As mentioned, Kokoen is a strolling garden composed of nine unique areas separated by walls and connected by walkways. From the garden of the lord's house you walk through a roofed corridor into the garden of seedlings. There is a tea house garden where five dollars gets you a cup of tea and a piece of cake, a deciduous garden, an evergreen garden, a flatly landscaped garden, a flower garden and even a garden with a hill and a pond. Ours was more of a gallop than a stroll, but still we enjoyed the scenery.

We ended up in a Turkish restaurant some way from both the castle and the garden. Nancy ordered falafel while I went for the chicken pita. Delicious!

Still licking our chops, we headed for the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History. The women at the desk guided us toward the permanent collection, an engrossing account of the development of Japanese culture starting with the Jomon period. We saw ancient pottery, ancient weapons and tools, learned about the development of rice farming as well as the influence exerted by the Chinese and Koreans.

The temporary exhibition, entitled "Buddha of Wood, Buddha of Silk", didn't have any English translations, and probably would have been over my head anyway. Spend a while in Japan and you get Buddha'd out sooner or later. Luckily an announcement for the trial display distracted us: hurry, and one lucky boy or girl gets to try on the samurai armour or the twelve layered kimono! We jankened and Nancy got to try the kimono, all fifteen kilograms of it! She looked like she just stepped out of an Edo era castle, ready to compose a haiku or drink some tea or something. She also looked absolutely stunning.