As I’ve traveled around Japan, I have found a number of places referred to as “ruins”. Castle ruins, temple ruins and palace ruins are scattered all across Japan. The idea of ruins here though, are a bit different than…

As I’ve traveled around Japan, I have found a number of places referred to as “ruins”. Castle ruins, temple ruins and palace ruins are scattered all across Japan. The idea of ruins here though, are a bit different than…
Over New Years this last year, the other Dave and I spent the holidays, as we often do, traveling around Japan together. This year’s main target was the stunningly beautiful village of Shirakawa-go in northern Gifu. Along the way,…
This week, in between Mr. Krigbaum’s articles on WWII in The Philippines, I will go back to talking about castles here in Japan. Nagoya Castle is a grand reconstructed castle a couple of hours south of Tokyo by shinkansen with…
If you have ever spent any time reading about Japan, or even just looked at a tourism guide about the country, you have likely seen the beautiful bright white Japanese castle that often adorns Japan’s promotional literature. That…
If you’ve ever traveled around Japan you know that they love their castles. Almost every old castle town has either rebuilt their castles, preserved the grounds as a park, or, in rare cases, preserved their castle through the centuries. …
By: Dave Hansche I’ve written about several castles on this blog thus far, but it has occurred to me that I have overlooked a large rebuilt castle in a pleasant city about an hour away. I’ve visited Odawara…
The landscape of Germany has inspired many authors and painters. Its medieval ruins, sentinels of an earlier age that have long lost their original purpose and shape but stubbornly still stand, seem to lurk from hills and forests, intriguing passing…
Japan loves its castles. We’ve written about Japanese castles several times on this site, and it is unlikely that we will run out anytime soon. Every old feudal domain (called Han in old Japanese) capital city seems to have…
Japan is a beautiful country, filled with towering mountain peaks and sleeping volcanoes, and crisscrossed by springs, rivers, and mountain streams. Every time I wander into the mountains of rural Japan, I am amazed at how stunningly beautiful it…