This is Himeji Castle, the finest in Japan, and most noteworthy (to me) as the place where James Bondo-san landed in a goofy helicopter while filming "You Only Die Twice" or something or other in the '60s.
Well, Rusty's time in Japan has nearly drawn to a close, and after a marathon 3-day travel fest encompassing 4 cities, 4 bullet train rides, and thousands of years of history, we have spent all of Monday in a 10x10 foot area in Hong's apartment doing approximately nothing. The major accomplishment of the day was eating breakfast, which was American style. Mission accomplished.
Well, it's been a wild and crazy adventure here with my brother in Japan. I have to admit, the Boy did admirably, not complaining too much and generally eating things that were put in front of him. I made a small mistake on the last day by booking a $43 guided bus tour of some of Japan's oldest and most prestigious temples. Let's just say he might have preferred to spend the money on apple pies from McDonalds. 43 of them, to be exact.
Last week, we went up to Hakuba, high in the Japan Alps, and took in a truly fine day of skiing. We were booked for 2 nights in a very ragtag backpacker hostel, but after our day of skiing, we just hightailed it out of there to save a bit of money and avoid talking to any more backpackers from England. It was a wise choice.
Hakuba was truly beautiful, and truly freezing, and everything was covered in snow. In comparison, Nakatsugawa seemed almost balmy. We spent 2 days in my town, doing little and attempting to save money. I will post some photos from Rusty's day at my high school later.
Last Friday, we awoke very early in the morning (4:15 am), so Rusty could enroll in his classes at SDSU. Unfortunately, the California budget crisis seems to have hit too close to home or something: the computers got too overloaded and he wasn't able to enroll. We grabbed 2 more hours of crappy sleep then took off for the train station for our high-speed Bullet Train ride to Himeji, to see Himeji castle (the best in Japan, allegedly).
The train was fast and luxurious, and we lucked out and got a flawless English tour of the castle from a local volunteer. She only does 1 tour per week, and we were it. Kinda lazy, if you ask me. I have been to other Japanese castles before, and they were generally pretty crappy, boring reconstructions, but this one was original, beautiful, and fascinating. The 2 hours I had budgeted for it was hardly sufficient, and our poor guide wasted not a minute getting us to see the highlights. I felt bad for her, running quickly to escort these silly foreigners around the castle in 1 hour. I'm sure she thought we were sort of irreverant dumbasses, but she had a great smile and hid it well if she did!
After Himeji Castle, we hopped back on the Bullet Train for our 1-hour trip to Hiroshima. We were really starting to like riding this thing. It was so great, you just find your car, sit down and relax in the spacious awesomeness while Japan flies by your window at a million miles an hour. It sure beats the oh-so-slow local economy trains I always travel by and Rusty hates. I won't be able to justify this extravagance again for a while: my ticket from Gifu to Hiroshima was well above $100. It hurt to pay that much, let me tell you.
In Hiroshima, we went to see the bombing-related sites, which were quite sobering. In spite of the tragedy that this town has suffered, though, I think it is one of my favorite in Japan. It seems determined to be a great place. The streets have a lot of liveliness and the restaurants all look clean and polished and brand-new. The Boy and I had a good night on the town, first eating some crappy curry, and then Rusty found a weird little path lit by a few lanterns and thought it looked cool. It turned out to be a way-swanky restaurant, and so we sat down and I ordered the boy some Japanese sake. He thought it tasted remarkably like the swill they purchase at the frat for their "sake nights." Oh well, I tried.
The next day, we caught the early Bullet Train to Kyoto. We were off to see some of the great sites of ancient Japan. More on that later, as the Adventure continues.
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