the shrines we had to take our shoes off. I've been into several temples and castles now where we've had to do this and I've noticed that virtually all the Japanese can take their shoes off and on standing up, while most non-Japanese have to sit down. The Japanese seem to have great balance. I must work on this.

On the way down the cablecar the woman conductor gave us a running commentary in such a sweet and gentle voice it could be used as one of those sleep inducing sound tracks. I don't know what it was about but I think it was marketing the attractions of Himeji as there was a very brief summary in English. From the bus I watched the secondary school kids still playing sport at 5pm. They start early too - I've seen them heading to school around 7.30.am. it's certainly very different from our school system.

I picked up a vege burger at the train station and a can of vodka and orange at the 7-11. I really like the way they have such a big stock of single cans. You don't have to buy a six-pack and it encourages sensible drinking instead of binging.

I wanted one last onsen. The hotel receptionist recommended one at a nearby hotel so I set off. It was great - there was a rather complicated system of two lockers but once I was in, it was fantastic. A great showering arrangement, several different pools of different temperatures, even a mist room and a sauna and plunge pool. I sat in the pool wondering if a system like this could work in NZ. I doubt it. It would be too big a cultural mindshift I think. Such a shame.