Himeji and Kobe

Thanks to the High Speed Rail, a number of interesting cities and destinations are accessible from Osaka within about an hour. Himeji is the largest of Japan's 12 original remaining castles, having avoided being during the Second World War, and has origins dating back to 1400, with the current incarnation of the castle dating back to 1609.

When I visited, the castle had only recently finished an extensive five year renovation, so I was able to see the castle in its entire glory.

Himeji castle consists of a huge 6 story keep at its centre with numerous walls and baileys encircling it and like any good castles comes equipped with turrets, a moat and small slitted windows for archers to use. The castle is known for its bright white exterior (caused by a special fire resistant plaster) and is frequently referred to as 'The White Heron Castle" (Shirasagi-jo).

One of the many fortified paths within the walls of the castle.

With the reconstruction being finished, visitors were again permitted to enter the main keep of the castle. The inside of the castle itself was a little bare, but there was some information on the history and function of the castle and it was cool to see the dark wooden interior.

Inside the Main Keep.

The castle also gave some nice views of the surrounding city of Himeji. While I was exploring the interior, I was also greeted by an elderly Japanese man who was part of a group who offer volunteer tours to tourists. He walked around with me as I went up the levels of the keep, telling me little bits about the history of the castle. After he had finished, he gave me a little origami throwing star and I was very grateful for his time and generosity.

The Main Keep up close.

A close-up view of the strange metal fish creatures which decorated the exterior of the castle.

The front gate.

Inside one of the wings of the castle, there was also a little segment telling the legend of the castle's Princess Sen, famous for the tragedy of her life in which she lost two husbands and her son before retiring to a Buddhist nunnery.

By early afternoon I was ready to leave Himeji, but decided to make a stop on the way back to Osaka in Kobe, famous in Japan for its sake and internationally renowned for its beef.

High quality water is a apparently a key component in making good sake, and places with good quality water are often home to a large number of breweries. Kobe's Nada district allegedly has water which is very rich in minerals and it is accordingly home to a huge number of sake breweries, all in a few minutes walking distance of one another and many of which offer museums detailing the process of how sake is made. For anyone who is visiting Kobe and is interested in the area, I found this website really helpful as it includes a map of the breweries and a recommended route!

I started my sake adventure by visiting the Hakutsuru sake brewery which had really extensive models depicting the sake brewing process, starting with the growing of the rice and finishing with the casking of the alcohol. The reconstructions were really interesting and immersive and all the information was available in English which was great for me!

The brewery also had a huge shop selling a bunch of different bottles of sake and offered a bunch of different free samples which visitors were welcome to try. The samples all tasted great and were fortunately a recurring theme of the other breweries!

The outside of another brewery, marked by the huge wooden vats which the sake is brewed in.

After visiting a few of the breweries. I decided to head back to the city centre to finally try one of the world's most famous kinds of beef...

Some cool street art on the walk back to the city centre.

My destination was a restaurant called Steak Land, which came recommended by a number of websites on account of its affordable prices and good quality steak.

The restaurant was still relatively expensive, but I was able to get the restaurant's 200 gram Special Kobe Beef for about 6500 yen (£35) which was significantly cheaper than some of the more upmarket restaurants.

The restaurant had a really casual atmosphere inside, almost a little like an English pub. The layout included a long counter next to the grill so you could watch the chef cook your steak for you before serving it to you right away.

Fortunately, this lent for some great photo ops of the steak and all its marbled glory.

The steak was accompanied by a big serving of garlic chips.

The steak was really delicious and unlike any steak I've ever had before. The high marbling of the meet gave it a really buttery favour and gave the meet a melt in your mouth consistency.

After my successes with visiting the castle, sake breweries and steak restaurant, I was feeling pretty positive about my day trip and decided to try and squeeze in one last leg of the journey before heading back to Osaka. I'd read about a hot spring near Kobe, called Arima Onsen which is one of Japan's oldest Onsens and also one of its most famous. Getting to the onsen involved a quick train journey followed by a bus ride so I decided to check it out. 

A funny sign in the toilets of Kobe train station, perfectly depicting the craziness that can be offered by Japanese toilets.

Unfortunately the websites on which I'd read about the onsen neglected to mention just how remote it actually was. As the evening got increasingly dark, the mountain road which the bus was on became increasingly remote and empty until there was nothing but us and the forest around us. Stupidly following the route given to me by Google Maps, I got off as a bus stop which was equally remote with barely any signs of civilisation, save for a small sign pointing into a path in the woods with the name of the hot spring I was looking for. After about a minute down this path, I stumbled upon another sign which also had the name of the onsen, but pointed me back in the direction I had come.

After some attempt at navigating the forest paths, I stumbled upon the local area's hospital. With the evening become increasingly late, I decided to ask for help and managed to explain to a very friendly hospital warden of my situation and he hired me a taxi to the area's train station. Disillusioned with my now defunct plan, I started the journey back to Osaka.