Traveling Pains: Himeji Castle: Walk, Run, or Ride the Bus

Hello Everyone, and Welcome back to Stir-Fried Tango. Last time we had just made it to the station near Himeji-jo also known as Himeji Castle and I was looking down the road toward the castle as the buildings framed it and just showed us the clear path there. We grabbed a quick snack (who needs lunch when there is a giant castle sitting out there) and swapped out our luggage in a coin locker about 5 times until we had what we actually wanted to carry for the rest of the day. 2500 yen in a 500-yen coin locker later we started heading for the castle. Christine asked the people at the information counter about what the best way to get there was and they told us that we should ride the bus because it would take about 25 minutes to walk there and the castle would be closing soon. Too bad I didn’t ask "how soon."

We headed out for the bus stop and started waiting thinking the bus would be there soon, then I checked the time. This bus only ran every 30 minutes exactly and I had just missed it… by 1 minute! Ok so 30 minutes for a bus (and then the time to get there,) or a 25-minute walk. 25-minute walk it is since it closes soon. I walked down the street until I saw a few obviously English speaking people that would know a little about the castle. I say “obviously” because of their tall stature, white skin, and giant camera hanging off of their neck like one of the chains that hold Jacob Marley down in “A Christmas Carol,” not because I heard them speaking English or because they were walking away from the castle. Christine asked them what time the castle closed (it was around 3 something then) and they told us 4.

As I was running to the castle I remembered that I didn't bring my inhaler with me. One of the many things left in the locker. No time to care, give me the castle or give me death (or both?.) I made it to the castle gates out of breath but with plenty of time (take that 25-minute walk) and entered the castle grounds. What I saw next took my breath away, either that or the asthma did, don’t remember quite which. The castle… didn’t close until 5.

Why? Why me? Oh my air. Did I mention Christine won't run? I think it was mentioned by "Jedimaester" in the comments.

From the castle gates you walk into the open castle grounds leading to a large white castle sitting atop a hill. The walls surrounding the castle spread out all the way around us so far that even shooting a panoramic shot on my widest lens could not even take it all in. a trail along the big open field, I mean castle grounds, ran along the nearest wall all the way to the first layer of surrounding walls and another set of large gates leading up to the castle. There were trees along the sides of the grounds separating it from the paths, and while the sad trees were lacking in beauty at the time, I could tell that in a few weeks when everything was in full bloom this place would be as breath taking as my asthma.

It only cost about 500 yen ($4.25?) to enter the castle so of course I was going. When you enter you follow a steady trail up through several layers of walls all the way to the castle and around almost every corner you get another spectacular view of the castle itself until you finally get inside. At the door you have to take off and carry your shoes while you go through the inside (don’t worry if they are dirty, they give you a plastic bag.) This is where the climbing starts… and keeps going… and going up several flights of stairs all the way to the top of the castle and then all the way back down. Don’t worry, the view is worth it even if your camera doesn’t seem to take the same pictures you see in your head. I would even tell you to still try and take pictures through the thick stone window openings. Who knows, it may come out.

So a little about this beautiful spectacle, Himeji-jo. This beautiful castle's construction happened sometime around 1330, actually starting as a fort. OMG that’s old. Maybe ten times older than my grandparents. Were there still dinosaurs around then? So yeah, I said "fort" because there was some fort there, but then some ruler's son was like "hey who needs a fort? I want a castle." Now, the part that made me feel happy. The castle wasn't completed until around 1560 (Take that you bratty kid.) One of the next owners added a three story keep in about 1580, and not long after in about 1600, it got remodeled. Why? Son one else's son (Well really son-in-law) decided to tear the whole keep down and rebuild the castle. Sadly this was built and expanded, with awesome moats and fire breathing dragon, in about 10 years (Bratty kids!) The castle stayed basically the same getting passed from one person to the next (I think a lot of people were dying.) Someone added a few new building including a tower for their daughter-in-law (These kids!) Afterwards, there were many destruction attempts on the castle's life, and yet somehow it came out mostly unscathed. Someone tried to develop the land after buying the castle for about $2,000 (heck I would buy it for that,) but fortunately couldn't destroy it because it cost way too much to destroy. Also during WWII a bomb hit the castle, but again it was blessed with a dud. Thus we have this amazing castle.

While wondering around the castle I heard the announcement that the castle would close at 4:30 (yes I was confused too.) So this is when we found out the castle actually stopped people from entering at 4:30 but didn’t kick people out until 5? And the castle grounds didn’t close until 5 (so really 5:30 because it was 5 when we left, but there were still a lot of people inside,) so people could still take pictures of the castle itself while the sun set. At this point I was starting to wear out from lack of food and a little concerned about our time because we were supposed to meet Eriko at Sakai station in Osaka. We pigged out on a source of electrolytes (I’m a little ashamed to say where) and started to head back, again riding the Shinkansen.

Remember all of the wonderful things I said about the Shinkansen? I don’t take them back, but the second trip was a little less awe-inspiring. Why? Because the first time we were riding in reserved seats. I don’t know why my seat ended up being reserved, maybe they thought I was a silly foreigner that should pay more and gave me those ones on the way from Tokyo to Himeji (I did notice that people in Himeji seemed nicer and more considerate,) but they gave me reserved ones. This time my tickets were in the not quite so shiny, looks like it might be a slightly old looking, un-reserved seats. Oh well the Shinkansen didn’t stop being amazing.

Rocketing past everything I soon arrived in Osaka where once again I played musical trains until I finally made it to the right station (give me another week and I’m sure I can tell you how to get, how to get to Sesame Street.) I exited the station out of the wrong exit, walked all the way around to the other side of the station and finally, we met up with Eriko.

Osaka At Last!

At this point all I could think about was sleep. We went back to her place and stayed up for a little while catching up but soon sleep caught up to me and I was…

Next time: Nara; Oh deer!

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Stir-Fried Tango - A Broad Side - Intro

Welcome Back to the Stir-Fried Tango

So if you were expecting the next blog on our trip around Kansai... you will be waiting another few days. That series will have it's next update on Monday. Today I will be starting my new series A Broad Side, and guess what? My first post has a video!

Hope you guess enjoyed that. I'm wanting to get better at making videos so I will be practicing a lot. Don't worry! I still plan on keeping this blog, and in fact you will probably get special stuff because you not only get to see videos I put up but also the flavorful text up put up with it.

So don't despair!

Welcome to Stir-fried Tango

Hello everyone and welcome to the Stir-fried Tango. Now I know for you native English speakers that “Tango” is a dance, but it is not here. This “Tango” references the Romaji Spelling of the Japanese word “単語 (たんご)” which means “words.” I’m Richard, and this is my story.

Since I started out with an awkward explanation to some random Japanese word, I should probably explain why. I’m currently learning Japanese – and the struggle is real. Learning Japanese, for me, has definitely been one of the hardest pursuits of my life; and I often find myself mixing up words in both English and Japanese. So, sooo mixed up. What better name for my blog than “mixed up words” thus the Stir-fried Tango was born. On this blog there will be many topics including, but not limited to: traveling, Japan, life, photography, studying abroad, and whatever else I find interesting. I have no clue how this will turn out, but I look forward to having this journey with you. Now enough with that, as my first post you probably want to know “who is this mixed-up-word-speaking guy?”

As I stated above my name is Richard and I am currently participating in a one year study abroad program in Japan at International Christian University (ICU). Sadly, I will be returning to the US sometime in July of 2016. Before studying abroad and struggling with Japanese in Japan, I was struggling for about 2 years with Japanese in the US, so after a discouraging two years it was time for immersion learning. I had spent those two years planning and preparing for the trip to Japan, but even with all of my research I was not fully prepared. I knew one of the things I wanted to do was blog about the things that others may want to know before traveling to other countries or places.

One of the hurdles that I was challenged with was figuring out how to pay for this trip to Japan. This was absolutely one of the biggest fears I had about trying to study abroad because even with my wife and I both working full time it was hard to pay for life as a full time student. Sometimes we were so excited for a new semester to start because student loans would cover gas for the next few months. I will definitely be talking about how to survive as a poor college student in this blog. Now I won’t tell you to “not worry there is a way to fix all problems,” but I will give tips that will help.

Something fun I will include are Japanese segments in my posts. As I am working toward my skill in Japanese, I want to practice share and encourage others learning languages, especially those who may find it as difficult as I have, to keep going. Don’t give up because it is hard. The reward is well worth it. Now for those who do not speak Japanese, don’t freak out! Most of what I will say will probably be something I already just posted in English. This just allows me to practice something I enjoy doing.

Also I love taking photos. I’ve actually been wanting that to be my direction in life, although skill wise I don’t feel prepared. For me it is an art and an inspiring way to tell a story. So, while I write these posts I will also try to include some of the photos I take, whether they are beautiful or not, the story I want to tell with them will be. I am also interested in making videos, but I have not decided if I will add any or not. Hopefully as we journey together, we will learn more about the places around us and grow to see the world in all of its beauty.

Finally, there is something I feel is very important. This blog will grow. A lot of people don’t like change, but people do it all the time, and because of that it should be clear that even I will fall victim to it. I will have thoughts and opinions that change or grow and later it is possible I won’t feel the same way at all. Because of this, what I blog about will begin to vary as I gain experience. While writing I may start with a few topics, but in the future I would love to have a great many things that I can talk about and to share it all with you.

Thank you for reading this post. I look forward to sharing, learning, and growing more with you in the future. Please feel free to comment and request future topics, and I hope to hear from you soon, but most of all thank you for being a part of my Stir-fried Tango.