Cat pictures
I won’t say much on this one, except for a short warning: Careful, high “cute factor” – new pics of Angel and Arwen! =)
My trip to Japan: Himeji
The next morning, some of us once again visited the onsen, after which we left the hotel by bus for the shinkansen station in Shin-Fuji. This time, we had a different kind of shinkansen with only 2 seats on each side of the aisle – making it much easier to enjoy the trip. We also noticed that the conductor as well as the stewardess performed a general bow when they entered or left the car… By then we usually didn’t see anything strange in bowing any more, I’d even started to bob a little up and down in return myself when thanking someone – but somehow this still felt a little extreme. 
Our destination for this day was Himeji with its beautiful “White Heron Castle”. At the station, we were greeted in proper style by a glockenspiel of the Bremen Town Musicians (!).
The Bremen Town Musicians at Himeji station in Japan
After a short stop to buy some umbrellas – that day was the first time it rained – we moved on towards the castle. It rises majestically on a small hill in the otherwise flat town, making the view from the five-story main keep a great experience.
View from "White Heron Castle" in Himeji
The interior is still well preserved – Himeji is one of few castles that did not burn down in the past and had to be rebuilt. Of course, some renovation was done here as well, but the dark wood the interior is made of is still original and makes for a very elegant feeling. There’s an exhibition of samurai armor and weapons, paintings and writings from the castle’s time of origin. The stairs between the floors are kind of odd: they are very steep, with low crossbeams not only big gaijins have to duck down for but also people of normal height – the crossbeam was approximately at shoulder height for me…
The five-story main keep of Himeji castle
Apart from the impressive main keep, you can also visit the small but very nice garden and a living area in a castle wall. At the end of a long hallway with numerous wooden sliding windows and rooms branching off there is a large room recreated as it might have been 300 years ago: tatami mats on the floor, a few seemingly simple pieces of furniture, inhabited by the princess and one of her court ladies playing a game with shells (maybe a variant of Pairs?). Everything looked really realistic and is definitely worth a visit as well.
A restored room of Himeji castle
Our program for this day over, we went on, by shinkansen once more, to our hotel in Hiroshima: the Hotel Sunroute, located next to the Peace Memorial Park. More of which (and of Miyajima) later in another post – just a few more words regarding our dinner: we all went to the Okonomimura in Hiroshima in order to try some Okonomiyaki – I had looked forward to this, and I was not disappointed! The amount of ingredients alone necessary for this kind of omelet: a thin baked base, a huge pile of white cabbage, another pile of fried noodles, bacon, shrimps, spring onions, a fried egg on top to hold everything together and on top of THAT sauce and herbs. It’s incredibly delicious – I only had problems with the chopsticks, eating this monster in a civilized manner seems rather impossible…
Yummy Okonomiyaki at the Okonomimura in Hiroshima
Aikido Update
As the account of my trip to Japan will take some time yet (I’ve finally finished it in German, but the English version is taking me awfully long to translate), here is a short update on my aikido training! =) On April 2nd, the first of us passed her grading to fifth kyu. Actually, our grading date was supposed to be April 23rd, but she had to have an operation on her wrist and would not have been able to grade otherwise. She had asked me to be her uke (attacker) and I had a lot of fun: the concentration and focus was almost tangible, and the pace was notably faster than usual.
The other four of us will grad on Thursday, April 23rd. Unlike our first test, I’m really looking forward to this one! =) Although there are some points I still am uneasy with (mainly the tests for the hitori waza and the entry/entering to katatedori ikkyo irimi when uke attacks while moving), but apart from that I’m feeling quite confident.
Change of subject: our teacher set me the task to improve my overall condition until September – by then I will need it for a 7-day-seminar as well as for being uke for her 3rd dan grading. (Yes, I’ve got stage fright. Already.) I half-heartedly tried several approaches, but as expected they had no effect. So now I’ve brought out my bike – for the first time in six years! – and go to work by bike four times a week, that’s more than 70 km each week. My legs, suprisingly, are not complaining much. I guess if this measure doesn’t improve my condition, nothing will… =)
My trip to Japan: Kamakura, Mount Fuji
The next day started with a visit to one of the most impressive sights of our tour: the Daibutsu of Kamakura, a 13 m tall bronze statue of a meditating Buddha. What makes the statue so exceptional is not just its height or its age (800 years) but mostly its calm, peaceful presence.
The Daibutsu in Kamakura
Also in Kamakura we visited the Hase-Kannon temple. The first thing to catch our eye was that the plum trees there were already blooming – in January! The Koi carps in the pond amidst the plum trees were not hibernating any more, either. (Or do Koi hibernate at all…? ^_^) On the grounds of the temple, many small temples and prayer sites (one even located in a cave) were located as well as a small bamboo grove and statues of gods everywhere – this mix made it very interesting.
Within the Hase-dera temple in Kamakura
Afterwards, we continued on towards lake Ashi with its breathtaking view of Mount Fuji. We were very lucky as sometimes the weather does not allow a view of the Fuji at all. But thanks to our clear view I now understand why Mount Fuji has such a good reputation. Although I usually don’t see what’s so interesting about mountains, I definitely have to admit Mount Fuji is extremely beautiful.
View of lake Ashi with a beautiful torii and Mount Fuji
Mount Fuji
We used a pirate ship ferry (!) to cross the lake. On the other side, our bus took us to the “Boiling Valley”, where we tasted strange black eggs that had been cooked in sulfurous water (the shell turns black, but the egg itself stays white and is really yummy). Then we went to our second hotel, the Jiragonno Fuji-no-Yakata. Before falling into our beds, however, we had to try the real Onsen bath of the hotel complete with Japanese sitting shower (vocabulary?), of course. A really great invention, very relaxing after a long day.
Tasty black egg
