Himeji

Himeji was pretty cool. It is home to one of the castles that didn't get burnt down during the bombings of Japan. It was definitely built to be defended, with weapons racks claiming any wall space not used for arrow slits. The plaster of the castle was well stained, and offered a wonderful texture of age and use. After seeing the castle, we ventured over to the city museum of literature which was composed of two buildings by Tadao Ando. Again, as with many Ando projects, circulation was abundant and powerful. The buildings weren't his greatest works but were interesting. We also saw a Shuhei Endo project. It was a small office building, and apparently not one of his more famous works. It was a very cool building. At about 6 we boarded a shinkansen for Kyoto, where we had an hour to pack our stuff and get back on another shinkansen for Tokyo. The hour was actually plenty of time, even considering that I had to break down my bike and pack it as well as repacking my other bags.