So I planned to cover a lot of areas. I woke up and jumped on the Shinkansen to Himeji station. I wanted to get all eki stamps at both JR Himeji station and Sanyo-Himeji station.
Afterwards I took a taxi to Himeji castle. Last year I walked, but since I was trying to cover a lot of ground and the blisters were starting to get sore, I decided to have a taxi take me.
On rare occasions, you will get someone that has bad customer service. My taxi driver was that. Taxis are lined up at station as usual. I got into the one at the head of the line and when I asked for Himeji station, he gave off a negative vibe like he didn’t want to go there. It’s a quick down the street btw. He was rough driving and rushing. I’m okay with that as long as you get me where I want to go. When I asked him to pull over by the parking lot, he seemed pissed off. LOL. Maybe he wanted a longer ride so he can get more fare. Anyways, I went to Himeji castle.
Last year, I was at Himeji and since it was a few months after the borders were opened, the tourist weren’t flowing in like it has been like it is now in 2024 (record inbound tourists). I basically had Himeji Castle to myself! It was that empty. Unfortunately, I wasn’t focused on stamps and gojoin at the time.
This time, There was a massive line.. and I didn’t want to wait to just get the ‘100 best castle stamps’. Ughh. Since I was there, I went to the souvenir shop and picked up 5 gojoin!
Next stop was Okayama station. I’ve been to Okayama station quite a few times, but I never ventured out of it (except to go to Miyoshi Racing back in 2017). This time I wanted to see Okayama Castle. Which wasn’t too far.
I took the streetcar/tram to Shiroshita station.
At Shiroshita station, you walk underneath to get to the pathway towards the castle.
The path is along the Asahi river.
Okayama Castle
