Hamamatsu-jo

It was my first free day in Japan today!  I was going to try to sleep in a bit, but still get up early enough for breakfast with people before they headed off to their various locations.  Alas, I woke up a few minutes before 7 and was unable to go back to sleep, so I dallied a bit before going to the lobby.  I had a long breakfast eating the usual fare, but lingering with Nicola, Tobe, and some others.  


Tobe and I wandered off to go to Bic Camera, but it was closed, so we made our way over to ZaZa City for the hundred yen store.  Also closed.  <_<  As a time-killing last-resort, we went to Mister Donut for a donut and coffee.  It was quite nice.  :>  

Tobe at Mr. Donut

And for giggles, here's a sign on the sidewalks that I like:

No smoking

We putzed around the 100yen store, and got cases for our new hanko (official seal of our name) and I got some magnets, and he got a book for learning to write Japanese.  We looked around a bit then wandered over to Bic Camera where he browsed and I bought a wristwatch and an iron.  Both completely necessary, I assure you all.  When we were getting back to the hotel, Nicola was waiting outside for her IC to come pick her up, so I waited around with her and helped them load the car.

I kinda grazed for lunch.  I had some corn-and-mayonnaise-topped bread that I bought yesterday, so I had that and a granola bar.  At 1pm I met Tara and Danielle in the lobby and we went off to see Hamamatsu Castle.

I was a 20-some minute walk, but the day was quite nice!  Very sunny and not much of a wind.  We walked past the first possible way to get to the castle, so we ended up taking the long way around, but it was suuuch a nice day for a walk that we didn't mind at all.  Right away where we went in, there was a lovely little pond with a footbridge and ducks.  XD

We saw some cute brownish-red squirrels and several people walking their dogs.  :>  After a while of going up, we got our first glimpse of the castle tower on the next big hill over, so we kept going.  The cherry blossoms are beginning to bloom, and that was nice to see.  I'm hoping they're in bloom next weekend when I'm in Okazaki!

As we were getting to the path to the castle, there was a small food vendor selling oden, hot dogs, and various other small foods.  I got some yakimochi because I'm a huge sucker for mochi, and it was AWESOMMMMMMME.

Yakimochi is a snack of sweet rice cakes grilled with soy sauce and these have a bit of seaweed on them.

We sat in the picnic area (because you can't eat and walk in Japan - it's super frowned upon) and watched the kids on the jungle gym.  Then we went up to the castle!  I must say, it was the easiest castle trek I've had in Japan, I think (and I still think I might be a bit sore tomorrow from all my trekking today!).  Just as we got to the castle tower, it started to spit rain, but it wasn't bad at all.  Here's my favorite picture I took of the castle:

Hamamatsu-jo from the back-side

Hamamatsu-jo reconstructed castle tower from the front-side

I didn't do my research well enough to know for sure that the castle was a reconstruction, so I was a bit disappointed to find out that was the case.  D:  The original was built in the late 16th century by Tokugawa Ieyasu, but it was torn down following the Edo period.  The new castle tower (there are a few buildings that weren't rebuilt) was constructed in 1958, according to the original specifications.  The stone walls are original to the site and are remarkable because the stoned were carefully chosen and arranged, but not cut.

Inside the castle was a bit of museum, housing reproductions of Tokugawa Ieyasu's armors and some antiques from the time like fans, guns (one which belonged to the Maeda clan, and one of which was a pistol emblazoned with the Tokugawa family crest), and other daily things.  It was nifty.  Well worth the 150yen to get in.  They also had little English pamphlets for the English-speaking tourists!  The information in it isn't very specific to the items on display, but does give a nice overview of the castle.

The lady working there was rather emphatic that we should put on this 'wig' and hold this sword for a picture.  Here you are.  It's also my Facebook profile picture now.

Me at Hamamatsu-jo

Chainmaille detail on the reproduction armor.  For Joseph.  : >

After visiting the castle, we continued to walk around the grounds.

Another pond with another footbridge

The park is beginning to bloom!

We walked past a couple of cute little waterfalls and a nice Japanese-style sitting area where we wanted to sit and look at the waterfall, but there was a couple clearly on a date and we didn't want to intrude, so we didn't.  :I  

Statue of Tokugawa Ieyasu.  He's holding a wreath joined with a bull's head as was on his helmet for his armor in the historic Battle of Sekigahara.

I tried to take a picture of my cosplay card next to this statue, but it didn't work.  I was sad.  Then my camera batter died.

We made our way back to the hotel and I managed to not take a nap, even though I REALLY wanted to, then I made my way out for dinner.  I ran into a few others who were going out to eat, so we all went as a group to the udon place I saw with Nicola last night.

Kitsune udon.  The big thing in the middle is a big piece of fried tofu.  It's a bit sweet and yummy.  It's called 'kitsune udon' because foxes - particularly the fox shrine guard gods - love fried tofu!

I haven't been able to eat udon for two years because I ate so much of it the last time I was here (because it was the only vegetarian dish many places had).  They say people prefer either soba or udon and I'm certainly a soba person at heart, so too much udon really over-did it for me.  My first udon in two years was very nice, though!  The tofu on top was thick and fluffy and EXCELLENT.

As we were finishing our meal, a man appeared in the glass box next to our table.  It's connected to the kitchen and it's the place where they roll and cut the dough for the noodles!  

He cut the noodles SO EVENLY and very quickly.  It was pretty cool to watch.

That's about it.  We ended up at Bic Camera so Zach could get pictures done for his gaijin card.  I scoped out prices on rice cookers.  The cheapest one was around 3500yen.  Most of them were well over 10000yen.  D:  I don't need anything fancy!  Just enough to have rice for breakfast and my packed school lunch.  I'm not sure the 3500yen one had a timer, though.  Maybe I'll ask my IC for help shopping for one so I can get a good, basic model but at a reasonable price!  D:


To do tomorrow:  Get pictures taken at a professional-picture photo booth for my alien registration card, buy some postcards, pack up my suitcases for departure Friday morning!  I'll probably go to the travel office and see if there's anything interesting in a walk-able distance.  I'm not afraid of buses or trains, I'm just trying to be healthy (and frugal, believe it or not).