Holly's Reviews Page 6/8

I wasn't particularly interested in Nagoya Castle until I learned that the city had faithfully reconstructed Honmaru Palace—including spaces such as Jorakuden Hall and Yudono Shoin—using surviving prewar plans, photographs, measurements, and wall paintings. In other words, Nagoya Castle offers more than just a castle keep; you can also visit the shogun's residence. Once I learned that, I was determined to go.

Honmaru Palace was what I looked forward to most, and it was every bit as breathtaking as I expected. From the entrance and Omote Shoin to Jorakuden Hall, there was a succession of gold-leaf wall paintings, carved transoms, decorative metalwork, and elaborately designed ceilings. It was so lavish that my neck started to ache from constantly looking up. I could also hear other visitors gasping in amazement.

Yudono Shoin was equally fascinating. This was the shogun's private bathing and relaxation area. Rather than a bathtub, it featured a steam bath. The craftsmanship of the woodwork was exquisite, and even the bathing area had the refinement expected of a facility reserved for the shogun.

Because the palace contains almost no furniture or household items, some rooms can look similar, making it difficult to immediately imagine how they were used. However, by closely observing differences in floor height, the subjects of the wall paintings, ceilings, transoms, and seating arrangements, you can still see how each space reflected status and hierarchy.

If time allows, I highly recommend visiting Nagoya Castle and the Tokugawa Art Museum together. Honmaru Palace showcases the architectural spaces and formal order of the samurai class, while the museum preserves armor, tea utensils, paintings, calligraphy, and everyday objects from the Owari Tokugawa family. Together, they provide a much clearer understanding of daimyo culture and daily life at the time.

I used to have low expectations for Nagoya Castle, but now I feel that simply being able to walk through such a meticulously reconstructed palace makes the visit worthwhile—even without access to the castle keep.

Museum Meiji Mura is much larger than I expected. I strongly recommend arriving right when it opens, or it will be difficult to explore everything thoroughly in one day. I arrived after 11:00 a.m. Even with the village bus saving me some walking, I only managed a quick look around three of the five districts and never reached the other two.

The museum preserves a huge collection of Meiji-era buildings, including churches, schools, hospitals, prisons, and the main entrance hall of the Imperial Hotel. Every building is worth exploring in detail. If you enjoy modern architecture, history, or photography, even a full day may not be enough.

You will also need to choose your visit date carefully. Weekends generally offer more activities, dining options, and transportation, making them better for riding the steam train or Kyoto streetcar. Weekdays are quieter and ideal for taking your time, but some restaurants and facilities may be closed. I had hoped to enjoy dessert inside the Imperial Hotel, but the tearoom happened to be closed that day. Be sure to check the hours for any restaurants and transportation you want to use before visiting.

I wore a Taisho-era-inspired kimono that blended Japanese and Western styles. Staff members complimented me from the moment I reached the ticket booth, which made getting up early to change completely worthwhile. Walking among the historic buildings in vintage clothing truly felt like stepping back in time. If you do not have your own outfit, I highly recommend the museum’s paid costume experience.

Meiji Mura is somewhat remote, so pay attention to transportation for the return trip. Evening departures can get crowded, and each form of transportation within the museum has its own last departure time. If you plan to stay until closing, calculate how long it will take to return from the far end of the grounds to the exit.

Overall, Meiji Mura is much more than a collection of old buildings. It is an incredibly rich open-air museum. One day is barely enough if you only want to see the major buildings. If you want to explore at a relaxed pace, take photos, ride the trains, dress up, and enjoy a meal, even two days might not be enough.

Okayama Momotaro Airport is not very large, but the layout is easy to navigate. The airport buses to and from Okayama Station and Kurashiki are also straightforward. Buses heading toward Okayama may adjust their departure times depending on how quickly international passengers clear customs. On the return trip from Okayama Station, buses may leave early once they are full. Overall, the transportation arrangements are more traveler-friendly than I expected.

Most of the airport’s dining and shopping options are located before security. The second floor has restaurants, cafés, capsule toy machines, and souvenir shops. Restaurant prices are quite reasonable, and the selection of Okayama souvenirs is better than at the duty-free store in the departure lounge. Most importantly, the capsule toy machines are dangerously tempting—I could not resist spending all my spare change! Once inside the international departure lounge, there are very few shops or facilities and no full-service restaurant. I recommend eating, buying souvenirs, and getting drinking water before going through security.

Although this is a regional airport, the customs and baggage inspections are quite strict—even stricter than at some major airports. Do not cut it too close for your return flight. For international departures, arriving about 2.5 hours early is best. One unusual feature is that checked baggage must go through an X-ray inspection before check-in, which can really slow things down.

Overall, Okayama Momotaro Airport is not a place for extensive shopping, but it is easy to navigate, close to the city, and very convenient as a gateway to Okayama, Kurashiki, and western Japan. As long as you eat and shop before security and allow enough time for inspections, it is a genuinely great airport.

Osu Shopping Street blends vintage clothing shops, traditional temples, long-established stores, secondhand kimono, subculture, international cuisine, and everyday local life. Alongside tourist-oriented businesses, there are supermarkets and food stores used by residents. What surprised me most was the number of shops selling secondhand kimono, hakama, and vintage clothing. It’s perfect for anyone who enjoys taking their time hunting for unique retro finds. Some of the vintage clothing isn’t cheap, but the pieces are genuinely beautiful, and browsing alone is fun.

Along the way, you can grab a soy sauce-glazed grilled dango from Shinsuzume Honten on Niomon Street. The savory soy sauce and charcoal-grilled aroma make it a great snack while exploring. If you arrive early, you can also have breakfast at the old-school café Hayashi Coffee Il Fiore, across from Osu Kannon Temple. I especially love their scrambled eggs.

Overall, Osu Shopping Street offers a great mix of tourism, local life, and treasure hunting, plus a few attractions to explore. I’d recommend setting aside an entire afternoon. It’s just as enjoyable to browse as the shopping street near Senso-ji.

The highlight of Tsuruya Yoshinobu is definitely its Kayu Chaya counter. Guests can sit at the counter and watch wagashi artisans up close as they shape nerikiri into exquisite seasonal jonamagashi. Their movements are precise, and every detail—from the colors and shaping to the final decorations—is carefully considered. It’s essentially a small artisan performance.

Even if you aren’t familiar with wagashi, watching them being made helps you appreciate the thought behind every shape and detail. The freshly prepared jonamagashi is delicate and soft, with a sweetness that pairs beautifully with matcha. It isn’t just visually stunning; the flavor also lives up to the standards of this long-established shop.

If you’re making a special trip, I recommend prioritizing Kayu Chaya. Rather than simply buying something to go, watching the jonamagashi take shape right before your eyes is the most memorable and worthwhile part of the experience.

I’ve been to Yasui Konpiragu three times, and I have to say, at least from my own experience, it really does feel quite powerful. Because of that, I think it’s important to be very clear when making a wish here. It’s best to write down exactly what bad ties you want to cut, and what kind of outcome you hope to welcome afterward.

The first two times I visited, I happened to be in situations where I wanted to leave my job but couldn’t seem to make it happen. After visiting the shrine, I was able to resign successfully in about two weeks. Of course, it may have just been a coincidence in timing, but having similar experiences twice in a row left a strong impression on me.

That said, Emperor Sutoku, who is enshrined at Yasui Konpiragu, is also strongly associated with vengeful spirits in Japanese history and legend, so the atmosphere of the shrine definitely feels unique. If you’re sensitive to the energy or atmosphere of shrines and spaces, it may be worth checking in with yourself before visiting.

For me, Yasui Konpiragu is not just Kyoto’s famous “shrine for cutting ties.” It’s also a place to visit when you want to end a relationship, job, or phase of life and open the door to new connections. So whenever I have time in my Kyoto itinerary, I make a point of going there to pray.

The most special part of the Izu Teddy Bear Museum is the My Neighbor Totoro-themed exhibit on the second floor, officially licensed by Studio Ghibli. It recreates many classic scenes from the movie. I originally came for the Catbus. The Ghibli Museum also has a Catbus, but only kids can go inside. Here, even adults can sit in it and take photos, which is awesome!

Near the exit, there’s also a whole row of “Teddy Bear Shrine” displays. From the torii gate and worship hall to the shrine maiden teddy bears, everything is really well done. It’s a fun mix of foreign teddy bear culture and Japanese shrine elements.

The first floor mainly introduces the history of teddy bears and displays collections from around the world. The highlight is the “Teddy Bear Train.” The scene inside the train car feels a bit like the banquet in Titanic, just set on a train. At certain times, the bears even dance together. When I visited, it happened to be Girls’ Day, so they also had a teddy bear version of a traditional hina doll display.

The museum isn’t huge, but everything from the indoor exhibits to the outdoor decorations is put together with a lot of care. The ticket price is a little on the high side, but overall, it’s still well worth visiting.

I originally planned my visit to the Ohara Museum of Art just to see Monet’s Water Lilies. But once I stepped inside, I realized that what makes this museum truly captivating isn’t just its famous collection, but the different feelings each work evokes in person. From Torajiro Kojima’s oil paintings capturing the beauty of kimono, to the quiet, almost absent atmosphere of Little Table at Dusk, the bright and lively colors of Canal in Auvers, and a large painting of death that felt deeply unsettling yet impossible to forget, the Ohara Museum of Art left a much stronger impression than I expected.

The museum building has a classical feel, almost like a Greek temple. Surprisingly, it blends beautifully with Kurashiki’s white-walled streetscape. After visiting, you can also sit down and relax with coffee at the nearby café thoughtfully opened by the founder. For anyone who loves Western art, this museum is absolutely worth a visit.

Naminoue Shrine is located on a seaside hill in Naha. Inside the grounds, you’ll see plenty of banyan trees, Okinawan-style tiled roofs, and tropical greenery. The overall atmosphere feels completely different from the shrines commonly seen on Japan’s main islands. The banyan trees, sea breeze, Okinawan roof tiles, and coastal setting give this shrine a distinct southern island character.

You do have to climb a rather unappealing slope on the way there, but I still thought it was a great visit. No wonder Japanese visitors feel like they’re traveling abroad when they come to Okinawa. It really has a completely different charm from mainland shrines.

I originally thought the main difference between Himeji Castle and other Japanese castles was simply its beautiful white exterior. But once I went inside, I realized its scale, state of preservation, and architectural details were far beyond what I had expected. After entering from Sakuramon Bridge, it already takes a while just to cross Sannomaru Square and reach the ticket gate. Once officially inside the castle grounds, I was drawn in by the layered views of the main keeps, smaller keeps, connecting corridors, and multiple gates. I kept stopping to walk, take photos, and look around, so there was no way I could finish the visit in the two hours I had originally planned.

Compared with the main keep, which gets the most attention, I really liked the Hyakken Corridor and Keshō Yagura in Nishinomaru. This area preserves a rare glimpse of women’s living spaces within a Japanese castle. As I walked along the wooden corridor and looked at the small rooms used by attendants, household items, and exhibits related to Princess Sen, I realized that castles were not only places for lords, samurai, and war. They also once held the everyday lives of women. Princess Sen spent some rare peaceful years at Himeji Castle, but in the end she lost both her child and husband one after another. It gave that seemingly glamorous life a sense of fated sadness.

The main keep area has a completely different atmosphere. The low gates, steep stone steps, winding passages, and sudden corners are already quite tiring for ordinary visitors, so it’s hard to imagine how enemy soldiers in armor would have advanced through them. After entering the keep and seeing the many weapon racks, shooting holes, stone-dropping openings, and hidden rooms, I finally understood that beneath Himeji Castle’s elegant white appearance lies an extremely cold, warlike nature. I’m also grateful to live in a peaceful era, when this castle built for defense can finally be appreciated for its most beautiful side.