Japan 2012 Day 5

My intentions were to get to Inuyama today. Inuyama has the last of the 4 national treasure castles in Japan that I am aware of. In order I had seen Himeji (which is by far the best of them), Matsumoto (second best), Hikone and now Inuyama. I probably visited them in correct order because Hikone with the sakura made up for the lackings of the castle.  To get to Inuyama I needed to take a JR shinkansen to Nagoya then switch off to a Meitetsu Line train that would take about 25 minutes to Inuyama from Nagoya.  I got to breakfast at 7am and was finished my toast and 2 cups of coffee by 7:15 and on to Hamamatsucho Station for around 7:30. I got on the Yamanote line to Tokyo Station figuring it would be easiest because I was not sure which stations otherwise would have stops. It turns out that I could have gone to Shinagawa which I vaguely remembered after the fact. It probably added 10 minutes to my commute time except that I might have ended up on the same train anyway.  The ride to Nagoya was pleasant if a bit sunny which made a small strain on the air conditioners in the train still it was a limited express so there were only a few stops before I go there.

At Nagoya I had to exit the JR station and head across the street to the Meitetsu line. It was pretty easy to buy a ticket for 540 yen and then get on the correct line which stopped at Inuyama along its path to Shin-Unuma.  In theory I could have stayed on the JR Shinkansen by taking another train to Gifu and then swapping again to Unuma.  But that would have added over an hour to the trip and it didn't really make any sense to me to do that.  I chose the more expensive but less time consuming route because it would also be easier I thought.  The ride to the city was painless if not as cushy as the green car seats from the shinkansen.

At Inuyama Station I quickly exited the train and found the Tourist Information location inside the station. I could tell that this town was not a haven for gaijin right away. Almost nothing was in English at all. Not many people spoke English either.  Not a big deal to me at all. I was able to get English maps and they explained quickly how to get to the castle which was very easy. A couple blocks out of the station and then turn right.  I did so with a short detour down a street that looked more interesting being loaded with local residences.  When I got to the base of the entry to the castle grounds there was another tourist information location and this one had a bunch of young Japanese girls in kimonos doing some sort of performance. There was a sign that I obviously couldn't read that I am sure explained what it was about. I watched them until they finished and even took a couple videos.  I have no idea what they were saying or singing but it was obviously meant to be cute and amusing and it was cute and the people who could understand did appear to be amused so I guess it worked.  Just in front of the castle was a temple that I quickly poked through on my way up.  The castle is on the top of a hill (as most of them are) and unfortunately is surrounded by a lot of trees which made finding good pictures of it a bit of a process.  Even on the grounds it was a bit of a hunt and seek to get good locations for pictures of it.  I do think I managed a few good locations to take pictures from even if the pictures aren't so good due to my photography skills.

It was again around 90F and all sun so this was a brutally hot day. Fortunately when I got inside the castle it was a bit cooler. I believe they are designed to be so. The stay shaded rather than sunny and are generally painted white to reflect the sun and also have shuttered windows that draw in a cross breeze.  It helped a lot. Of course, like all Japanese castles it is a requirement to take off your shoes and carry them around in a plastic bag. Also Inuyama Castle had very steep steps which were worn out with use so very slippery when in socked feet just like all the other Japanese Castles. I am sure Scott would have groaned at the process.  The castle is not very big but larger than Hikone Castle.  Maybe a little bit smaller than Matsumoto. It had 4 above ground floors and apparently 2 below ground floors that you cannot go into. I would have liked to see those whatever they were supposed to have in them. Too bad they mentioned them but wouldn't let you go in.  It would have been better not to know they were there under the circumstances.  The floors were all properly preserved and some had a few museum pieces of the castle that were replaced with a restoration.  There were also 4 sets of samurai armor on one floor as well as a series of pictures of the many castles in Japan on another floor. The very top floor is small but boasts a small external walkway that worked its way around the entire turret. The walk was made completely of wood as all castles in Japan are made of wood above the stone foundations. The wood was obviously old and honestly at some points it felt like the planks were going to give way. The walk was surrounded by a very low railing. Less than knee high. There were of course warning signs but it was nice to see that they didn't damage the castle's integrity to put up 10 foot fences to prevent people from falling. Most of the floor planks had a small slope down to the railing so it was definitely a test of my fear of heights to walk around it.  I did manage the entire loop around it.  What was really nice was the breeze up there made it much cooler than it was on the ground. Sort of like a natural air conditioning.  All in all it was obvious this was an original castle that had been restored a bit. It was definitely also nice because there was almost no one there at all. I am not sure if it is the remote location or a lack of advertising or just that the city hasn't worked too hard to be touristy which makes it less visited than other castles.  Maybe in sakura season it is very busy? I am not sure.  Still I liked that it was not overly crowded and also that basically there weren't many gaijin around.

After I visited the castle proper I walked around the town in different directions to find out if there were other angles I could take pictures of the castle from. In one direction I found a park and that led me to a terrace where I was able to get a few good shots if you don't mind the barbed wire.  From there I walked to the other side of the castle and down the hill next to what I assume was at some point a moat that fed into the river and eventually on the way down to the river I found a cool area that pretty much got down off the road and onto the river bank itself. From various points along that trek I was able to find a couple other good locations for pictures. The waterfall at the end of the moat was also sort of neat.  I am glad I went down that way.  When I was done with this I was starving and I decided I would go in search of food. This basically meant heading back to the train station as there was basically nothing near the castle.  Honestly I had to go into the train station to find something I could identify. I am sure I passed a ton of restaurants on the way but I had no idea what they served. They were all local shops with no English at all.  In the train station the one place that wasn't a coffee shop was a Lotteria which you may remember is another Japanese burger joint. They seem to specialize in burgers that have eggs on them.  I didn't disappoint in ordering this time and got a burger with bacon and an egg on it along with fries and a melon soda.  Apparently what I ordered isn't common because it took them a few extra minutes to get it to me. The girls that worked there spoke no English at all. Still we were able to get things sorted out and I managed to eat without issue. The burger was actually quite good. The bacon was a thick kind like I remember from the UK and tasted very good.

When I was done eating I really didn't have much else to do in the town so I basically just got back into the station and rode back to Nagoya where I swapped to the JR shinkansen and took an express to Shinagawa. I ordered a Tokyo ticket to make it less confusing to the guy at the desk and figured it would stop at Shinagawa. It did. So I swapped off there for the Yamanote line and saved myself probably about 15 or 20 minutes getting back to the hotel. By the time I got back it was around 5:30pm. Along the ride I had some peanuts and a Kirin beer.

Unfortunately my internet connection was not working (wired only here) but I was able to get this written while I was preparing to head out for dinner. Still I needed to find some information about getting to the airport for my flight to Sapporo so I needed it fixed.  I told the hotel desk and then headed out to dinner. I decided I needed to visit Tengu because I've always liked them and I had not done so yet.  It was still moderately early for the salarymen to have their dinner which was probably for the best because I was stealing a whole table for myself and also the smokers hadn't yet arrived.  I ordered some beef bits, gyoza and asparagus wrapped in pork and had a couple Sapporo (finally) drafts to go along. This was actually quite a lot of food so I didn't order anything else except a Cafe Jelly which is a coffee gelatin with ice cream and caramel over it. It is basically a dessert designed exactly for me and it was very enjoyable.  All of that basically cost me about $21.  Not bad at all.

After settling up I headed back to the hotel and the internet connection was indeed fixed so I was able to get all this done and research what I needed to do to get to the airport. Fortunately the location of this hotel is prime for getting to Haneda Airport via monorail which is covered by my JR pass and supposedly only takes about 20 minutes. I do have to lug my suitcase up a giant set of stairs but I can live with that.  The sane thing to do was to get my stuff prepared for the flight and have an early night of it. Which is what I did in preparation for an early day to get going.

The pictures from today can be found here.