See Japan's castles the easy way

Karatsu castle – video

Article posted on Sunday, May, 1st, 2011 at 8:42 pm


If you saw the last post (Karatsu day trip) you’ll know that I recently visited Karatsu… on a day trip. It was a great trip, and one I’d recommended anyone make, especially during Golden week. There’s wisteria, azaleas, comfortable weather & the very cool Karatsu Kunchi festival. And, at any time of the year you can enjoy Karatsu castle, the Karatsu burger (actually, pretty much a regular burger) and Niji-no-matsubara, a wicked pine forest.

Not much else to say other than press play.

The following video can also be found on Youtube: Karatsu castle.

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Signs of Spring

Article posted on Monday, February, 14th, 2011 at 8:06 pm


Happy Happy Joy Joy! Spring, it seems, is just around the corner. Though it must be said that I’m not entirely convinced. My extremities are still mostly numb. I did brave the cold on Sunday, the 6th of February when I went for a day trip down Kumamoto way. I was passing through a place called Uto when I came across these plum blossoms. Purdy, ain’t they?

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A pleasant surprise

Article posted on Friday, February, 4th, 2011 at 10:05 pm


The Yanagisawa Bunko (library)

It was an especially fine day back in April ’09 when I found myself at the ruins of a camera-shy, little castle in the Kansai region. It’s not-at-all far from some of Japan’s most famous tourist attractions, perhaps that’s why it tends to get over looked.

I should probably tell you the name of the castle, it’s Yamato Kōriyama Castle. For now though, let’s just see what else the place has to offer.

The first thing that struck me was the presentation of the castle. It has the look of being well maintained but un-restored. Kind of how you’d like to see a late 60′s Mustang or Camaro. And I’d come at a great time of year as the Azaleas were in bloom. Well, the different species of Azalea were in different stages of their bloom cycle, but it was a beautiful sight nonetheless.

Something should be mentioned of the size of the grounds. I described it little which isn’t entirely true. Now that I think of it, it’ll take a good hour to explore every hidden corner.

The public hall

The real surprises, besides the grounds and all that nature, were the historical buildings. Basically, all of the photos I’d ever seen of the place showed just two buildings, a turret & a gate.

The building to the left is the Shimin Kaikan (市民会館), built in the very early 1900′s. It has a great look about it. I’m not familiar with the goings on in architecture during the Meiji (1868-1912) period, but it was a time when some Western influences were beginning to take hold.

The building at the very top is the Yangisawa Bunko (柳沢文庫), a library of sorts, containing documents relating to the Yanagisawa clan and also city-designated cultural assets.

The final building of interest can be seen below. I wish I were able to get some more information about it. It sits in front of the library & for some reason I’ve got it in my head that it’s a tea house. I can’t find any information to support this and I can’t say I’ve ever see a tea house quite like it. Perhaps you can just drink tea there. If so, I suppose you could drink Pocari sweat if you wanted to.

I’m confused. I’m going to lay down now.

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