Japan – Our trip to Himeji Castle and Kobe

I had seen the picture of this castle in the tour guides and wanted to visit it if at all possible. Well we did! And it was well worth it.

The only bad thing about it was that after 5 days of touring Japan on foot we had probably walked 50 miles and our feet and backs were killing us and then to look up at this castle on top of the hill! I found it rather shocking that we can regularly run 4 miles 3 times a week, and run up to the top of Suicide Cliffs in Saipan and not feel sore, and yet it was unbelievable how sore we were after just 5 days of touring!

There was even wildlife in the castle ponds - a new bird for us, a spot-billed duck.

Like other castles they built this castle to be as impenetrable as possible so they had lots of portals where they could throw rocks and hot water on the encroaching enemies -- portals of all shapes, seems a little artistry got in the way of efficiency here, but perhaps the triangles wouldn't allow the enemy to enter.

Oh, And we did run into a samurai at the top!

Himeji was a cute little town, much quieter and slower than Tokyo and Kyoto. A pleasure to visit. As you can see they do like to cater to their dogs.

Walking the small streets of Hemiji you just can't ever predict what you may run into!

On our way home we visited the coastal town of Kobe. A good contrast to Himeji. It was a new, bustling, glimmering city, with lots of Japanese tourist spots and tour boats.

The odd thing is, I was expecting to see some “sea birds”, but no, we didn’t even see one gull! Only pigeons. Very odd.

And of all places in the world, Cheri found Elvis!