Day Nineteen: Confusion

The day began with- this one’s for you, dad- a two-hour bullet train ride.

Otosan insisted on taking a picture of me next to the track which was completely terrifying for one reason and one reason only: What if a train whipped by while my back was turned and scared me so bad I fell over backwards and died?

Because of this, I’m pretty sure that instead of smiling properly for my picture, I was wearing a grimace of terror.

However, one thing can be said for the bullet trains: They are far smoother than any other train I’ve ever ridden. We rode on the Hikari train, the second-fastest bullet train in Japan. The fastest ones only go to the major cities like Tokyo, and even Hikari skips over most stations.

After the train ride, we stored our luggage and went for a visit to Himeji castle. The main section was having work done so we couldn't go in, but the sections we walked through were still interesting. I noticed there were these holes in the wall with wooden flaps over them that could be pushed outwards from the inside. I assumed they were for additional viewing and left them alone.

This was about when I ran into an interesting language misunderstanding. Tapping on one of the wood flaps, Otosan turned to me and asked me what I thought the thing was. I really wanted to get it right, but for some reason what I said was, “Bird food!”

To my surprise, he laughed and said, “Yes!”

It felt like my eyebrows literally rose of their own accord. “Really?” I asked happily, thinking what a brilliant guesser I was.

He patted the gate again. “They would put the cannons through these holes in war to shoot at the opposing army!”

I was glad he’d given me points for being close, but I’m pretty sure he actually thought I used the Japanese term for them, and it obviously must have sounded similar to “bird food.” I felt a little deflated after that.

Following that disappointing incident, we arrived outside next to a large well. There were strong metal bars covering the top, and when I looked in, I could see people had thrown change down there. So, because I felt like it and I had change, I threw some down as well.

My interest in regards to the well really spiked when I read the plaque nearby. It had a short story on it that went like this (I copied this word for word from the plaque I took a picture of that may or may not get posted later. It is completely accurate. Aside from my commentary of course):

About 1500, Anoyama, the chief retainer of Norimoto Kotera (Lord of Himeji Castle), plotted an intrigue against the lordship. Yes, yes, the important guy was bad news. Get to the good part. Kiku, who was the maidservant of the Aoyamas as well as the lover of Motonobu Kinugasa, a loyal retainer of Lord Kotera, knew it and warned Motonobu of Lord’s danger. And the plot thickens.

Then the plot failed. Well. That’s unfortunate. Wait, right? All these names are mixing me up. Don’t these people know anything about character introduction? Aoyama and his follower Danshiro Chonotsubo falsely charged her with losing one of valuable dishes, his family treasure. Hold up. Charged who? The maidservant? Please be clearer in your descriptions. At last they killed her and threw her body in the well. What do you mean “at last”? What happened before that? I’m so confused.

From then on, her sad voice could be heard from the well every night, counting one piece, two pieces, three pieces. Where did that come from? Is the well just there for storyline convenience or something? Motonobu and some retainers defeated Tessan and his followers. Who is this Tessan? Where does he come in? And what exactly are these retainers? After she was enshrined as Okiku Goddess in Junisho Shrine, no voice could be heard from the well. The end. I didn't understand most of that, but the ghost part was exciting, and that’s all that matters.

It was really hot and we’d been through the castle by that point, so we decided to go get lunch. As I may have mentioned before, I have an extreme inability to eat anything if I’m aware it has guts inside. Fortunately, the lunch didn’t, but there was a little dish of some unidentifiable food that seemed suspicious to me.

Towards the end of the meal, Otosan told me to try the mysterious food. Not seeing a great way to back out of it, I picked up a couple of the dark red squiggles and ate them. They tasted salty and fishy, which meant they could have been just about anything. When I’d eaten the mouthful, I asked Otosan what it was. He replied that it was seaweed.

This was an intense relief to me, and I proceeded to eat the rest of it. However, I still couldn’t prevent myself from thinking: Okay, that was scary. I was a little worried there that he’d just had me eat sea worms. Oh gods, don’t think about sea worms. But… These could totally be sea worms. What if he just said that it was seaweed? Don’t think about it. Look at them though! They totally look like worms! Stop it. No. They look like seaweed. Which is what they are. Not everything is a conspiracy to make you eat guts, you know!

By the time we finished lunch (which was seaweed), we were able to check into our hotel, which we promptly did. Once in there, I discovered an interesting addition; the room actually came with a trouser press. I kid you not; there was an honest-to-God trouser press in the room. The Corby Trouser Press to be precise.

I don’t know if I've mentioned this before, but hotels in Japan have an interesting system for the card. When you enter the room, there is a slot that says to put your card in. When you do this, it turns on all the power for the room including the lights and TV. This is handy, because it means that you’re never in a panic looking for your card before you go out; it will always be in its slot.

Once we’d settled into our rooms, we set out for a visit to a flower garden. It was overlooked by a smaller castle named Okayama-jo than the Himeji one, but Otosan said we didn't have time to go there today. Instead, we wandered through the beautifully tended garden and encountered another misunderstanding.

For some reason, I thought Otosan said that the Prince still lived in the castle. In surprise and awe, I replied, “What, really? He lets people wander his garden and home? That’s awfully nice of him.”

And clearly Otosan heard me wrong as well, because he said, “Mmhmm.”

I figured he must be more of a representative figure. So in this way, I spent more than half of our visit thinking that I was walking in the garden of a kind-hearted and easy-going Prince. Finally- because I was still having my doubts- I said, “So, the Prince really still lives in the castle?”

Otosan burst out laughing and shook his head. “No, no! That was hundreds of years ago!”

It was a very disappointing experience.