Himeji Castle

Second on the list of "must see" buildings in Japan, as recommended to us by our Osaka friends, was Himeji Castle. Himeji is only 30 minutes away on the train, and its castle is indeed spectacular and extremely photogenic:


The view from the top of the tower:


The thing on the edge of the roof is a fish, added as a good luck charm against fire. Unfortunately, the guide said, it tended to attract lightning, so now there are lightning rods attached to them.

Even though much of the inside has been rebuilt, it is by Japanese standards (where fire, earthquake and war has made really old buildings rather uncommon) very authentic. We were lucky and had a free english speaking guide for 2 hours.

Once again, Wikepedia has a good entry about this. (Gosh: it says that it featured as the headquarters for the Japanese secret police in "You Only Live Twice", the first James Bond I ever saw.)