Day 6 - Family Japan - "Hime-ji, Oden and Relaxing"

Day 6 (December 19, 2018)

I woke up surprised by the fact I could even walk, not only that, but I was only in a little bit of "over-walking" pain. Getting a good amount of sleep was certainly helping, but I cannot recommend enough to "train" a little before such a heavy walking trip and proper nutrition. We were being sure to eat regularly and I was drinking tea in the morning and night with herbal boosters. With a good start, there was only one major goal in sight, Hime-ji castle. I had some "side" things on the agenda depending on how it went, but Hime-ji castle was the only true target.  We took it a bit slower than previous days, grabbing breakfast at a local cafe named Nakayama in Kyoto Station (which turned out to be a salad with half a boiled egg, I wouldn't recommend it) we hop on a train to Hime-ji and arrive after 45 minutes.  The weather was a decent partly cloudy and 50F or so, as it had been most days thus far.  Far better than the low 40's and rain experienced on our last visit in 2010.

Hime-ji came into view immediately after exiting the station.  Weighing a few options (walking, bus or taxi), we decided on a taxi. After crunching the numbers, it turned out most bus fares for short distances equaled the same as a taxi when you are paying for 2 adults and a child (600 yen vs 800-1,000 yen). The taxi ride down the main road of Hime-ji took less than 5 minutes, leaving us to walk up to the castle around 12:30PM.  Doing a ton of research online before leaving, it looked like English tours were no longer offered.  I scoured multiple yelp reviews, travel reviews and official tourist sites and never found a trace of information on them. However, to my surprise, it turned out they were still in full swing!  They had people holding signs out front of where you buy your normal tickets, then you go into a little office they have set up out front to "sign up" for the English tour.  Which, comically, was given by an old Japanese man that kept forgetting his English words.

It costs 1,000 yen per adult for the English tour, on top of the normal admission cost of 1,040 yen, but I still found it to be worth it (kids get in at about half that rate), there was only one other couple on the same tour as us, so we got to ask plenty of questions. It lasted about 2 hours and was great overall experience, I really enjoyed seeing the restored version of the castle, there were a lot of things changed and improved upon from our 2010 tour. Being one of the only remaining original castles left in Japan, I would recommend it to anyone with their eye on true historic sites. The English tour covered the basics of architecture, how some of the restoration was done and what the castle looked like originally before being modified and open to tourists, they also had some artifacts and displays inside of original armor, weapons and more. Traveling with a kid, I "lost" Terra about half-way through and struggled to entertain her a few times, but it was well worth it and she made it (walking the entire time) without too much complaining.  The white restored exterior was dazzling, completely different than the looked in 2010 (the previous restoration was going on 50 years at that point).

Though our castle experience was satisfying, we were still reluctant to leave the castle grounds without touring the garden or getting to some of the photo spots I had earmarked before coming. However, by this time, we hadn’t eaten lunch yet and were STARVING.  As soon as we left the castle ground and crossed the street, we happened across a small izakaya named Legare (located on the second floor of a shopping building), it was empty at this odd time of day. They had some great food, but I did get the impression the server thought we were a bit crazy ordering unagi for the 6 year old, but at this point, she deserved it to eat whatever she wanted.  I got my Hime-ji oden and Matt got a katsudon.  Everything was excellent and we headed out with renewed energy.

Deciding most of the "side" things wouldn't happen, as it was already 4:30PM and the sun was starting to go down, we started walking back towards the station.  I still wanted to find the "Hime-ji oden cake", which I had the address to through some hunting down after seeing it on an NHK program and doing some online research.  Turned out they were located smack dab in the middle of a shopping arcade and we actually found it!
Grabbing some to go (I would save this for a train snack on the way back to Kyoto), we continued a slow walk through the main shopping areas of Himeji, browsing into a few stores and happening across an arcade.  A few Taiko games and one UFO prize (the "kitty" from Wreck-it-Ralph as a keychain plush) later we decide to actually head back to Kyoto, trying to get her to sleep at a more normal time that the previous two nights didn't afford. The town and atmosphere of Hime-ji had me taking a few more deep breaths to take it all in.  This day was definitely a slower pace and more purposeful than our trip had been thus far.  I very much enjoy the way this castle town is laid out in a thoughtful labyrinth of streets, shopping arcades and malls. Everything literally surrounds the castle, I understood why there are so many bridal stores and boutiques in the area, I could only imagine having a ceremony down one of these streets with Hime-ji castle as the backdrop!

Once back, I decide on a grocery shopping trip to get eggs and other breakfast food. On my way to the mall from Kyoto Station, I tried to pay a little more attention to the surroundings, people, advertisements. It's all laid out to be "normal", I think people simply overlook how ingenious most of it is set up, the infrastructure is a complete 180 from the mish-mash seen stateside, even the advertisements are less annoying and more entertaining (I love stair advertising, we saw this a few times). I get the shopping accomplished in less time than before and then head out with some McDonalds for the kiddo's dinner and a bento for us, quickly becoming my go-to dinner.  I once again head back on my own, though sadly, it was raining this time! I learned to just keep an umbrella on me after this, even if rain wasn't in the forecast. I walked a little faster than previous trips and end up in the apartment door within 5 minutes.  No fear of being followed and nothing more besides a bit irritated at the sudden rain.  This time the kiddo is asleep by 8PM and I can get some thoughts on paper and a few episodes of anime in before heading to bed myself, score.