Nancy and I went on a trip this weekend. We left Thursday night for the beautiful Holiday Inn Express Kobe, a forty minute train ride east of Himeji Castle. I would have rather stayed in the castle, but thanks to the power of google we got a deal on the hotel. I can't even imagine the going rate for a night at Himeji.

According to the literature - actually, the pamphlet we got at the Himeji City tourist information center where you can borrow a beat-up peddle bike for free - the castle represents a heron in flight, hence the famous nickname White Heron Castle (the Japanese may be renowned poets, but no one ever accused them of being imaginative). It was completed in the early 17th century, which makes it much older than Canada. Like Canada, Himeji is enourmous and breathtaking.

Entering the castle grounds you must walk 300 hundred meters along a corridor where soldiers and maids once slept. You pass through a courtyard before entering the main keep, a six story monolith supported by two massive pillars, one of them the corpse of a 700-year-old cypress tree said to bestow long life to those who touch it. Can you believe Nancy licked it?

The view from the top was the same as the view from the top of most Japanese castles: overwhelmingly gray with the odd flash of neon. You see, in feudal Japan towns often sprung up around castles. Samurai lived close to the castle where they could conduct their administrative duties while merchants and tradespeople lived scattered around the area. When Japan modernized, the old castle towns exploded into monstrous cities. Kind of like what happened to Godzilla.

After Himeji, we headed to the Kokoen, or Nine Gardens. But its getting late, and Nancy hasn't put her pictures up yet, so more on that tomorrow.