Nagoya weekend - visiting Japanese castles

Last weekend was a three day holiday weekend in Japan, and I took advantage of it by going to Nagoya!  I am going to break my trip up over three posts, the first is about the three Japanese castles I visited: Nagoya castle, Inuyama castle and Gifu castle.

The first thing I did after arriving at Nagoya was to visit Nagoya castle.  I took the extremely convenient Meguru tourist bus, which had stop announcements in English as well as Japanese and stops at most of the major tourist sights in Nagoya.  In all, I think Nagoya was extremely easy to navigate for English speakers!

This is Nagoya castle - it is not the original castle.  It was rebuilt after being destroyed by bombings in WWII.  The original was made of wood, this one is made of concrete.

On top of the castle there were two giant golden carp.  Inside the castle was a replica you could sit on and have a picture taken.  The line was very long, so I didn't try it!

Inside the castle was like a museum.  It had a lot of traditional armor and information about the castle.

 From the top floor of the castle there was a good view of downtown Nagoya.  Nagoya station is where the three tall buildings are in the center.

 Inside there was some information about the destruction and rebuilding of the castle.

 I walked around the castle grounds for a bit and ate a hot dog on a stick for a snack.  Then this gnome told me he also liked castles and would like his picture with it :)

 The next day I got up early and headed to Inuyama.  Inuyama is home to Japan's oldest original castle.  After some confusion with the trains, I boarded one and was there in about 30 minutes.  The very nice woman at the tourist information desk in the train station showed me how to walk to the castle on a map.  It was about a 15 minute walk.  Here is my first glimpse of the castle!  I seem to have a thing lately for taking pictures of my first sighting of a place.  It's fun!

Below the castle there was a shrine with quite a few tori gates.

 Here is the castle.  It is easy to see that it looks very old!

 Inside you had to take off your shoes.  The stairs were so steep, almost like a ladder.  I can't imagine how people moved about quickly in this castle!

 I found this sign amusing.  It was next to a window in a little corner of the castle that jutted out from the rest.

 Inside there was also a small wooden replica of the castle - it was pretty neat!

 The view of Inuyama from the top of the castle.  The day started off nice and clear.

 Next I boarded a train to Gifu to see my last castle.  Gifu castle is on top of Mt. Kinka-san, and there is a cool ropeway leading up to the top.  You can also hike, but it looked very steep!

 This castle is also not original.  It was the least impressive of the three that I saw, but the location made it worthwhile!

 Inside this castle was also museum like with helmets and armor.  These helmets do not look very comfortable!

At the base of the ropeway was a very nice park.  I can only imagine it is beautiful when everything is in bloom, but it still looked pretty good for being winter!  I sat on a bench here and had an onigiri snack.

Also on the top of the mountain there was a Squirrel village.  I didn't go in, but I could see lots of people playing with and petting squirrels.  It looked like fun!

 Here is the view of Gifu castle from the road.  It is really high up on the mountain!

 I had such a great time visiting these Japanese castles, but I also did a lot more in Nagoya.  Next up will be some pictures from the awesome illumination at Nabana no Sato!

Takasaki and Kusatsu Onsen Weekend - 12/9

On Sunday I spent the day sightseeing around Kusatsu Onsen town.  It is a small town and was completely walk able  thanks to the English map the owner of the ryokan gave me!

My day started with a tasty breakfast at the ryokan.  Salmon, omelet, spinach, pickles, ham and rice with nori. 

 After I checked out, I decided to visit the Kusatsu Tropical Dome.  It is a dome (surprise!) that is heated with the hot spring water and houses a lot of tropical animals.  Pretty neat to visit it when it is covered in snow!

 Outside the dome was a group of snow monkeys.  They even had their own hot spring to warm up in!

 This guy was hoping someone would toss some food his way!

 There were a few babies in the group - so cute!

 Inside there was a mix of lots of animals.  There were some impressive fish...

 Lizards just hanging out...

 What's up lizard?

 Apparently in Japan it's cool to pet the capybaras.  This struck me as odd, but this guy seemed to enjoy it!

 It is the year of the snake, so in front of the snake tanks a lot of people had left coins.  There were a lot of very large snakes, I walked quickly through this section!

 I took a turn petting the docile capybara.  His fur felt like whiskers - very rough.

 There were a few birds.  This one was particularly ugly.

 There were a lot of little monkeys.  This one was so cute!

 This one seemed like he was a little annoyed.

 After leaving the tropical dome I walked back through the center of town and took some more pictures of the yubatake since it was sunnier than the day before.  Here is where the water comes out of the ground, and you can really see the sulfur deposits.

 Near the yubatake there was a shrine up a hill.  This is one of the more colorful bell structures I've seen.  Usually they are a drab brown.

 The shrine was very pretty in the snow!

 In the center of town there is also this structure where in the warmer months women stir the hot spring water to cool it down while singing the onsen song.  I wish this was going on when I visited!

 Gnomes also like the yubatake.  Taking this picture got me some strange looks for sure!

 This guy was giving out onsen manju, the special treat of Kusatsu onsen.  They are a steam bun filled with sweet red bean paste - they are sooooo good!  He gives them away hoping that people will come into his shop and buy some to take home to their friends and coworkers.  His ploy worked, and I bought a box for my coworkers!  This practice is almost mandatory in Japan; when you go away you must bring back a small souvenir, usually food.  There are shops all over the train stations where you can buy things before you head home!

After some shopping and snacking on onsen manju I walked to a large park nearby, Sainokawara park.  It is home to one of the largest rotenburo (outdoor baths) in Japan!  On the way I could see the hot water flowing in rivers!

 These tori gates were so beautiful in the snow!  The steps looked a little too treacherous to climb up though - everything was very slippery here because the steam from the hot springs condenses on the cold ground and freezes!

 Here is the back of the rotenburo - it is very private and fenced in.  I enjoyed a nice soak here - for ~$5 you can stay as long as you want.  The bath is very large and the water gets hotter as you move towards the source, letting everyone find their own happy place!

After the onsen I was very warm again, so I took that opportunity to spend some time walking in the park in the snow.  This really got my Christmas spirit going!

 It was so beautiful.  I love to walk through snow that no one else has walked through yet!

 Eventually it was time to go home.  But this gnome and I had a great time in Kusatsu, and we enjoyed the train ride back to Takasaki and then the Shinkansen back to Tokyo!

Takasaki and Kusatsu Onsen Weekend - 12/8

Last weekend I took a trip north to Gunma prefecture to visit Takasaki and Kusatsu Onsen.  I took the Nagano Shinkansen to Takasaki from Tokyo.  It was fun to take the Shinkansen in the daytime and see how fast it really goes!

I think that Gunma prefecture is all together less busy than the Yokohama/Tokyo area, and buses and trains don't run nearly as often.  I had to choose between the two things I wanted to see in Takasaki because the bus schedule just didn't allow me to do both.

I chose to see the Byakui-Dai-Kannon, a very tall image of Buddha - mostly because it was the first bus to come along and I was anxious to do some sight seeing!  Even from far away it was pretty impressive!

 Buddha + koyo - very nice!  This might have been the last koyo I will see in Japan.

Gnomes love giant Buddha feet!

I paid 300 yen to climb to the top of the Kannon inside.  The view of Takasaki was pretty good.  The shadow is from the head of the statue!

 The sign at the top says "tsuita!  otsukaredesu"  which I think means something like "you made it!  good job/you might be tired"

 The main temple building from the top of the kannon.

 Inside there were many carvings of people/things.  This one was pretty scary.

 A view of the stairs inside.  There were only a few small portholes to look out on the way up and at the top.

 From the back of the statue you can see where all the portholes are.  The ones at the top are in the front by the shoulders.

 Here are some facts about the kannon!  I love facts!

 After seeing the kannon and having some lunch near the Takasaki train station I got on the local Agatsuma line train bound for Kusatsu.  In this area of Japan I was not expecting English signs or announcements, so I wrote all of the names of the stops we would pass in my notebook.  I also wrote down some important Kanji I might need to know.  This was not the clipboard of fun, this was the clipboard of anxiety!

 I made it to Kusatsu onsen though, and it was a nice little town!  After getting to the train station I took a bus up to the town, and as we went up into the mountain there was snow - yay!

My first stop in the town was the town center.  This is called the yubatake and it is where the hot spring water comes out of the ground.  It is very hot, so they run it through many wooden troughs to cool it down a little before sending it off to all of the hotels and spas around town.  They even use it to heat the schools and a tropical dome that I visited on Sunday!

At the end of the yubatake is a wooden waterfall.  The water in this spring has a sulfur scent, and you can see that it leaves yellow sulfur deposits behind on things.  Once or twice a year they divert the water from the yubatake and scrape the deposits up and then they sell them so you can have "hot spring" baths at home.

 After visiting the yubatake it was starting to get dark, so I figured I should find my ryokan for the night.  It was easy to find from the maps from their website and the good signs on the road!  My room was very nice, with big windows so I could watch it snow!

I had reserved dinner at the ryokan - it is so much easier than trying to find my own dinner, and it was delicious!  There was so much food and it just kept coming!  There was a pot of beef and vegetables cooking, a whole shrimp, some sashimi, pickles, tofu and some other foods.

 Then came this little dish which was almost like a savory eggy custard - it was really good!

 Next came some lettuce wrap things with pork and other vegetables inside - they were a little spicy.  Also, there was some rice to eat with the cooked beef.

 Finally, there was a little soup and then some strawberries for desert.  It was so much food I couldn't eat it all!

While I was eating dinner the staff put out my futon.  I relaxed for a little bit and then went to the outdoor bath that the ryokan had.  It was late, so I had it all to myself while the snow fell down!  It was so nice and relaxing, just what I needed before my next day of sightseeing!