The alarm was set for 6.30 to make sure we didn’t miss our trains. But I didn’t sleep as well, and we were both awake at 6, so we decided to leave early and use any extra time for breakfast. We got dressed and left the house, and walked to Sakura Shinmachi station in time for a 6.52 train.
We got to Shinagawa and were hoping to go to the stand up sushi restaurant that I’ve been to before, but they were closed. How terrible! So we ended up at a stand up don restaurant, where I had a tuna don, and Kaoru had a meat one. There was lots of rice on it though, and Kaoru couldn’t eat much at all! I got about half way through my rice (but ate all the tuna of course!). Then it was on to the 8.05 Shinkansen.
Checking a few things on my computer back home, I noticed the NAS was down and I couldn’t get it going again. I had to send a message to Sian and she had to go round to our house. I called her (as voice calls on WhatsApp weren’t good enough for me to hear on a noisy train – not that the phone was much better but at least there wasn’t the 10 second delay!) and she managed to get power going (seems my UPS may have been the problem but won’t know for sure until I get home). Thank god!
I got a few more work things done on the train, as well as a bit of a sleep (and maybe a beer or two :)), before arriving at Himeji at 11.46. James (Kaoru’s friend from the UK, who came to our wedding in Japan) is working nearby for 12 months so that was our driver for Himeji on this trip. He was running late to meet us though, so we dropped our suit case at the hotel and looked around the tourist information centre while we waited.
Once he arrived we walked to Himeji-jo (Himeji castle) and we booked on the “cruise” – basically a gondola ride around the moat. We booked for about an hours time, so we went and had some lunch, and then came back for our ride. We were given a straw hat to wear which was fun, and a life vest, which I think would drag you to the bottom with the weight of the auto-inflation system in it!
We spent a couple of hours walking around the castle. It was huge, and has featured in a number of movies including You Only Live Twice. They had an app, which we downloaded, which had “Augmented Reality”. There were areas where we could hold the phone and it would show some photos or a video explaining a bit of history. After the castle we went to the garden next door (it was only an extra 40 yen on the ticket price) which was very photogenic. We then made our way back to the hotel. An old man came up to us and started talking to us in English. He wasn’t saying much but obviously wanted to practice or show off that he could do it, so we humoured him for a while. We then continued on our way, where another person stopped us to have a chat! It was a really friendly town.
At the hotel we checked in to our room. The bed was massive! I think it was 2 double beds pushed together! I don’t know where they got a fitted sheet big enough to fit, let alone the doona. It was after 6 and we were starting to get hungry so we went back outside and looked for somewhere to go. Kaoru asked James if he had done Shabu Shabu before, which he hadn’t, so the decision was made. There was a restaurant just across from the hotel, which was all you can eat for 100 minutes, for about $30/head, which included all you can drink (soft drink) and ice cream bar. So we made the most of that and were quite full by the time we were kicked out.
We went to the convenience store to buy a couple of drinks and went back to our room to consume them, and chat for a bit longer. We then walked James to the station to ensure he didn’t miss the last train (11.17). Back at the hotel we went to the 4th floor to enjoy the bath. It wasn’t an onsen so the water didn’t feel as nice, but it was certainly hot! It had been a long day and the time to unwind before calling it a night was great.