Shiro Shiro

Our target yesterday was Himeji and its massively famous crane castle. To that end we decided to jump onto our first shinkansen of the trip from Kyoto to Himeji on the hikari line.

It was like a really low flying airliner, the rails were so smooth it didn’t feel like a train. It had massive seats with huge legroom all facing forwards with long reaching tray tables, and a low background rumble that sounds like a cruising jet engine.

Getting out of the station we could immediately spot the castle, perched atop its hill appearing to be surrounded by the modern buildings of the city. With our path made obvious, we deviated a little for some lunch and a little shopping for hats and shades, then we wen onto the castle site proper.

You can tell the difference here, compared to Nijo, this had huge sturdy beams meant to witstand attack whereas the palace at Nijo was more of a political statement. Armouries, murder holes and musket loops throughout the structure of the keep tell you this castle meant business. As a tourist though, the views were certainly appreciated.

A brief visit to the other bailey, then into town for a souvenir, and back on the shinkansen, bound for Kyoto. They even had the model they used to understand the castle’s construction when they were restoring it on display.

After a brief discussion we decided to get dinner at the station. This was a first time for us again though, I have seen ticket based restaurant in anime and in the travel guides, but we got to buy ourselves some food tickets! Duncan was loving the free refills of rice though.