Friday 25th January
Got up extremely early this morning to visit Hiemji castle en route back to Tokyo. With a bit of time to spare before the castle opened I decided to treat myself to a cake and cup of tea. I already knew the tea was going to be a disappointment as the Japanese only have coffee mate (the horrible creamy stuff in plastic cartons) however the cake looked lovely. Biting into it I was gutted to discover what I thought were currants were actually red beans (similar to kidney beans but sweet) ughh! I have since discovered that they are a speciality of the region and are in everything, so will be avoiding these again at all cost.
The castle was stunning. Set on the hillside 15 minutes walk from the station it is referred to as the 'white egret' . The castle is one of the few surviving medieval castles in Japan which didn't burn down at some stage and is so impressive it has been used as the backdrop for many films including James Bond 'You only live twice'. Due to the lack of tourists I managed to get my own private two-hour guided tour which was nice.
Got the shinkansen back to Tokyo. I love the way they run like clockwork and are rarely late. Also if anyone is inconsiderate enough to throw themselves in front of a train their families are fined severely as a result.
Caroline and I went out for dinner to a Yakatori restaurant (which literally means meat on a stick) before coming home to watch a DVD with tubs of ice-cream. Bliss!
After a crash course in history I have decided to take in a few more geographical points of interest next week so watch this space...
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1 comment:
I can't believe you don't like red beans... I LOVE them!!! I used to order red bean pudding at a Japanese restaurant in Nepal every time we ate there... and that was every second day!! So delish.
Wish I could have popped over to enjoy it with you.
Lots of love xxx
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