Himeji, located in Hyogo Prefecture, is most famous for its magnificent castle: Himeji Castle (also known as White Heron Castle due to its elegant white appearance; in contrast to Okayama’s Crow Castle which I mentioned in my previous post). Out of Japan’s twelve original castles, it is widely considered to be the most beautiful. By original, I mean unlike many other Japanese castles, it was never destroyed by war, earthquake, fire, or any other causes. It was registered as Japan’s first inscription to UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1993.

The castle is a straight 15 to 20 minutes’ walk from Himeji Station. Thanks to summer holiday, it was flocked with visitors all around the world. I took a break after walking under extreme heat by eating kakigoori as usual. What made it interesting though, it was banana-flavoured! I noticed that this one particular vendor was selling kakigoori with unique flavours. I really wanted to try all of them but my ever-growing thinner wallet said no. Not to mention the entrance fee to Himeji Castle and its neighbouring garden costs 1,040 yen, the most expensive castle I’ve been to so far.

While the exterior of the castle is indeed outstanding, jaw-dropping even, there was almost nothing inside the castle except for the top floor which has a small shrine. And you can’t even see or enjoy it for long because of the crowd. The officers kept telling us to move forward. It was my worst castle-going experience ever despite it being famous, beautiful, and costly. Overrated? I think so.

I prefer Nishinomaru, a long corridor located west of the castle. It has this peaceful atmosphere befitting that of a gorgeous castle. Of course you can still see the real castle.

Similar to Nishinomaru, the neighbouring Koukoen (lit. good old garden) received little to no attention from the visitors. The garden is divided to several sections (I guess the plants differ according to the sections?) and I was so happy to find out that it was not just green! It was a lovely garden, I should say. I will have the pictures speak for themselves.

P.S.: Due to the lack of photography skills, they may not seem all that pretty, so please note that the actual view is better.

Aside for being the home of Momotaro, Okayama is also the home of Kourakuen, one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan, along with Kenrokuen (Kanazawa, Ishikawa) and Kairakuen (Mito, Ibaraki). It is located near Okayama Castle, a 100 yen tram ride from Okayama Station plus around 10 minutes of walking from Shiroshita stop. I bought the combined Okayama Castle and Kourakuen tickets for 560 yen. 

Okayama Castle’s exterior is black, so it gained a unique nickname: Crow Castle. Inside the castle, they sell ice creams and parfaits, and also souvenirs! It is said that an episode of Detective Conan took place inside the castle, where they ate “Oshiro parfait” (castle parfait) which is made of white peach, of course. Since I have already tried the parfait at another place, I decided to go with white peach ice cream this time. Needless to say, it was yummy, especially on a hot summer day.

Go across Tsukimi Bridge, and you will be near the south gate of Kourakuen. You can rent swan boats on Asahi River too (I wanted to try but I traveled alone, so yeah). 

Kourakuen is spacious and features a wide variety of plants and flowers which names I can’t bring to mind. Also you may expect the garden to be colourful, but because it was summer, the majority of the garden was green. Just... green. Maybe I should go again later in spring or autumn lol. Anyway, it has great scenery and was so peaceful despite being just green.

Next is the canal area of Kurashiki, or Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter. Just as its name proposed, it is a place where many historical things are being kept: museums! There are some street vendors along the street as well. Unlike buying from a shop, you can apply your bargaining skills here. Again, it looked just green everywhere, but it offered a scenery just like from the past times.

And today’s local food is demi katsudon with muscat grape drink!

Who doesn’t know Momotaro? This popular Japanese folklore tells us the story of a boy who was born from inside a giant momo (peach), hence the name Momotaro. He was found by an old woman floating down the river and raised by both her and her husband as the couple didn’t have any child. He went on a journey to Onigashima (demon island) to defeat demons. On the journey, he met a dog, a monkey, and a pheasant – all of them became his friends who agreed to help him in his quest. In the end, they won against the demons, returned home, and lived happily ever after.

Since the story is originated from Okayama Prefecture, Momotaro is used to boost the prefecture’s tourism as its mascot. They even named a street after him. And with that, visitors are sure to find Momotaro in various places throughout the city. Here are some of them which I found near Okayama Station.

By the way, Okayama is indeed famous for its white peach so it is not the home of Momotaro for nothing. So you can find lots of food and drinks with white peach (or just peach) as their ingredients. Other specialties include pione grape, muscat grape, and kibi dango (kibi dango is said to be used by Momotaro to recruit his three friends). I tried their super delish peach parfait once, and lucky me, it was White Peach Day! The shop employee offered a no-miss lottery for customers who ordered their peach menu. I got a free peach juice, yay! (The juice was 4th out of 5 gifts though. I guess I wasn’t that lucky, LOL)

And for souvenirs, I bought some kibi dango. Japanese are really smart with their packaging they all look so pretty and cute and I just can’t resist them.

6 August 1945. 08:15 am. The citizens of Hiroshima were doing their daily routine. Unaware of the upcoming danger that would change their lives in a blink of an eye. Reports say that survivors had seen a flash of blinding light followed by a loud booming sound. An estimated 70,000-80,000 people were killed by the blast and another 70,000 injured at that moment. Many more died due to radiation and other injuries on top of being ill and malnourished after years of ongoing war. The US Air Forces had succeeded their mission, leaving behind a gigantic mushroom clouds and a city burnt to the ground.

71 years later, Hiroshima commemorated the event. People from all around the world gathered in Peace Memorial Park. Italy, USA, Canada, to name a few. A ceremony was held for public. Everyone prayed for this kind of cruelty will not happen again in the future. Everyone prayed for one thing which was reflected in the place they all were: peace.

I didn’t go there, though. I went to Miyajima, which is famous for its floating torii (red gate of Shinto shrine) of Itsukushima Shrine. I took a tram ride instead of train. Tram is one of Hiroshima’s main public transportation. It is cheaper albeit slower, and I just wanted to feel what it’s like to be a local. Oh, it has a stop right in front of A-Bomb Dome too. Talk about convenience in Japan. I got off the tram, rode a ferry, and voila! The floating torii immediately caught my eyes. One thing that visitors may not have known before is the presence of many wild deer. Maybe it’s just me, or... I don’t know. Anyway, soon after I arrived on the island, one deer kindly “welcomed” me. It even chewed my shirt to the point where a stranger had to help get it off me.

I walked up to Senjoukaku and had a rest for a while there. I also bought ichigo-goori (strawberry shaved ice) which was perfect to beat the heat. Inside the shrine was really crowded. I guess that’s just the way it is with popular tourist destination.

You can buy the shrine stamp and omikuji (fortune telling paper) too! I got kyou (bad luck) *sobs*.

After a good long walk around the shrine and the museum, it’s time for lunch. I ordered a set meal consists of the local specialties: anago meshi (eel on top of rice) and kaki furai (fried oysters). By the time I finished eating, the tide was low so I could walk under the torii. It has many coins on it but no one took them, of course. 

Then I headed back to Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima. They hold an annual event called Peace Message Lantern Floating Ceremony, or simply tourou nagashi, a ceremony in which paper lanterns are floated down a river. You can purchase a tourou (paper lantern) for 600 yen at the designated booths and write (or draw!) your message there. It has four sides so you have plenty of space to write whatever you want. Get in line to float the lantern, the volunteers will help you with the wood frame and light the fire.They also light up candles (on which there are drawings made by children) on the street but I didn’t make it in time to see them because of the long line. But it was far from boring as there was a live music performance to enjoy. There was a film screening about the World War 2 and the bombing too. Overall, it was a wonderful night, one that surely can’t be forgotten.

The trip from Wakayama to Hiroshima was both time and money consuming. But I have decided that I must visit Hiroshima no matter what during my stay in Japan. So I rode the Kuroshio limited express train to Shin-Osaka and transferred to Nozomi 13 shinkansen to Hiroshima. It took approximately 3 hours and 11,210 yen.

From the station, I walked to Shukkeien (lit. shrunken-scenery garden), a historic Japanese garden which contains miniatures of natural scenic views such as valleys, mountains, and forests. It also displays many features of the traditional aesthetics of Japanese gardens: ponds, bridges, and tea houses. There is a part of the garden which was planted with herbs. If I remember correctly, those were used to treat the lords back in feudal era. I got to see a Japanese couple shooting their pre-wedding photos (I assumed) wearing Japanese traditional costumes. No, I didn’t take any photos of them, no matter how much I wanted to. Japanese are known to be private therefore I have to respect their privacy, especially on their special occasion. I refreshed myself with a lemon kakigoori (shaved ice) afterwards.

Next up is Hiroshima Castle. Just a few minutes’ walk from Shukkeien, it was pretty crowded with domestic and international tourists alike. Maybe because it was summer holiday that there were some volunteers in the area. They were putting up photos of the castle’s history and explaining things to visitors who passed by. The castle and its vicinity (including Shukkeien) were destroyed by the atomic bomb dropped in 1945. They were able to reconstruct the castle according to the blue print, using concrete instead of wood. Inside the castle, we can try putting on Japanese traditional costumes for free, and take some mini origami cranes home too. I took one, of course.

Across the street is Peace Memorial Park. The main feature of the park is the infamous A-Bomb Dome. It is one of a few buildings that remain standing after the Little Boy was dropped in Hiroshima. They leave it as is, a representative of the bleak past, to remind people of how horrible war is. Next to it was where senbazuru (thousand origami cranes) are being displayed every year. Because it was 5 August, they were preparing for the 71st anniversary of atomic bombing of Hiroshima which falls on the following day. They could be seen here and there, arranged in many shapes, representing hope for a bright future, in memory of Sadako Sasaki. Again, there were some volunteers here, providing information to the visitors. Some of them were even hibakusha (survivors of the bombing). On the southern part of the park stands Peace Memorial Museum. It was opened for free (only on special occasion, I guess?) so imagine the line. And with that, I decided not to enter and just walked around the park enjoying some musical performances. 

What’s travel without food? I was dying to eat Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki at the best shop in town, Mitchan! Sadly, my poor navigation skills didn’t help. I couldn’t find the shop and when I did, I had to wait around 40 minutes to get into it. But it was certainly worth the wait (and the price, LOL). Since Hiroshima is famous for its oysters, I ordered one with seafood in it. Superb!