Haunted Well

This one of the many wells at Himeji Castle (and yes this is the last of the Himeji pictures I suppose I will post). There was a ghost story to go along with it. I don't remember the details, but it went something like this:

Some young servant girl got accused of taking something from the royal family. She didn't do it, but someone had her killed anyway and her body was thrown in the well. Apparently you can hear strange sounds coming from the well.

It's sad if it's really true. Either way, the well was cool so I took some pictures of it. The top picture is looking down into the well. I wanted to get some idea of how deep it was, but you really can't tell. They have the top all fenced off you can't fall in or the ghost can't get out, or whatever. haha

AlcoHole

This is the Suntory (a Japanese beverage company) Jigger bar. If you like "AlcoHole" they've got plenty of it (I've never been there). Not only do they have plenty of "AlcoHole", but they also are...






"Open Dairy." I thought that sounded pretty fantastic. It sure does about now. Oh...the frustration... This week can't come to an end quickly enough...only three more hours till the weekend...

The top of Himeji Castle

More August Himeji Pictures...and no this isn't even the end of them. This is where we FINALLY reached the highest point after climbing many flights of very steep stairs. The view was spectacular. So were the fish sculptures on the edges of the roof. Enjoy!




Above: A shrine at the top of the castle, which was a little strange. If I remember correctly, I think it used to be in this spot where the castle was built, so they just moved the shrine up to the top of the castle. Something like that...it's been since August so I don't quite remember.

Himeji Castle, Part 3

Alright, if you aren't sick of it...then here are more Himeji Castle pictures. Above is the main castle structure again.



Above: One of the many wells in the castle.

Below: The huge castle wall. I wouldn't have wanted to be the one who had to make that!
Here are many crest of the families that lived in the castle.

Above: A drainage ditch that I just thought was really cool.

Below: Me trying to beat the heat.


Above: A view from inside another structure.

Below: Another well.




Above: Nice detail on the wall.

This place is huge! It just keeps going and going as you climb higher and higher! That's why my pictures keep going and going!



There was a little museum inside on one of the floors. There were some cool pieces of armor there. Pretty freaking sweet, huh?


Above: A decorative cover for a nailhole. These were everywhere, but I thought they looked nice.

Thank goodness for kind people!

So the one thing that I hate about my job is the long hours. The job itself isn't difficult at all. It's just that I travel so much that I'm never home. I'm either working or I'm sitting on a bus, train, or tram, or I'm walking somewhere. I leave early in the morning and I usually don't get home till about 9 PM. By that time, I don't feel like going to the grocery store (my fridge is the size of a mini fridge (only slightly bigger) so I can't stock stuff, planning a meal, and cooking it. We eat a lot of fast food because of this, i.e. Mos Burger. Times like these though are when I'm extremely thankful for the awesome students that I have. I teach this group of mostly housewives late in the evening after an extremely long day. I've posted about these wonderful ladies before. They're so much fun, and really interested in learning and are always doing incredibly nice stuff for me.

One day one of the ladies whcn she was driving me home (she always does this because she lives close by and she's super nice), and we passed this restaurant that I'd heard a little about. I asked her if she'd ever been there, just making conversation. She said yeah and that it was good, and then pulled over and ran into the places and ordered some take out before I could say anything! She even got some for Markian, whom isn't even her teacher! So, it was incredibly nice and I didn't have to cook that night and it had been a particularly bad, long day anyway. Above is a picture of what she bought me. They are little bento box meals and they were wrapped up so nicely (as are most things in Japan) that I had to take a picture. Below is what was inside.
Above: Fried Chicken, apple slice and cabbage, edamme, and ume rice balls (Japanese plum and rice wrapped with seaweed.

Below: Mushroom and vegetable salad, ume rice balls, sesame potatoes, pickled lotus root, fish paste flower, and a couple unidentifiable things.
Anyway, they are always going out of their way like this and doing really nice things for me, and it sure makes me day (which always starts off badly at the first school I go too), a little more manageable.

Himeji Castle, Part 2

From August, again, this is Himeji Castle. Above you see the first building that you could enter. You had to take off your shoes because of the nice wood floors. I love the sign below because it says, "No scribbles."

Above: A nice shot of the inside of the place. It was very nice and all made of wood. Below is a sign describing the picture below the sign picture. It is of a stone throwing hole. The castle had lots of defense features built into it to protect it against attack.


Above: A view out the window of the castle.



Above: One of the many stairways int he castle. The steps were tiny and I have little feet! I found it difficult to climb up the really tall ones because they were so steep!
Above: A strange view out the window that I found amusing.

Below: Markian standing in the hallway. This place is huge! It just seems to keep going and going!

Above: Me standing in the hallway pretending not to being dying from the horrible humidity.

Above: A view out the window.
Below: The princess lived in this building that you've been looking at on this entry. This was the only room that was covered with tatami mats, which is where she stayed. They had some manikins in here to show you what it would have looked like. They're playing some kind of game with the stones. There was a sign that described it, but I don't remember exactly what it was.