Himeji castle

I went to Himeji castle in March 2010.
Himeji castle is a big samurai castle in Himeji city.
Google Maps for Himeji city

There are many old buildings which were built in the 16-17th century in this castle.
The Japanese old castles were built with wood, so many castles were burnt down due to a fire in World War II. Hemeji castle is the largest castle in the existence old castles in Japan and it is the world heritage.


The central buildings is called "Tenshukaku". We can enter the "Tenshukaku".


This is the Himeji downtown view from "Tenshukaku".

Toyama, Kanazawa, Fukui

There is the "Golden Week" consecutive holidays in Japan in May.
I had been to Toyama, Kanazawa, Fukui during these holidays.
These cities are in the Hokuriku region in Japan and It's very snowy in winter.
Google Maps for the Hokuriku region


This is "Yuki no Otani" in Toyama.
"Yuki no Otani" is in the altitude about 2500 meter of Mt. Tateyama.

"Yuki" means snow in Japanese and "Otani" means a big valley.
There are very big snow walls in this area and the max height of the snow is about 15 meter!
Have you seen such huge snow walls?


This is "Kenroku-en" garden in Kanazawa.

"Kenroku-en" is one of the most famous traditional gardens in Japan.
Kanazawa is a historical city and there are many traditional buildings and temples in this city.

This is the beautiful coutyard of "Nomura-ke" which is the samurai residence.



In Fukui, There is a big temple, "Eiheiji".
Eiheiji temple is famous about a monk practicing asceticism.


-- Itinerary --
4/28
Saitama(my hometown) -> Tonami tulipe flower park in Toyama by car
I stayed at Tateyama International Hotel.

4/29
Tateyama Sta. -> Murodo Sta.(Yuki no Otani) -> Tateyama Sta. by cable car and bus
Tateyama Sta. -> Amaharashi Coast(View spot for Mt. Tateyama) -> Unaduki Onsen by car
I stayed at Unaduki Grand Hotel.

5/1
Unaduki Onsen -> Keyakidaira -> Unaduki Onsen by truck
Unaduki Onsen -> Kanazawa(Kenroku-en, Kanazawa castle) by car
I stayed at Kanazawa NewGrand Hotel Annex.

5/2
Kanazawa -> Eiheiji -> Tojinbo(a beautiful cape) -> Saitama