Visit to Himeji - Nov. 4

On Tuesday I finally visited Himeji Castle. Okaasan and I went together and had another adventure. I really enjoy her company, but I hope I'm also spending equal amounts of time with my host family and with friends.

Himeji Castle is simply exquisite. It is, of course, built on top of a hill, and there are beautiful views of Himeji City from all parts of the castle. It is hard to know how much of the castle that is currently standing is authentic, but I did visit Princess Sen's living quarters, which were authentic. I also went during the one-week time period when special parts of the castle that are not normally open to the public were open. I got to see a small tower and the toilet area of the main castle, both of which are areas into which the public usually is denied entry. After we saw the castle, Okaasan and I visited some beautiful gardens next to the castle. The castle was quite crowded with sight-seers, so I was glad to visit the peaceful, quiet gardens.

After I returned home, Okaasan did a little extra shopping in Himeji City and bought me some socks to help me keep warm in my room. I didn't mention this in my previous post, but one reason that houses become rather cold during the winter is there is no internal heating system in houses. They heat the floors with electricity, but there are no radiators or furnaces. I'll have to compensate by wearing more clothing than I do at home in the United States.