Back so soon!

Day 168 - Saturday 28 June 2008

Nobody panic! I don't mean back in that way - I just mean blogging again after a relatively short space of time - I've just about planned the rest of my journeying around Japan and who knows when my internet access will be this good and this easy!

I'm currently sat in the Zenko-ji Temple Inn and so I'm staying in my very first Buddhist premises - a hard bed, lukewarm shower and strange monk-type innkeeper and it's all a little strange and a gentle reminder to me that I'm travelling not touristing - I guess I've been lured in by such comfortable ryokans (that have lured me back in after tomorrow night!)

So I left Nara having named Wagstafflson the latest blog prize winner and landed in Himeji - a small city (but bloody huge again by British standards) coveting another of this country's National Treasures - namely Himeji-jo (or castle!)

Himeji-jo was built and then expanded at various times between the 1300s and 1600s - it always served as a power base for various shogun - and sits on a very high mound dominating the city and surrounding countryside (that's made up of rolling pine forested hills like much of Japan)

Architecturally it's up there and even surpasses Macchu Picchu - it's spectacularly beautiful with the curved wooden lines luring the eye from kinshachi to kinshachi - these weird things are tiger-headed fish and protect the buildings that they adorn from fire!

Modern tourist-ready Himeji-jo is big and took me over 3 hours to fully absorb - but it was even bigger back in it's day - a whole city of samurai protecting their shogun lords lived in buildings inside and outside the now green and a bit stagnant moat!

It's white colour and place high against the (monotonously grey) sky gives it the nickname 'The White Heron' and deservedly it's been used in many movies - most notably You Only Live Twice (a Connery Japan based Bond) and Cruise's The Last Samurai was filmed nearby but they cling to that as well - needlessly in my opinion - it's awesome enough as just Himeji-jo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himeji_Castle

But that wasn't the end of my day in Hiemji - after a quick trip to the gardens of Koko-en (that were full of oldies and carp) I headed off to the Hyogo Prefectural Museum - not for their display of model Japanese castles (the attention to detail of the Japanese is what makes them so ace) and not even for their cool mirrored wall that reflected Himeji-jo back the viewer below - but why, who's that fierce looking character - just take a closer look at his eyes (if you can see them)

Yes samurai fans - the chance to dress up in 25kg of battle regalia had me hoping that I'd be the only one who turned up on a Thursday afternoon wanting to play - you see the whole deal takes about 60 minutes so they only have time for one person - and it didn't really help my cause when a classful of older kids with Down syndrome turned up - honestly! - I used my best Japanese to offer them the chance ahead of me but was told by my helpers that they only wanted to watch - so I was in!

I almost slipped up right away when two beautifully helpful young female staff members, Ree and Yakuri, told me to take my top off - 'you're sure?!' I suggested knowing it was about 25 degrees C INSIDE and this is a conservative culture - no sooner was my athletic physique half out than they were retracting their request, covering their eyes and putting layers of clothing and armour ON TOP of my Mountain Hard Wear shirt!

Ha! How ace a time did I have! That stuff is soooo heavy and what an enormous helmet (insert your own punch line Viz fans!) - how did those small guys (the shin guards were about half sized on me and the shoes were stamped down at the back!) fight in that - when the girls put the shoulder guards on it was like carrying a mattress on your back - although a mattress that would repel the sharpest sword slash - I felt very Hiro from the end of Season 1 of Heroes (or the start of Season 2 that I guess everyone except me has seen now - I can't wait!) - a big thanks to Ree and Yakuri who got one of my cards to say 'keep in touch' - and for the record - Ree's already emailed me and said how much fun it was - and how she wants to be a world traveller like me - I just told her to save up and follow her dreams - and she too could look like this!

Himeji also treated me to 2 hours of normality when I went to see Prince Caspian that was playing in English (and Japanese sub-titles) - I thought it was another good job from the Kiwi, Andrew Adamson, and really liked the casting of the Prince - pretty much gave me the romp I wanted although I just can't help thinking that CS Lewis was more boring and kid-friendly than his bloody great mate and fellow Inkling (look it up book fans!) JRR Tolkein - but again Jez - 'you're not a kind anymore'

Bu that was all back in Kansai and I've jumped on a couple of shinkansen to head north-east and end up here in the Japanese Alps kicking back in Takayama

Which is why I should discuss the merits of the Japanese rail system - it's basically better than everything you've ever heard about it - and here's why!

It goes everywhere
I set my watch by the clock on the first Japanese train I used from Narita Airport into Tokyo and they all arrive and leave exactly by my watch!
It moves so quickly it makes you weirdly a bit travel sick if you stare out of the window for too long!
It's built to move lots of people around quickly to central places (so it's not ace for seeing Japan - tunnels, high buildings, city centre power lines, etc)
It's in and out of stations so quick it barely stops (which is why it keeps time)
It's very space shuttle conical at either end and never turns around - just goes backwards and forwards
It feels like you're floating
It's got supremely helpful signage and announcements in both Japanese and English all across the country (not just in Tokyo like many people suggest)
It's a tad worn 'cos it's used so much (when it's this fast and on time you'd never need an internal flight in Japan)
It makes onward travel and accommodation arrival plans a cinch - you just know you'll be there at the said time
It's had zero fatalities - ever!

Right - shinkansen (or trains really 'cos shinkansen is just the fast ones) - sorted!

Back to Takayama - this place is another of Japan's highlights and bucketloads of people come to stroll the oldy-worldy streets of old Japan - the mountains here are cool to look at because (like the previously mentioned hills) they're all covered in pine forests - from top to bottom - or at least at this elevation of about 1000 masl - I'm off to Kamikochi tomorrow and expecting a bit more ruggedness - if I can see it - I've just been told it's going to rain!

But today I checked out one of the shogunate's government buildings where they ruled the Hida Prefecture from - called Takayama-jinja it's surprisingly big, pleasant on the eye and enough tatami to sort my new house out millions of times over - it also has a horrid torture area where they cross-examined civilians for various things (including Christianity at one time) and is　right on the front next to the street (I guess that was to scare anyone else thinking street (I guess that was to scare anyone else outside thinking of crossing the shogunate

In the afternoon I headed over to Hida-no-Sato where they've relocated a load of 1600s-1800s merchants, farmers and priests homes from around the locality - very stylishly presented in a hilly, alpine setting - very Huey Lewis (back in time!) - and I enjoyed it - by the way - the thatched roofs (or rooves?!) are heavily steeped like that so they don't collect the annual 2m of snowfall that they have here each Winter - clever huh!

But today's been old stuff - and my faves are ancient - 'what's that Marion?' - 'an OLD teapot Indy' - 'whatever' - I'm not really that flippant - and I did get to ring a huge bell - that was probably pretty ancient!