Blogs from Himeji, Hyogo, Japan, Asia

Easy start to day. Left Hotel Flex at 8:20 and reached Platform 14 at 8:40 for our Shinkansen bullet train, Mizuho, to Himeji. This one is older than the others we've been on, but still very comfortable. On arrival at Himeji Station we bought our reserve tickets for the fast train to Osaka at 9:11 for tomorrow Raining today unfortunately, but all good as we found our hotel easily and were able to go up another covered arcade almost the whole way. We left our bags, bur Oscar was reluctant to leave as he just wanted to play. Finally convinced him to go at 11:15 and again undercover right up to the park adjoining Himeji Castle. We decided to have lunch at the Kassui-ken restaurant within the Koko-en gardens which are next to Himeji Castle. We ... read more

Himeji Castle is recognized as Japan's most magnificent castle, particularly after its recent five-year renovation, and certainly deserves its moniker White Heron Castle. Built in 1580 by general Toyotomi Hideyoshi, it was never destroyed by war, earthquake or fire and survives to this day as one of the country's twelve original castles. There's a five-story main keep and three smaller keeps, all surrounded by moats and defensive walls. Himeji Castle may be familiar to visitors because of its being featured in films such as Kurosawa Akira's Seven Samurai (1954) , James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967) and Ran (1985). You should begin your tour of Himeji Castle exploring the surviving royal residential building with an enclosed corridor and multiple unfurnished rooms, which provides a completely different experience than the main building. Visiting the main ... read more

. Last night we joined Mitchie and Shingo for dinner and a concert. The performers were two highly skilled and fantastic performers who played shamisen. Yes they wore the kimono in their poster for the first half of their two hour concert I enjoyed it so much I thought I’d give you access to them if you’re interested.The blog can’t host the video, but these links should help from u tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXE-qTbYvFI&feature https://youtu.be/RcqO0zkyQRo... read more

Wednesday, 26th June 2019 My second half of the day was spent onboard the Nozomi N700 Shinkansen services to the city of Himeji, some 455km away on the island of Honshu. It was amazing that the journey only took slightly less than two hours to complete. The Japanese bento lunch box that I had onboard was a good mix of seaweed, eggs and minced pork which tasted great as usual. By 5.49pm, my train had pulled into Himeji Station where Dormy Inn was another 5 minutes' walk away from the South Exit. I am always excited to stay at Dormy Inn with its in-house onsen facilities as well as complimentary ramen in the evenings. Also, I noticed that the room is normally more spacious than the standard business hotel rooms in Japan. Himeji made an ideal ... read more

Returning to Japan for the fourth year, and to Himeji for the second year is proving to be an excellent beginning to my retirement from teaching. Being greeted with hugs from Japanese women colleagues from 9 years ago was a most unexpected gift. I have been surprised and delighted with how easy these first two months have been. The school year ends in Japan in late March and so I arrived in time to teach the last few classes and set exams for the Year 12’s (三年生). Yesterday was their graduation ceremony: a formal, solemn and moving end to their school days, followed by beaming faces, oodles of photos and a dance display at the school entrance. I was moved to tears by the rousing thanks each class gave their home room teacher. Shogai Daigaku (university ... read more