Himeji

Finland – happy Independence Day! This year I think I’ll miss watching the “the Castle Ball” because of the time difference. I’ll have to read tomorrow all the screw ups and check the best dresses.

Today I started my day by getting my bicycle back. You see we have this bicycle park near the train station.. and one of the parking lots is not open 24/7. There are few places for parking but the annoying part is that you can’t choose freely where you park your bicycle (you are told where to park). Next time I might ignore the instruction if they ask me to take the bicycle to the same place. Basically if you don’t get your bicycle before they lock the doors, you have to get it next day and pay a fee. This time I paid for a new parking day (100yen/day) which is not bad. Just a bit annoying..

This week has also included two other struggles. I had to finally go looking for a new deodorant because I used my old deo stick until I faced the truth that there is nothing left.. As buying any cosmetic stuff here, also buying a deo stick can be surprisingly challenging. Because I haven’t seen many familiar brands I decided to buy the product that looks most trustworthy and good-looking. Haha what a joke it came out to be! It smelled like ethanol! But because I am adventurous spirit and I didn’t have any other options I tried it. I am not sure but I might have got an allergic reaction from that deo stick.. and also on Thursday I had again small fever and a headache that didn’t go away even though I took a few painkillers. Today I decided to look for a new deodorant as long as I will find something that I can try without a fear of another allergic reaction. My criteria was to find a familiar brand, and I found Rexona’s deo stick. I paid 1008 yen (around 7euros) for that. If that won’t be good I’ll become a hippy and give up for deodorants.

Yesterday we went to Kobe and Himeji, which are 1h-1,5h away from Kyoto. To Himeji the train costed 2270 yen and from Kobe to Kyoto we paid around 1000 yen.. Basically we went first to Himeji and after that we visited Kobe. In Himeji we rented bicycles (for free) and visited Himeji Castle which is considered to be one of the most amazing castles in Japan. It is also a UNESCO world heritage site. Although Japanese people are in general very nice and helpful, I felt like people in Himeji were even nicer and cheerful. The city is quite small but inviting and the downtown was quite lovely.

Check the pics that I took in Himeji:

After Himeji we went to Kobe mainly to see the famous Illumination. I also liked Kobe a lot and I hope I can go there again before I leave Japan. So far every city that I’ve visited in Japan have been very different from each other. First impression is that Kobe seems to be very modern and has lots of European influences. One can find many European style restaurants and hotels. I saw many Italian, Spanish, French and German restaurants and I was also able to find Glühwein (“Mulled wine”) that tasted actually really good :-) and it warmed me up nicely. The weather is getting colder and colder! I guess the temperature would be okay without the freezing wind. My winter jacket arrived just in time!

Here are some pics from Kobe: