Oct 26, 2011 - Heian Kyoto Hotel Garden and Himeji Gardens

Alan, the other volunteer from the Portland Garden on this trip, is the ultimate volunteer (even has the word on his license plate!). He wanted to help out at the lovely Kyoto Heian Hotel garden we have visited several times. He asked me to take a few photos of him working in the garden so he could show the Portland Japanese Garden staff that he had actually volunteered internationally. We went early, about 7:15, when Mr. Saito, the former Executive Director of the hotel, volunteers to get the garden ready every morning for visitors. Alan...

Oct 22, 2011 - Himeji Castle

After a 12-hour rest, I’m revived and ready to go. Saturday morning, and it’s 88% humidity and raining. May just stay in today, do laundry, etc. But then again, I’m sure I’ll find something fun to do! Later—yep! Sat with Tamao and Douglas at breakfast (they are staying for a couple of weeks to do follow-up with the people who were so kind to us, plan next spring’s tour, etc.) Douglas knew that we had purchased a JR (Japan Rail) pass for a week. It takes you anyplace you want to go on any JR line train. He encouraged us to use it to go as...

Nov 6, 2009 - Himeji - Nov 6

During the night, I woke up on a number of occasions and on a couple of these I completely lost my orientation, not knowing at all where I was. I don’t know if this was a result of a bad dream or whether changing hotels and hostels every few days has affected me. I’m certainly not sleeping long hours especially since we have been in Japan but thankfully yet it hasn’t affected me being able to go out and enjoy the sights each day but I feel pretty lethargic at times. Maybe I’ll use our spare day in Fukuoka for sleep. After hearing the alarm...

Oct 15, 2009 - Top of the pops

Today we left Hiroshima. There was always something slightly difficult about being there. There aren`t many explicit reminders of what happened, but the very normality of the place kept making me imagine if a bomb dropped now, what would that be like, and it was always disturbing. I`m definitely not a pacifist, but I do think　when violence is necessary it should be up close, personal, and involve those who want to be involved and no-one else. The bullet trains are such a pleasure, and we`ve been on three today, what a treat. First we went...

Aug 27, 2009 - Himeji Castle

We have had a fairly interesting day today and done a bit of traveling around Japan. The weather has been pretty nice. No direct sun-shine, slightly overcast and not too hot. Perfect weather for a bit of sightseeing. Our first destination was Himeji. Himeji is a small town south of Osaka and Kobe on the east coast of Japan. It is really only famous for its castle overlooking the town. The town of Himeji wasn‘t all too exciting - we simply walked through it and quickly concluded that it wasn‘t worth any energy spent on it. The palace was...

Oct 16, 2008 - Now This is a Festival

So our friends Kris and Danielle said they heard about a festival about an hour outside Kyoto in Himeji and that we should check it out. In our experience, festivals are a great way to be one with the locals and get a good understanding of local culture. So Jess and I were very excited to join Danielle and Kris to check out the festival. We wondered what this festival was about or what is was celebrating. Since everything was in Japanese, we just went to the festival being completely naive to what it was. Maybe we'd see a tea ceremony or...

Jul 27, 2008 - Himeji

Camino a Osaka, hice un daytrip a Himeji, que tiene el castillo feudal mejor preservado de Japon. Fue construido por Toyotomi Hideyoshi (el general que unio Japon) en 1580 y ha pertenecido a 48 senhores feudales desde entonces. La torre principal tiene como 7 pisos, todos integros en madera. Hay cuartos escondidos, huecos para tirar aceite caliente, almacenes de comida, etc. Esta muy bien preservado. Alrededor de la torre estaban las areas para los samurai, y mas alla las de los comerciantes, todas circundadas por murallas. La estacion de...

May 5, 2008 - Himeji

We stopped at Himeji on the way from Nagasaki to Kyoto for a couple hours to see the castle. This castle was the first castle of the Shogunate of Japan - the Shogun who united all of the provinces into 1 Japan. The castle was enormous - very very large. Unfortunately, since it is Golden Week here (national holiday), all of the Japanese tourists were out as well. So the lines were too long to be able to get into the castle, so we didn't see the inside. We did, however, eat lunch at a little Ramen shop in some alley which was awesome. And...

Nov 1, 2007 - Halloween/Himeji

After my last entry, I met up with some of the group and we went restaurant hopping. First stop was a very small traditional Japanese place that only seated 12 people, a good thing since there were 7 of us. The food (fermented soybeans, rice, beef, potatoes) was served in small bowls while we sat on straw mats and ate. After this we decided we needed something more substantial, so we went to a really cool place with gas grills in the center of the table where you can cook you own meat and vegetables, kind of a low budget Beni-Hana. It was...

Aug 10, 2006 - White Castle

After Hiroshima, I went to Kyoto, stopping on the way in Himeji, the site of the best preserved castle in Japan. It's at least several hundred years old, but it's well maintained and the tour imparts a real sense of what it was like to live in a castle in feudal Japan. It also reminded me a bit of this ninja game I played when I was a kid on my gigantic, beige Apple 2+, where you had to ascend this castle, defeating bad guys on each level. Kind of like the Bruce Lee film, Enter the Dragon. I don't think Kareem Abdul Jabbar would have fit in...

Jun 7, 2006 - Castles, Japanese Style

Himeji-jo On the train back from Himeji Castle now, very cool, majestic looking castle. It was first built in 1333, but the present castle was rebuilt in 1580 (With some reconstructive work in 1950s) The main donjon (central tower) is 5 stories, and has 3 smaller donjons. It is surrounded by moats and defensive walls, which have tiny openings to fire guns and bows through. Not an easy castle to breach from the looks of it. One area was called the Suicide keep, which apparently is where suicides and executions were held. Also a well, where a...

Jun 2, 2006 - Himeji (15/04/06)

Le château d'Himeji, qui porte aussi le surnom "Shirasagi" - aigrette blanche - en raison de sa couleur, est généralement vu comme le plus beau du Japon parmi ceux qui subsistent dans leur forme d'origine. Il a été construit en 1580 par Toyotomi Hideyoshi et fait partie du patrimoine mondial depuis 1993. Nous étions véritablement impressionnés par cet édifice élégant qui de plus était entouré de cerisiers en fleurs. Die Burg von Himeji, die aufgrund ihrer Farbe auch den Beinamen "Shirasagi" - Silberreiher - trägt, wird allgemein als die...