Kobe, Japan

We started off our day by taking a couple of trains to Himeji, Japan, to see the Himeji Castle, a Samurai Castle that was built in stages between the 14th and 17th Century. Barek tried out the Samurai photo opportunity. We went through the palace with large groups of Japanese students.

This sign ("Please take care about the foot") seemed tailor-made for Asher. But really the sign meant wipe off your shoes, take them off and put them in a plastic bag and put on the slippers as you walk through the castle. We walked through many sections of this huge series of structures and up many sets of steep narrow stairs.

In the topmost section of the palace was a Shinto shrine and beautiful views of Himeji. Down in the courtyard, where Samurai were said to have committed Harakiri, Asher and Charis frolic. Nearly three weeks after his injury, Asher was finally able to walk on his foot, which was a good thing as we had hit the wall with carrying him!

The castle gardens were lovely. One of the workers let the kids help him feed the garden's carp, a holy fish of Japan.

A garden teahouse offered a traditional tea ceremony. We were given instructions about how to eat the sweet and drink the foamy green tea. Barek, Steve and I finished our tea, which tasted extremely healthy and fresh.

The gardens contained buildings with traditionally-sculpted trees.

In the evening, we took the train to Kyoto, a beautiful ancient city that we would like to visit again. We went to a performance that featured many Japanese theatrical forms, beginning with Ikebana, traditional Japanese flower-arranging, the subtlety of which was lost on Steve. This was a rather abbreviated Ikebana performance and he was not sure why we should get excited about 3 branches in a vase. What was exciting was the musical accompaniment of the Koto, a 13-stringed instrument imported from China about 1300 years ago.


Next up was the Gagaku, the court music which also originated in China and came to Japan in the 8th century. The audience favorites were the Kyogen, the ancient comic plays originally designed as interludes to the more serious Noh drama, and the Kyomai, Kyoto Style Dance, which came into its own in the 17th century and was meant to reflect the elegance and sophistication of court manners.

The theatres of Kyoto are located in one of the loveliest portions of the city. We saw the dancers walk down the street from the theatre! Restaurants, shops, and shrines line the streets of this pedestrian area.

There were lots of bright lights in the more commercial areas of Kyoto. And the final photo is back home in Kobe, where we changed trains to make our way to the port.