Day Trip, Tuesday, September 11th, 2007. Himeji Castle, about 1.5 hours away from campus near Kobe.


Getting to the actual castle took awhile; they structured it much like a maze and it was uphill the whole way, of course. We stormed through the gates nonetheless and captured Princess Sen.

Me, tiny, standing at the back of it. Aw.



View from the top tower. Unfortunately a picture can't quite capture what it felt or even looked like to be up there. Especially after climbing all those flights of stairs, it was a wonder.

My friend and I dressed in traditional kimono, playing a game of Kutsukanee. That's the castle cat watching us.

It was a good, though tiring, day all-in-all. Seven of us went at a moment's notice and paid far too much money for the train and castle entrance. But money's never wasted on art or travel, as they say.

It was strange realizing that yesterday was September 11th. Of course it was not a discussed topic in Japan from what I saw, but I can imagine what kinds of stories ran in the paper and on the news at home. I thought it would be impossible to think so, but America seems so small and distant. I am almost embarrassed to admit I'm American here and I can't quite explain why. It's been six years since 9/11/2001 and non-Americans didn't understand why I even made a passing comment about it yesterday.
Ethnocentrism in practice, on everyone's part.

Now I must study. Goodnight, or God natt as the Swedes say, or Oyasuminasai as the Japanese say.

P.S. Those "women" in the last picture are fake if you didn't guess. The castle cat is real, though...