We’re trying to take advantage of our JR Passes, so we decided to do a few day trips from Kyoto first, before we start exploring the city. One of those trips was the one to see Himeji. It takes less than an hour to reach Himeji from Kyoto – shinkansen trains are so fast, you almost don’t have time to enjoy them properly, and I get so sleepy every time I am on a train, especially with the constant rain outside. 😀 It is raining and not showing any signs of stopping, but we’re not bothered by that too much (yet). At least the rain is not as cold as at home and it means fewer crowds, so thumbs up for that.

So, we armed ourselves with our umbrellas and we managed to quickly check out our first Kyoto temple  – the majestic Higashi Hongan-ji, which is near the Kyoto station. Its main hall is one of the largest wooden structures in the world and is quite impressive. Also, has lots of roof to hide from the rain.

Soon it was time to get some creamy snacks (they can do everything matcha flavoured here) and catch the train, which took us to Himeji station from where you can already see the famous white castle and also easily get to it by many different local buses (or walk if it is not raining af as in our case). 0 chance to get lost.

Being so unbothered by rain I decided to do the sightseeing in a skirt – so you see, anything is possible if you set your mind to it. 😀 Soon I realized that looking nice was not really an option with this kind of weather and my panda attire was back on. Asian girls still manage to somehow float around elegantly and even in heels. How is that possible is beyond me.

The Himeji castle is one of those sights I would probably skip with limited time. Maybe I am thinking this way also because of the weather. In rain, the sightseeing here gets a bit complicated, because every time you go inside the castle, you have to take your shoes and wet clothes off, put them in plastic bags etc. Repeat that a few times in the rain and you get fed up with it quickly.

The admission to the castle (which was a James Bond- You only live twice filming location) is 1000 yen, or 1040 yen if you buy a combined ticket to also see the gardens. We were very enthusiastic at the beginning, so we bought the combined tickets. Of course, we didn’t see the gardens in the end, due to our wet feet and everything else. But we did walk around the castle and climbed to the top of its main building, saw a film about its fascinating and impressive renovation process and read about princess Sen and her life.

The verdict: If you’re not really enthusiastic about history, this can be a 2h trip, maximum, if you’re lucky and there are no waiting lines, which usually doesn’t happen. Also, the number of tickets is limited, so if you are really enthusiastic you have to be here early on a sunny day. For me it would be totally fine just looking at the castle from the outside.

Soon we were back to Kyoto and once we were in the hostel, we really didn’t feel like going back out into the rain again, so the evening continued in a culinary fashion – with an Okonomiyaki party and Sake tasting, which returned the atmosphere to the more optimistic levels again, even though all of our phones were ringing with Emergency alerts most of the evening due to heavy rain. 😮

The weather report for Kyoto estimates record rain for the next few days. But on a positive note – Okonomiyaki is awesome, so we could spend the next few days eating, if you ask me.