Matsumoto Castle

Matsumoto Castle is my second favourite castle in Japan. What makes it special is that it is one of the most original and complete castles. Its black walls make it unique and has earned it the nickname 'crow castle'.
The castle began construction in 1592 and it has since become one of four castles designated as National Treasures of Japan.

Matsumoto-jo

The castle interiors have been turned into a museum displaying armor and weapons from when the castle was built.

Some of the armor on display inside the castle

I visited Matsumoto-jo as a stop over in winter from Kanazawa to Nakanojo. It was very cold inside the castle and especially cold at the top! But its worth the climb up the steep stairs to see the view from the top and the narrow windows where archers once defended the castle.

View from the top

Matsumoto-jo also has one more feature which makes it unique - a moon viewing platform. This was added during a time of peace in 1635 when it was deemed safe to add an unprotected section to the castle. Moon viewing parties are still held every year in Autumn and it is said that 'the moon can be seen three times from the moon viewing room. Once in the sky, once in the water below and once on your cup of sake.

The moon viewing platform from inside the castle

Matsumoto-jo is beautiful and in my opinion, high on the 'must see' list. It is only a 15 minute walk from the train station and easy to access. I am definately going back for a second visit.

G

Sake Tasting Evening

I know I have posted about Sake before, but I have a great excuse to post about it again. I recently attended an evening called 'Japan, Endless Discovery through Sake' which was hosted by the Japan Tourist Bureau (JTB) here in Sydney.

The evening started off with Taiko drummers and then moved on to some speeches about sake and its history. One thing I didn't know is just how long the Japanese have been making sake - some 2,000 years!

This is a map of Japan showing where all of the brewers were located and the sake they make.

There were 6 sake breweries which were represented by the owners or managers of each company. What was really impressive is that one of the breweries was represented by the owner and president who is the 11th generation to own the brewery. Each representative also wore a jacket which showed the brewery they represented and their logo. I just love this part of Japanese culture. They are so proud to show people who they work for and the respect they have for the past by continuing the tradition of wearing the company jackets.

Each of the brewery's representative got up to introduce themselves, gave us a brief history of their brewery and explained the type of sake the make.

The last sake brewer to introduce themselves was Hakushika. This company had their brewery damaged in the devastating tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011. True to the Japanese spirit, he told the audience that they are getting on with making sake and are putting the tsunami behind them.

All of the sake was really nice and a lot better then the bottles of sake I had previously been drinking!

There were some surprises in some of the flavours we tried. The Hakutsuru brewery in particular has modernised their sake. They offer citrus flavoured sake (lemon), sparkling sake and sake infused with plum flavour. These were my favourite flavours of the night. Here is a link to their website: http://www.hakutsuru-sake.com/top.html

Some of the sake types on offer. I sampled them all!

The Dassai brewery offered beautiful crisp tasting sake which I couldn't get enough of! Here is a link to their website: http://asahishuzo.ne.jp/en/ The representatives of Dassai were really nice and liked to have a laugh with me and I even got one of the guys to 'Kampai' (cheers) with me. I introduced myself to the managing director Mr Kazuhiro Sakurai and I told him that I hope to visit his brewery next time I am in Japan. He handed me his business card and told me I would be welcome any time. I was pretty happy with that!

The night was so much fun. I got to mingle with Japanese people from both Australia and Japan and I learnt a lot about Sake. I hope to see more of the citrus and sparkling sake in restaurants and liquor shops in the future.

If you have a chance to sample some sake at an event like this, you must do it as I promise you, it will be a much better quality than you are probably used to.

I hope the JTB hosts more events like this so more Australians can discover all that Japan has to offer.

G

I love Japanese Toys!

I have always been a sucker when it comes to soft toys, so it comes as no surprise that I have accumulated some of the cutest ones I could find in Japan.

On our first visit to Japan we had some spare time one day so we asked the concierge at our hotel if there is a toy store close by. We all know that Japan is the innovator when it comes to new and exciting toys and robots so we thought we would try to find some.

We were directed to Hakuhinkan Toy Park in Ginza.

We were in for a treat!

4 whole floors of toys!!!!

The ground floor has all the latest gadgets and toys and latest crazes and things you only see in Japan. You can spend ages looking around this floor alone and marveling at all the cool stuff Japanese kids get to play with!

The next floor up is the soft toy floor and there is literally hundreds of different types of everything you can think of. There is every animal under the sun as well as Disney and Studio Ghibli characters.

I had a panda when I was little and he was always there to hug when I needed a friend or if I had a nightmare. So ever since I have been on the lookout for more Panda bears and I found the most adorable and super soft one ever - so I got it in 2 sizes!

Next I found the most amazing little rabbit. It comes in lots of colours and sizes and was expensive compared to other soft toys. I am not sure if it was a special character or if it is just the material as it actually feels like a real rabbit it is that soft! Its head permanently slumps to one size which makes it even sweeter.

And lastly, the softest most adorable polar bear ever to have been made! I have never felt this material before it is like the softest fleece mixed with flannel. He may not be the most handsome polar bear but he is the most hugable!

One more floor up and you find all types of kids and baby toys from floating rubber ducks to board games.

The next level is full of figurines and models and more 'boy' toys and collectibles and there is also an 'old fashioned' slot car racing track.
I beat my husband twice playing the slot cars. He blamed it on his slow car......

Here is a link to the toy stores website. It is in Japanese, but you can see the pictures and get an idea of what its like.

http://www.hakuhinkan.co.jp/guide_en.html Click on each floor description and you can see some pictures of what they keep in stock.

If you are in Tokyo you must go to Hakuhinkan Toy Park. Just have a browse and I guarantee before you know it, you will have lost track of time and turned into a kid again by the time you leave!

G

On My Way

Just a quick update on my paper crane journey.

I have folded 150 paper cranes to date!

Only 850 to go......

150 paper cranes

A long way to go, but at least its a start.

More updates to come!

G