gurdymonkey | Day trip to Himeji and larking about Kyoto Station

Rain was predicted for today and I'd heard it during the night, but it wasn't doing anything when I went out. Got breakfast at KohiKan again. This time I decided to try a hotcake. It was like eating a pillow. Perfectly browned on each side, 3/4" thick and fluffy on the inside, served with a pat of butter, a scoop of whipped cream and syrup. Thank God I didn't order the stack of two. Tasty, tasty pillow. It's like the white bread here. Hey, there's this food the Westerners do and it's good, but how can we make it better? Like that.

I forgot to mention in yesterday's entry that I was sitting near the dock where they do river tours of Osaka working on my hydration, when four Men Of A Certain Age and Type rounded the corner. The accents would've been a dead giveaway without the All Blacks jersey the oldest guy was wearing or the one guy's Maori sleeve tattoos. We chatted for a few, I said, "I take it you're here for the [Rugby] World Cup." The one said, "We're taking it back," with a laugh. They were nice, and funny, and I wished them luck. Since then, I'm seeing lots of people in gear that says they're fans, or possibly even with teams - and there seemed to be an awful lot of them on the train this morning.

I had to transfer trains in Osaka to get to Himeji and the Osaka-to-Himeji leg was standing room only in the cars which didn't require reserved seats. I managed to snag the last seat in the car next to an elderly Japanese lady, but a friend of hers got on at another stop and I had to be very insistent that she take the seat next to her friend. Not that bad - the trains are so smooth, even decellerating.

Himeji Station faces the castle down a main road. You can't possibly get lost and the maps say it's a whopping 1.3km (about .8 of a mile), so I headed there in my crappy packable rain jacket (which turned out to get me completely soaked across shoulders and arms and the hood is pretty useless).

I spotted an antique shop that was just opening its doors and hesitantly poked my nose in for a look. The proprietor had very little English. I'd barely had a chance to look around when four school kids spotted me and it was "Can We Practice Our English" Time. I think it may be SOP that when Japanese children go on field trips to places where they're likely to run into tourists, they're supposed to "interview" a native English speaker. It's happened twice this trip now - remember the girls at Sanjusangendo - and it goes like this: one or more students asks in hesitant, polite and sometimes definitely ragged English if you will answer their questions - and proffers a notebook with three or four questions for you to write answers to. It's usually, "How do you like Japan?" "What are you doing today?" Simple stuff. So I print my answers neatly because I know they're going to have to figure out what it means as part of their assignment. It usually ends with pictures and everyone throwing peace signs or making hearts with their hands.

I was a bit damp by the time I got to the entrance to the castle. I have to say Himeji is as beautiful as they say, even on a grey, wet day - and a lot more the sort of castle experience than Osaka. After wending your way up sloping approaches and into the main building, we were instructed to take off our shoes and carry them with us in plastic bags. This means continuing your ascent up several steep, dimly lit stairways in your stocking feet "like a samurai." If you consider that the average Japanese in 1600 or so was probably my height (5'6") or shorter, the rise on those stairs was HIGH. Those people must have had legs of steel. Each level had racks for bows built into the walls, each set of windows had a raised platform directly under them. (I am kind of amazed that I had as many good interior photos as I did - the light was extremely challenging.)

The top of the tower contains a small Shrine, which I saw a number of the school kids stop to do reverence. The views were about what you'd expect from that height, even in the rain, but due to the potential for tourist logjams, a guard was there to herd people through before it got bad.

Down was somewhat harder than up - I had to take the stairs slightly sideways - and you have to duck frequently to get down below the ceiling of the level you're descending to.

On the downward trip, there are cases with some of the older roof tile decorations from previous restoration efforts, and a large model which shows the timber structure of the castle, which was used during a restoration. The castle suffered bombing in 1945, but restoration efforts continue (one side was under scaffolding for current work).

After you exit the keep into the rain, you can circle a section of ramparts and pass the legendary Okiku's well. I've told a variant of this famous ghost story in SCA settings, so I treated it as I would a Shinto shrine, tossed a coin in, said, "Nine, my sister," and made gassho. One does not mess with Japanese ghosts.

Soggy and thoroughly disgusted with my leaky rain jacket, I stopped at one of the souvenir stands long enough to grab a bottled water and drink it under an overhanging roof, then started back down towards the train station. Nothing was quite interesting me enough to go in for lunch, though I was considering finding some place to get coffee or tea or something. I saw a covered shopping arcade and went down it, then discovered that it included a cross street that went all the way down to the block the train station was on, so I could get my stupid hood out of my eyes and walk where it was dry.

I checked the train schedule and had enough time to grab a roast beef sandwich from the 7/11 in the station and eat it on the platform before my train left. 7/11's roast beef on white was made with horseradish and soy sauce - good rare roast beef and more of that better-than-it-has-a-right-to-be crustless white bread.

Train ride back was swift and uneventful and I hit Kyoto about 3pm to find it raining steadily. Instead of trying to go someplace that would involve more getting wet, I decided that the complex that is Kyoto Station was worth exploring. The architecture is kind of interesting, so I could kill some time taking pictures and walking around the upper levels. Also, there's all kinds of shopping and dining in and around the station complex. The ten-story Isetan department store has a level devoted to "Japanese goods." These ranged from some very high end, gorgeous crafts to more souvenir-ish items like carved kanji charms and ocarinas. There was a lady with some gorgeous kasuri pieces and she was trying to convince me how comfortable all-cotton would be and I could see that none of it would fit me....

I started thinking I might actually want a proper dinner tonight and began exploring the upper "Eat Paradise" levels. And then I saw that "Ramen Street" was one level down, so I had to go check that out. After circling the "block" and looking at signboards, I settled on Hakata Ikkousha, mainly because they had black garlic oil ramen. I bought my ticket at the machine with help from a cheerful young man who took my ticket to the kitchen, showed me to a spot at a counter with a glass of water ready and served me a Coke. A bowl of steaming ramen floating in inky, rich broth appeared almost as fast. After a day in the rain, it was soooo good and I finished the noodles, boiled egg, four pieces of pork, pickles and onions and only left a little broth when I finally stood up. The lusty cheers of "Arigato Gozaimasu!" from the kitchen accompanied my exit.

It's supposed to rain in the morning tomorrow and then clear. I need to figure out what I want to do. I was hoping to do the Kitano Tenmangu flea market in the morning. We'll see what it's doing at that point. At least the hostel has loaner umbrellas.