Himeji

Our next stop was Himeji, famed for its castle, and oden - a type of food that is made by boiling things in beef stock,that you wouldn't normally boil in beef stock because it's cold outside. 

There is a scale model of the castle in the station.
(there is also a scale model of the castle in the castle, I feel they really missed out
on the meta-ness of having a model of the station in the castle instead)

It is still clearly halloween in less than a week,
although I'm not sure exactly how a lion in a tutu represents this.

The outer gate of the castle.

Interestingly Himeji castle was originally built by warrior-like cats.

They lost control of the castle in AD 890.

however, their descendants can still be seen around the castle grounds.

An interesting aside. Most Japanese people believe quite strongly
that Donald Trump should be the next US President.
For example, this group of primary school children from Hiroshima,
all wearing their Make America Great Again trucker caps.

The castle itself.

Another of the destitute descendants dreams of former glory.

One of the many Shi no ana no neko that line the walls.

His forebears defended the castle from dog raids for a thousand years.

But with a moat that could not stop humans even if it were full,
their time in the sun was always limited.

The castle has burned down and been rebuilt 5 times since then.
Each time the humans made the doors slightly bigger,
now they are almost big enough for Japanese people. 

The view from up in the castle is very impressive 

This model of the internal supporting structure was used to aid
in rebuilding efforts.

Would you like to know more?

The castle has a mascot, this small blobby thing with the castle for a hat.

The castle from another angle.

Around 1500 AD the regent of Lord Norimoto plotted to kill Norimoto
and steal his throne. A serving girl named Sadako thwarted the plan and
Norimoto escaped into exile. The regent then tried to force the serving girl to
marry him, and when she refused he framed her for stealing one of the
emporor's valuable plates. It is said since then, anyone viewing a photo of this
well, will receive a phone call from the serving girl, who will then count plates
at them.

Who knew the castle had more that two sides.

More cats.

Do you want cat AIDS? because this is how you get cat AIDS.

After lunch we visited the gardens next to the castle.

A maze of twisty passages all alike.

The gardens are built around a small lake and a series of streams that feed off it.

Koi!

A bridge. One you can cross. With no railings.

And more koi!

stepping stones you can step on.

more bridges.

And koi!

One of the streams.

After all that history and culture it was time to slake Emma's lust
for crass commercialism, in the form of the Hello Kitty cafe. 

A photo booth that morphs your photo so you look like a doll
and then slaps the barbie logo and stuff on it before printing it out.

A building full of claw machines.

You can win practically anything in them.

The building next door is full of the sort of toy dispensers you might find
out the front of a supermarket in Aus.

You can get all sorts of stuff. Cat beanies.

Toys from the latest hollywood movie tie-in.

Or a "compatible with lego" WW2 German Nebelwerfer.