February 12

Since it was National Holiday in Japan, I decided to go sightseeing!

I went with Phoebe and her friend Diane (who has been staying in Japan for a few years now) to Himeji.

Himeji is the best example of traditional Japanese castles. Pictures of me and the castle (how conceited can you get!) in my multiply site.

We took a 1-hour train ride to Himeji station and took the bus towards the castle. It was very nice and very well-preserved.

*side comment* I'm eating Cadbury's Dairy Milk with Peppermint...it's like eating toothpaste with chocolate. A nice but weird feeling... weird, but nice...

I was shamelessly taking photographs of the castle from different views, angles and what not. Feeling professional...hahaha! I didn't care. As long as I got good shots, I'm ok with it.

We went inside and went up the 6-storey structure.

The castle had many gates... as well as defense structures. The inside was amazing. It's like going back in time. We were even asked to take off our shoes as we went in. We carried them with us in plastic bags and wore 1-size slippers. The stairs were HELL! The oversized slippers didn't help and it kept falling! It was very steep and the steps were spaced far apart... they're not that tall anyway! I think they were conserving wood, I dunno. My knees were shaking when we got up to the 6th level...

But my gawd! The view of Himeji town was just so breathtaking. I didn't feel my legs anymore (maybe I too much pain it just turned numb or I was too dumbfounded with the view I forgot all about it).

The olden days were right! When you are emperor, you are like a god. And it's true. The overwhelming feeling of being on top is humanizing. It's a feeling of realizing that humans are frail creatures and at the same time, a sensation of being god, of being a powerful creature.

Going down was just torture...pure torture. But eventually, we got down... in one piece or another.

The courtyard was very nice but because it's winter, the trees were bare. I'm just gushing thinking about the cherry blossoms flooding the gardens in spring.

There was a well that had a story of a concubine/ or lady-in-waiting (?) that was accused of something and then she was killed. Her body was dumped in that bottomless well. Reminds me of Sadako...*shudder*

Then there was a place where suicide or harakiri was committed. It's a simple place, actually... it was an open space with a stone slab in the middle. I can just imagine during wartimes the many samurai who would take their own lives to prove their loyalty to their (fallen) shogun.

After a two and a half hour tour, we headed back to Osaka to meet one of Phoebe's friends (again). We ate at a Japanese restaurant...something this country never runs out of. ^_^

*keeps sarcasm in check*

We shopped around and I stumbled across Gundam land. I was so tempted to buy this model kit from Gundam Seed Destiny but I have no idea where I will put it in my luggage...

We wandered down to the electronics section...something I'm always fond of. I bought a hub for my room (I sometimes turn on both my laptops and I want them all to have internet).

Yodobashi was such a haven for me...3 floors of nothing but electronics and goodies... too bad money is an issue for me...