Japan 2015 Part 5 – Himeji and Kobe

With Hiroshima, Miyajima and Okunoshima completed, the second half of our trip was going eastwards with Kyoto as our next destination. In between we stopped at Himeji to visit the famous Himeji Castle. And we were in luck, as Himeji Castle had just finished its renovation a few days before we visited – thus we were able to go inside the actual castle itself!

We departed Hiroshima early in the morning, taking the 6:13 Hikari 460 directly to Himeji, which was scheduled to arrive at 7:53. That’s a nice 1 hour 40 minutes to catch our sleep. Upon arrival at Himeji station we were in luck, as we found three empty big lockers to store our luggages. Coming early definitely has its advantages!

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The Himeji Castle model on the train station
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Customary shot of the JR Himeji station

Getting to the castle itself was real simple: just walk straight through the main street from the station exit, probably five blocks. You could probably see the castle in the background if the day was clear.

 

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Did I see the castle far far away?
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Casually strolling in the morning across the city

The castle grounds were vast, you need to cross the moat into the main gate, and from there on it was still a few more gates before you enter the real castle area.

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The main gate
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Every castle has a moat…
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Is the castle inside the main gate? Nope, still far lol.
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Trying hard to get that postcard shot 😀
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This shot was taken inside the second gate

After a few minutes of climbing we finally were able to get inside the castle. You will be asked to take your shoes off and they will provide you plastic bags for you to carry them. It’s worth to note that this castle is 6 stories high, and some of the stairs are quite steep and slippery, so you might want to take your socks off as well. Here’s a few shots taken inside the castle:

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Another model of Himeji castle and the surrounding city
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Structural view of how the castle was constructed
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Inside the castle (it’s actually much darker than this)
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Inside the castle
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View from the top. The main street where we coming from was visible in the center
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Finally able to take photo directly in front of the castle!
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I guess telephoto lens might fare better than my wide angle..
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There’s this tourist boat roaming around the castle moat and I think the reflection was perfect!

We only spent a few hours in Himeji, because we planned to stop in Kobe to have lunch, and then reach Kyoto in the afternoon. Thus we walked back to the train station through the shop street that was parallel to the main street. Just in time to catch the 11:54 Sakura 544 train to Shin-Kobe!

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Similar to Hondori street in Hiroshima
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Father and son waiting for Shinkansen

We arrived in Kobe at 12:11pm, I found online a restaurant selling Kobe beef set lunch that is the nearest to the Shin-Kobe station: the Wakkoqu Kobe. However because we didn’t make reservation beforehand, we just go down early and queue outside the door before the restaurant was open (channeling the kiasu Singaporean spirit! lol). Restaurant was open at 12:30pm and we managed to secure 3 seats. I did not take much photos because I’m too immersed in the chef cooking the set meal in front of our eyes. Nevertheless, this is the photo of the appetizer.

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On the next post I will continue the series with our Kyoto adventures, so stay tuned!

Go to Part 6 – Kyoto >>>

<<< Back to Part 4 – Okunoshima

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