Day 79 – Himeji & Nara

Nov 15th

Himeji = Castles
Sara, Britney, Goldie, Falyn and I had breakfast on the ship before hoping on the JR train to Himeji, which is a small city south of Kobe about 1 hour. We passed the time watching a kid’s baseball team fall asleep on each other (baseball is HUGE in Japan) and sharing music on our iPods. Once we arrived in Himeji, we set off down Otemae Street, which runs straight through town to the main attraction: the Himeji Castle. The central element to the town is the Himeji Castle, which is referred to as the White Heron Castle and is one of the most magnificent castles in Japan. Ikeda Terumasa spent 8 years from 1601 building this castle. Its main towers and eight smaller towers are registered as national treasures, and the castle itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The adjacent Koko-en garden is a specious 33,000 sq meter garden that was covered with fiery red and yellow trees. We began our self-tour through the West Baileys, which were the women’s quarters, before heading around the castle’s storage buildings, municipal buildings and finally the Main Tower itself. Once at the top of the five-story tower we found the Osakabe Shinto Shrine, which is haunted by a dead samari.

“Saucy Noodles”
While wandering the Himeji streets, we finally found somewhere decent to eat that fit all our needs. Tucked away in the far corner of the Shinki Bus Terminal, we found a purely Japanese noodle lunch place. Since you paid via a machine that had pictures of each dish, it was pretty simple to pick something that looked good. I got soba noodles with pork slices and scallions. It came quickly, so we settled down with large, steaming bowls of noodles and slurped away (since that is a sign of respect in Japan).

Nara = Deer
After lunch, we took the train to Nara, a town North of Kobe about 2 hrs. It is famous for the Great Buddha statue found inside the impressive Todaji Temple, which are both listed as World Heritage sites. Since we arrived in the late afternoon, we decided to visit the Haurshika Sake Brewery for a $5 sake tasting of five local varieties. It was extremely awkward because we spoke no other Japanese except “domo arigato” (for some reason I also kept saying “obrigado” which is Portuguese) or thank you. Regardless, we had a wonderful time describing the flavors as airy, sparkly, musky and whatever other random adjective we could come up with. Then they made us try this “interesting” brown, pickled cucumber that probably tastes better the more you eat it. At the end of our visit, they gave us our glass tasting cups, which were marked with the characteristic deer symbol, for free. We headed out to wander around the deer park and town streets just as the lights began to illuminate the streets. Nara itself is a small town that is centered around the numerous shrines, pagodas and temples that cover the area. It is also characteristically marked by the wild deer that roam freely over the area looking for deer biscuits that are sold to tourists at every corner. Most of them are harmless except the one male deer that rammed Britney. Luckily, local authorities were smart enough to cut off all their antlers to protect the tourists. Along our journey, we found ourselves at the Kofuku-ji Pagoda, which was beautifully light up at night, before heading to the central streets of the town to look in shops. We admired the various kites, toys and deer paranonalia that appeared consistently in every shop. We even passed an open door shop that was demonstrating how to make mochi (a soft, doughy dumpling filled with sweet red bean paste). Of course, we admired in awe as the men took huge wooden hammers to the dough over and over again, before splitting one between the five of us.

Modern Sushi
After working up an appetite from the taste of mochi, Falyn corralled us to the nearest conveyor belt sushi restaurant also known as “modern sushi.” The ancient looking man next to me was kind enough to show me how the whole process worked, since you make your own tea at your seat. He made me a delicious cut of powdered green tea leaf with scalding hot water. Each plate had a different color indicating the price of the dish, but you were encouraged to eat as much as you wanted. The man next to me had a pile of 20 plates! I sadly walked away with only 5, which included mostly corn sushi, tuna sushi, edamame and a special role they made for us with crab and tuna. I just wasn’t feeling the raw fish sashimi. After dinner, I decided to use the bathroom and discovered the high-tech toilet that are all over Japan. Once I sat down and felt the warmth of the seat warmer, I knew I was in for some fun. I looked down to my right and found a huge panel of buttons to test out! I pushed the first one that came to mind (they were all in Japanese), and felt a thick, warm shot of water hit my ass. Utterly caught off guard, I started to scream for help about how to turn it off. All I heard was Goldie laughing hysterically, while managing to ask: “Carolyn, are you okay in there?” All I could do was hope the entire restaurant couldn’t hear me as I screamed in delight with the mystery each new button brought. I left that place with a delightfully full belly and perfectly clear rectum.

Karaoke
After sushi, we couldn’t resist the HUGE smiley face Karaoke bar sign across the street and headed straight for some sweet show tunes. A trip to Japan is simply not complete without a visit to one of the many karaoke bars, since it is considered a national past time. You rent rooms by the hour and its all you can drink, so we headed right up to 2115, our own little soundproof oasis to begin. We belted our hearts out to Estelle’s “American Boy”, Duffy’s “Mercy”, Eminem’s “Loose Yourself”, Miley Cyrus, Backstreet Boys, Jason Mraz, Michael Jackson and anything else under the sun. My favorite part was introducing everyone to something slightly country, like Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long.” (They had never heard of it. Figures.) A few hours later, we stumbled out of that place content as could be, so we wandered back to the Comfort Inn to get some rest for the night. Unfortunately, I was illegally snuck into the hotel, so we didn’t have to pay more, so we didn’t have enough pillows. However, Goldie and I are excellent at “sharsies” even when we’re sleeping, so it wasn’t a problem.

Highs and Lows
My “high” was discovering Japanese high-tech toilets include a bidet, butt shower, music, deodorizer and seat warmer all in one! My “low” was getting a shot to the ass while testing out the buttons I couldn’t read.