Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefeture

 I used to think that if you've seen one Japanese Castle you've seen them all. I was wrong, Himeji Castle is like no other; it's magnificent!

As soon as one exits the North gate of Himeji JR train station the castle is visible. Just walk along Otemae Street and in about 10-20 minutes and you'll be at the castle entrance.

Need to cross the inner castle moat.

We are so excited!

The bridge across the moat.

And, into the castle grounds we go.

We are so lucky, the weather is nice today.

It's easy to follow the route to the castle.

The castle grounds are well maintained.

The castle is so big that it's always in your view.

We're getting closer to the main entrance.

There it is. Once you enter you have to take off your shoes. They give you a nice bag to carry your shoes in.

We're inside!

The walking route is clearly marked with signs and there are also castle attendants everywhere to guide you along.

There are racks on the wall for holding guns and spears.

There are a lot of foreign visitors enjoying the castle. 

The steps are steep and all the wood beams are massive.

The castle is old but it has been fitted with sprinkler systems for fire prevention.

The tourist route keeps taking us upwards to the top. 

We've made it to the top and we're enjoying the view out the windows.

The way down is different than the way up. The views out the windows are wonderful.

We're getting closer to the castle exit. Next to this room is the place to put your shoes back on and leave the castle.

Stepping out of the castle on the opposite side of where we entered. The view of the castle from this side is magnificent.

Some Chinese tourists having a good time.

Looking out at the castle grounds. This place is huge!

Seeing how small the people are in the foreground gives one an idea of how big the castle is.

We're still following the exit rout to leave the castle grounds.

Yes, that's me! We're almost back at the moat.

We've finally made it back to the bridge over the moat. 

A view of the moat from the bridge.

I didn't include any technical details about the Himeji Castle because those can easily be found on the internet. https://www.himejicastle.jp/en/

I must say that of all the Japanese Castles I've visited this one is the best so far!

All the best,

Mike

Shizuoka Prefecture - Group Tour: Day 2 (part 2)

 Here we go! Part 2 of day 2 and it's time to ride a train!

It may be hard to believe but down there on that small peninsula is a train station. 

The tour bus dropped us off here at this lookout point so that we could observe the passing of the train that we would eventually be riding on. 

In this picture you can see people walking on the pedestrian side of the railway tracks. They are heading for Oigawa Railway's Okuōikojō Train Station.

And, as promised by our tour guide, there's the Oigawa train making its approach to  Okuōikojō Station.

At this point the majority of our group left the lookout for the trail that would take them down to the train station. A few of us stayed behind to take pictures of the train departing the station. This is my picture of the train leaving the station. 

This is our little group that stayed behind. Now we're following the trail that leads down to the train station. 

It's a good thing that we weren't with the first group because they took the wrong trail. This is the first group coming back down the wrong trail to join us on the correct path to the station. 

We're all together now and down we go.

Most of the people on this tour are retirees in their 70s. The trail is no easy walk in the park but nobody complains.  

We keep going down.

At last we arrive at the pedestrian side of the train tracks.

This is no place for people that are afraid of heights... that would be people like me!

We have all arrived at Okuōikojō Train Station. 

Looking at the sign it appears that one can spell it with a "Z" or a "J". 

Everyone is very excited when the train makes its approach!

The train was very crowded and the only seats that Emi and I could get were at the back of the train facing backwards. This is our view from the back of the train.

Sitting right in front of me was another photographer. He was kind of an intense guy that didn't notice us sitting so close to him. He was 100% focused on taking pictures. 

Passing by another train heading in the opposite direction.

At first I thought that sitting in the back of the train and only being able to look backwards would suck! However, after awhile I changed my mind and thought it was the best place to be seated and that the view was fantastic. 

Passing by the Nagashima Dam. 

There are a lot of curves on this train line.

Passing by the Abt Ichishiro Camping Grounds

The train follows along the Ōi River.

Passing under the Izumio Bridge.

As the train follows the curves of the river I get another view of the Izumio Bridge. I bet the people in the front of the train facing forward don't get a nice view like this!

We're getting close to the end of our 1 hour train ride. Here we are passing by tea bushes. Green tea is a major agricultural business in Shizuoka prefecture.

We are only minutes away from Senzu Station, our final stop on this train line. 

Arriving at Senzu Station and sadly we have reached the end of our train ride.

This was the end of our sightseeing. After arriving at Senzu Station we got back on the tour bus and proceeded to Shizuoka train station where we caught a bullet train home. We had a wonderful time on this tour. I highly recommend it for people that can handle a lot of walking!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mike

Bonus shots

Miura Beach