Inuyama Castle

So to wrap up last week (belatedly), we headed on a short train ride to Inuyama. It's on the same train line as ours, and only took about thirty minutes to the north towards the mountains (and it was still relatively cheap!). There's apparently a bunch of attractions that we might visit later - a monkey park, Little World (an international-themed park), and various shrines. We chose a single destination since we have some short-legged family members: Inuyama Castle. It had been raining and/or cloudy much of last week, and Friday was no exception. And it was hot. The lowest temp we saw last week might have been 80 Fahrenheit, and that was in the middle of the night. Heat index temp was more like 95, and I think it may have gone above 100 at least one of those days. It's humid here. As we experienced when we visited Kyoto back in 2006 and 2007, you don't know what it's like to sweat until you're here. To all those back in the U.S. enjoying the mid 70's…. Well, this is a family blog.


The train ride was the most scenic we've enjoyed since arriving here. Inuyama is sort of this outcropping of Nagoya, and really is like a suburb of it. But we did see some small farm fields and rice paddies. Also, much like our neighborhood, most of the buildings are at most a few stories high - no skyscrapers or anything.

The stop we got off at is right before a bridge over the river. A quick walk across the street, and we were on a nice walkway above the river. It wasn't crowded at all over here, probably due to several factors: it was hot, it was a weekday, and it was a Friday before the Obon celebrations (or some were currently ongoing during this time).

Here's a nice (but cloudy) view to the west along the river:

A little further down the walkway, a shot of the buildings across the river, and the mountains behind them in the distance:

Our destination was Inuyama Castle, which is perched up on that hill even higher above the river.

Here's a signpost along the way, where the walkway turns inland to curve up behind the castle.

Right about this point, there's a small waterfall that runs down into the main river pictured before this. Here's Sydney admiring it:

As this path turned inland, the stream running alongside us was very beautiful. It was really wooded to our right next to the stream, and the air cooled just ever so slightly.

After what seemed like an eternity, we had to climb up and around a bend where suddenly there was a rush of people and cars. Apparently we took some secret long back way, and most people walk up through the town via another train station, or park nearby at the base of the castle. Whatever the case, suddenly there were people. I had thought maybe we were lucky and it wouldn't be crowded, but I was wrong! Here's a quick shot looking back after walking through some torii gates.

Sydney was in a stroller, which wasn't too much fun pushing up the hill. The path was concrete and stone, and not terrible if you were on two feet - but four small wheels? Not so much. But we persevered, and I ended up carrying the whole stroller most of the way to avoid giving Sydney whiplash. The boys made it up on "drink machine power" (aka - there was a "drink machine" at the bottom full of fruit drinks (most aren't 100% juice, just as in the U.S.). The sugar and cool drinks definitely helped them make it up. Then we got into a line that snaked around and inside. Here's Seth and Sydney on the final staircase into the castle:

A view looking up just as we were about to take off our shoes (yes, even at ancient tourist attractions) and enter:

Now, I wish I had taken a picture of the "stairs." In the U.S., you become accustomed to tourist-friendly things like big stairs, hand rails, and elevators. Even if it means defacing the place you are about to visit (like carving huge chunks out of natural stone walls or cutting down trees, etc..). Well, this is Japan. You can't climb a ladder? Stay downstairs! This reminded me of when we visited Tokyo and met my mother's Japanese aunt, who was somewhere in her late 70's or 80's at the time. We walked all over Tokyo, up and down stairs, and she kept right up with us youngins. Amazing. There were plenty of people in that same age demographic, and they had no trouble (or didn't let it show). There was one really steep ladder/stair to get up to the second floor. Nice, this must lead us to the staircase, right?

Nope.

Got in line for another nearly vertical ascent to the third floor. With three children, mind you. The boys did pretty well, even though the steps were a big step up for them. We got to the third floor. Done, right? Now we get to see that amazing view from the top outside balcony that we noticed from downstairs?

Nope.

Angela decided she didn't want to have any more fun with ladder-stairs, so she stayed with Sydney on the third floor. I started up to the next floor with the boys, hoping I didn't have to climb a rope ladder or anything. The next ascent wasn't too bad, and it was followed by yet another, small ascent.

Finally!

So the best part of this experience is that downstairs when you take off your shoes, they have people passing out plastic bags. You put your shoes in them as you step onto the wooden floor, and carry your shoes with you. Up. And up. Etc… But my main point is that there were at least 2 or 3 workers handing out bags and flattening the returned ones into a pile as people returned and put their shoes on. On these multiple, dangerous climbing apparati, how many helpful workers were there?

Zero.

But at the top, they had a helpful fellow directing the traffic out one side of the top floor, and another making sure you didn't circle around for a second helping of the view. Enough rambling. Here's a shot of the boys looking out toward the river side, facing roughly west:

Another:

A closer look at the roof, railing, and walking area up top:

"Boys, line up and smile real quick so we don't hold up the hundred of people behind us!"
This is the best one from the pictures I quick-snapped before I angered anyone, with the mountains to the north.

A view back east towards the bridge:

Back safely on the ground. Noah decided to wanted to take over photography with our point and shoot. All my pictures were taken mainly with my iPhone.

A picture of a picture:

Sydney pondering the meaning of life. Or wondering why we haven't eaten lunch and it was nearly 3pm.

Some nice lanterns back near the roadway where it was busy.

I just thought this little road looked nice and peaceful. You wouldn't know it connected right into the main road at the foot of the castle grounds area where the traffic was crazy.

We considered eating somewhere near the castle, but despite the late time, everywhere was packed. Not to mention, we didn't see any English menus (this doesn't always deter us, but when you're hot, sweaty, and have three hungry kids…). We decided to head back near the train station because Angela had seen some signs for Swan's Cafe, which was advertised in English. The real reason (partly), though, was because there had been a few rumbles of thunder and the sky was looking slightly MORE… ominous. You could actually see the rain coming down across the river onto the mountains. And Angela, for those who know her - secret fact: she is terrified of being outside during storms. We lived in Boston in 2002, and I used to always walk her home from work, and one day it started to thunder and lightning right after we got outside. That girl bolted all the way until she was home! So below is a shot heading back towards the bridge/train area:

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the cafe! It was nice, I'll even use the word cute. It was like a house, with the living room converted into a cafe area, complete with a piano and strange deer art "statue." Actually, it probably was a house before. The kitchen was right there next to the cafe area, and everything was quirky-artsy, and the staff was really nice. Luckily, the staff spoke some English too since the menu was completely in Japanese. The food and drinks were great, a little pricey, but we'd definitely go back.

So…. fast forward to this week. Work and school! I'll probably only be posting weekly at most, and will update Facebook to alert people to when I've actually written something. We won't be having any major trips or anything due to cost, although we're hoping to plan a quick weekend trip this fall to Kyoto. We'll see…

Here's Sydney, fully enjoying Domino's pizza this past week:

Here's a photo I've been meaning to take since we arrived. We walk right past a Toyota dealer on the way to school each day, and this Toyota NOAH (yes, NOAH) has been taunting me daily. I finally snapped a quick photo of Noah and NOAH, but the logo is a little hard to see on the shiny silver background with the reflection. Sadness.

That's our week! Well, two weeks wrapped up, I guess. Angela starts her master's program online through Case Western Reserve in the next week or so, so we'll be even more hectic and busy. I'll also take over the after school advanced English classes for the 6 - 8 year olds (I think this is the age group). Busy!