HIMEJI

Himeji was in my bucket list since a while. But I don't regret to have visited it only last summer (July 2016).
The renovation works of the castle only ended in 2015, and that would have been a pity to not visit this one as it's the main reason why tourist are going in Himeji I guess. But Himeji has more than a castle to visit of course, let's start writing this first article.

My plan was to arrive a bit before the night enjoying the city by night, to get a walk around the castle and take some night shots. I booked a hotel near the station, to get easy access to all areas I want to see.

HIMEJI CASTLE

Himeji castle is also called the "White Heron castle", and like its name is saying it, it's elegant like wide open wings of a heron and white, but I mean really white! Especially after the renovations, I saw many Japanese people posting pictures of the castle with the kanji "白!" meaning "white!". They never saw it like this before.
First plan was to shot the castle by night, as after seeing some pictures on the net, it's lightened when it's dark and the park around is also accessible.
When I arrived at around 22:00, it was so crowded! Lot of Japanese in the park around the castle... with their iPhone (they mostly have that brand) playing... Pokemon Go! In a way you feel more secured walking in the dark, but in another way it was disturbing to see phone screens everywhere and a bit noisy. Some people where even playing while riding their bike, so I had to be careful with my camera. I can forget to have a peaceful moment... The whole park was accessible, and you can go quite close of the castle, beside the walls. But of course not inside, it's only accessible during the day time.
I managed to get some night shots, stargazing and walking around until maybe midnight, then went back to my hotel by foot.

The main visit at the castle was the day after, the sun was hitting and as usual the summer was humid. Again, I walked from the hotel to the castle. When I arrived, there were lot of people around, and this time a bit more tourists, but not so much than in Tokyo or Kyoto. First, you have to walk through the park to arrive at the main wall's gate. After the park, there is some walk (climbing) before to reach the entrance of the castle itself. Fortunately, inside the walls, there was a little stall where you can buy some water. That one was needed, because it was hot outside and inside!

Himeji castle is one of those you can walk inside, but without shoes as it is made of old dark wood. It was nice to walk without shoes, but you have to be careful, the ground is slipping espcially with socks. Climbing the stairs is like sport, the steps are often high and you don't have much space to pass. Don't skip it, because it's the only way to reach the top of the castle. As it's higher and windows are open, you can enjoy some wind while enjoying the view of the city. Some items were exposed in the old castle, some old piece of the building replaced and kept after the renovations, etc.
Most of explanations in the castle are both in English and Japanese, there are lot of stories and info to read, like the one of the ghost well (Okiku well) or the reason why this or that gate have that name, etc.
When you reach the top, you will see the panorama view of Himeji, but also find a little "shrine" to pray after to have thrown a coin. Once I took enough pictures and rested a bit, I went down to get extra shoots from outside from a different point of view.
HIMEJI CASTLE gallery here

HIMEJI SHRINES:
Harimakokusoja & Shirasaginomiya

Harimakokusoja
There is always a shrine or a temple to visit, and sometimes they are bigger than what you expect.
Harimakokusoja is a shrine close to the castle, so it was my 1st visit of that day. You can find often animals represented like foxes, horses, lions and chimaira. But this one was dedicated to the owls, more precisely to the "horned owls". The maid of the shrine insisted on that detail, saying "mimizuku" みみづく - ミミズク.
The shrine was wide, lot of torii (鳥居), the gates you always see at the entrance of the shrines, so the, lot of little shrines to pray.
Not sure it was here or in Shirasaginomiya... I bought a special omikuji (おみくじ), the fortune paper. This one was made from a pretty pink japanese paper, folded like a origami, and inside there was a little charm strap. My omikuji was 大吉 Dai Kichi (big luck)!

Shirasaginomiya
Another shrine, close to Harimakokusoja, but located here in the castle park area. I always need to visit many shrines and I guess that some people would find it quickly boring.
Beside the fact that I feel good in the shrines and temples, there is another reason... I collect the "goshuin" (ご朱印), the special stamp/seal made by the monks. You can buy them for 300円 (yen), you can either get it on a paper or ask to do it in your goshuin-cho (the special book sold in temples/shrines). I collected one in each shrine of Himeji.

HIMEJI SHRINES gallery here

HIMEJI ZOO

I don't like zoo, and with this one I keep my position.
When you arrive in front of it, you can see something like "where all animals are happy"... don't say that to me, I will go to see if it's true. I didn't want to go to any other zoo, even in Japan, since I saw how sad animals were in Ueno (Tokyo).

At the begining, you see small animals like birds etc, not so bad. But when it's about the bigger animals, it was so sad! First the black bears are in a cage covered by windows, they looked to really suffer from the heat. And when it was about the elephant, it has broken my heart, he was so lonely in a small place (maybe like 10m on 10m). I decided to stop the visit, I was feeling so bad and couldn't continue this. I took some pictures of the elephant because I felt so touched by his loneliness... maybe it was tears on his face that I saw.
My final words about it, zoo's have to be closed!

HIMEJI CITY

Some words at least about the city...
I stayed 1 night at the hotel to make sure that I have enough time to do everything on my planning. I booked through Booking.com some weeks before the trip in Japan because in the Summer all hotels can be fully booked and more expensive. I decided for the APA Hotel Himeji-Eki-Kita, less than 2km from the castle and some streets from the station. When I entered the room, there was a little origami on the bed. The welcome was good and the staff was helpful.
Before to go to the castle by night, I decided to have dinner in the restaurant of the hotel. In the menu it was written "2 varieities of nama fu and mushrooms grilled with magnolia leaves", got this and fried potatoes in case of. It was not bad, but the food was still cooking and leaves where a bit burned.
After that I walked by night in the streets to reach the castle, and on the road I say that there was a "shotengai", the commercial street covered with a roof. On the ground you can see decorated squares with different themes.
The morning, I rarely get a breakfast at hotel unless it's included in the reservation. Usually, I just buy something at the combini, more easy and cheaper.
After the shrines and castle visit, I went to a little restaurant to eat. It was in front of the park, beside an ice cream shop where I stopped earlier. The menu was in Japanese, and didn't see what I wanted. So, with my basic knowledge of Japanese, I asked if they had chilled soba. I got a nice soba set menu. Considering the location, really touristic, it was good and more than enough for a reasonable price.
Time to go back need to pack and find a suitcase, my bag was really too heavy since I collected some of my stuffs in Kyoto, and didn't go back in Tokyo inbetween that round trip (Kyoto, Kurashiki, Okayama, Himeji). The staff from the hotel explained me where I could find a suitcase, the shotengai I walked the night before was extending on the other side of the hotel. But couldn't find anything at a good price. So I went to the AEON, commercial center at the station. Finally, had to spend more money than expected, but the positive point was the "tax-free" service. Got a nice discount and a paper attached in my passport.
I finally reach the station with all my stuffs to get a Shinkansen. While I was waiting inside the station (it's too hot outside), I saw the "mikoshi" (portable shrine) that someone posted on FB some weeks before the trip.

HIMEJI CITY gallery here