white castle

On Friday we took a day trip to Himeji Castle, which is an hour-and-a-half train ride outside of Kyoto. Known also as "the castle of the white egret" because of its color and grace, the castle has appeared in two of the great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's films, Kagemusha and Ran, the latter being one of the most soul-crushing, heavy-as-hell movies ever made - and that's a recommendation.

But first, on the way to the train that morning, we stopped into a western-style diner that we had stumbled across for some breakfast (you can only eat so much sushi, soba, and tempura). Maya got buttered toast, fruit, and yogurt, while I got waffles with ice cream and fruit. It was pretty great, but the best part to me was my ice tea - which, instead of coming with a shaker of sugar grains, came with a separate little cup full of sugar water. Amazing! Anyone who's had to sweeten their own ice tea knows how virtually impossible it is to get sugar to dissolve in the cold liquid; the Japanese, brilliant minds that they are, solved that by providing the sugar already dissolved.

Now Himeji. Really the pictures speak for themselves. Though what doesn't quite come across is just what a shitty little tourist town Himeji is, and how strange it is to see this majestic and yet serene structure looming over the main street/mall as you walk toward the castle from the train station...

What also doesn't come across is how fucking hot and humid it was. Which meant it totally ruled when we finally reached the castle entrance and were able to step inside the invigoratingly chilly halls. It also didn't hurt that there were cool artifacts from the fortress' history inside, including these two awesome sets of samurai armor.

We climbed up way too many steep-as-fuck stairwells to get to the top of the castle - though the view was worth it (maybe).

On the train ride back to Kyoto, we had a classic "Maya moment": We were sitting near the entrance of our car, which was filled to capacity. A young blind man came onto the train at one of the stops, guided by a woman. I whispered to Maya, "I guess we should offer our seats to the blind man, huh?" and she responded with the sort of no-bullshit attitude that everyone who knows and loves her has come to appreciate and expect. "Why?" she said with genuine incredulity. "His legs aren't fucked up."