Before I continue with the pictures, I got one more Curse story to tell. Mie told me that whenever I am inside a castle, temple, or shrine, I am not supposed to step on the shikii - it's the elevated divider for sliding doors between rooms or entrance gates - apparently, stepping on them is bad luck. Hmm... I've stepped on a few of them before I got to Himeji... great. :P
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Stone steps - this is old school style here. |
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Me looking at the entrance to the castle. |
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Old Samurai armour. |
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Old rifles stored in the castle. |
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An old samurai sword - traditionally, each samurai sword is custom-made with the name of the warrior etched on the blade. Man, I really wish I had my own custom-made sword - anybody willing to lend me $3,000 so I can have one custom-made for me? |
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More stairs. However, these stairs are SUPER-STEEP. I think the incline is like 60 to 65 degrees. |
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An outside view of Himeji. |
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Another castle, another carp statue hanging on the roof. |
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One more picture of Himeji-jo. All the castles I've visited are very beautiful; however, Himeji-jo is very special since it's still original; therefore, there's a much better sense of what castle life is REALLY like. |
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"Another shot of Himeji-jo in the background. Hmm... it's open air and the sun is out... I should get a picture of me with the castle in the back..." |
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"Hmm... it's a little too bright... my eyes are squinting more than before. Time to put on my Oakleys..." |
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"DAMNIT! The sun is gone!" |
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Mie's turn to get a picture with Himeji-jo in the background. Unfortunately, the wind blew into the scene; therefore, her hair went flying around. |
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On the second picture attempt, Mie was determined to make sure the wind did not get the better of her. |
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A big ikebana flower arrangement. |
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After going through Himeji-jo, we decided to go back to Akashi - I had to purchase something that I found while going through the town. In the meantime, enjoy looking at this picture of a Japanese-style phone booth in Himeji. |
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I had to buy the PSP. Days of going through many stores and testing out the PSP demo display convinced me to get the head start on North Americans on owning the PSP (Japanese and North American games are compatible with any PSP). I got it in Akashi because during the time I had to kill before meeting up with Mie, I went to the Toys 'R Us store in Akashi and I saw the product sold there for 41 Yen cheaper than other places around Japan. You never know how vital that 41 Yen may be in the very near future. |
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Another picture of Mie. I turned off the flash on this one - prior to this picture, I took a number of pictures of her with the camera flash on, but the end product would look like that I punched her in the eye or something to that effect. And if you were wondering - I deleted those pics. Otherwise, Mie would probably give me a REAL black eye. :P |
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The PSP getting charged up. Gonna get some Ridge Racers action right after this! |
Mie and I had dinner at a Korean restaurant - no Kobe Beef, but the Yakiniku was very tasty - heck, I think ALL the places I've ate (not including the standard fast food fare) were very tasty in their own ways! Also, we went to a nearby restaurant after and just talked for a good few hours while having all-you-can-drink coffee. It was really nice to catch up on what has been happening with each other. Eventually, we had to call it in - Mie had to work the next day and I had to travel back to Tokyo for my final night.
We boarded on the train, and as we were near her train stop to her home, we said our thanks and goodbyes. It was another great trip for sure, but once Mie left the train and she went out of my view, I thought to myself that I will not see Mie, Yoshiko, and Ly for a long time. Fuck - I REALLY missed them already!
