Japan Day 8 - Trip to Himeji, and Kobe

Today was a long day (well, really yesterday... I crashed when I got back). We took a trip to see some buildings outside of Kyoto in Ashiya, Himeji, and then we had dinner in Kobe on the way back.

The first stop was to see a public housing project in Ashiya. It was a good walk from the train station. The complex of buildings there has grown quite large and it was interesting to see modular construction used on such a large scale. Security was very lax. We were able to go up in the towers without having key card or anything. We had lunch at the food court in the community's big department store. I had a fried noodles and beef dish that was really good. After lunch we took we took a bus back to the train station and headed to Himeji to see Tadeo Ando Literature Museum there.

It too was a good walk from station. It was a very cool building to see. Classic Ando with the concrete and glass. At the end we had fun trying to come up with a group picture.

After that we headed to see Himeji Castle, which is what the city is known for. It is one the few Castles in Japan that remains. (they where commonly burned down in wars). It was cool to climb up the tower and see the view. Some of the staircases going up were very step, more closely resembling ladders.

Next we hoped back on the train to go to Kobe

Most of the building in Kobe are fairly new because in 1995 it was hit by large earthquake and the region hadn't had one in centuries. It is also where Stan, our professor lived while he was working in Japan. We got off the train in search of a place for dinner. The city center was very vibrant, almost a scaled down version of the craziness of Tokyo. One of the girls wanted to try Kobe beef and the search was on but we couldn't find any that we could afford. Prices started at 7000yen ($70) and up.

We ended up going to a nice restaurant where you grill the food yourself and satisfied our craving for beef. Not Kobe beef but we did have beef in Kobe. Dinner was really really good and every one had a lot of fun.

After that we took the express train back to Kyoto. The train started out empty but as we got closer to Kyoto the train quickly became stuffed.

Now I'm headed out to the ATM to get some more money. Yesterday's Train tickets got to my Wallet.

Photos Day 8