Matsumoto - the Castle and cherry blossoms

16/4/14

We arrived at Matsumoto about 2pm. I was expecting a tiny mountain Villiage! Silly me!,it is a mountain town, at 625m, but tiny -no. We checked in to our ryokan and went straight out to the castle.

There were free English language tours! So we took that. Our guides were a married couple who were apparently language enthusiasts. He spoke at least 6 languages, with quite fluent English. I recommend this tour. 

The castle is 400 years old and was owned by a number of generations of the same family. This fact combined with the early acquisition of guns from Portugal resulted in hundreds of years of peace in the area. The results was that the castle was never used in war! In fact since it was built for protection of the ruling family in war time, it was actually never used at all.

It is built of massive timbers, has a hidden floor, and has stories of spirits. There are guns from the era on display, as well as Samuri uniforms. 

The grounds were quite beautiful with cherry blossoms in full bloom.

After the castle we walked down the street till we found a tavern. We intended to stop for a rest and a beer, but got talking to a Japanese couple of similar age to ourselves. They spoke good English and so we were able to have quite a stimulating conversation with them. The lady seemed particularly amused when we said that Abbott was "awful". Now I am not sure whether she thought I was talking about Abe -the Japanese prime minister! So I do hope I did not offend them! So Jun and (his wife -I'm sorry we couldn't remember your name) -please forgive me if I wasn't clear enough. To be clear now -I think OUR prime minister Tony Abbott (who visited Japan recently) is AWFUL! I don't know enough about your prime minister, Abe, to comment. I'll leave that to you. And good luck with growing pineapple tops! 

There has been a lot written about how different the Japanese are, but I am impressed by how much the same as us they are! There are certainly more things the same than there are different! And ALL of the people we have met have been very friendly and helpful.

In addition I have been thinking that Japan is the first country I've visited which I think may be more civilised than our own! The standard of living is higher, everyone is very well dressed. Everything is orderly, and so clean! No shoes are worn indoors, and even indoors different slippers are used for different zones, classified as to cleanliness. There is a foyer where street shoes are removed, a living zone, and a toilet zone. There is a pair of slippers in the toilet room, which is only worn in there and never in the living zone! Hands are washed with a towel before eating, in bars, in the train. People with URTIs wear masks (also worn by people with allergies to protect against pollens). Most doors open automatically reducing the opportunity for viruses to spread. I'd like to know whether the actual spread of viruses in Japan us lower due to all of these factors combined!

The toilets have to experienced to be believed. The toilet in our Ryokan today notices when you enter the room and the lid lifts automatically. The seat is warm. There are water jets aimed at different parts of the anatomy, for both genders. And then the warm air jet to dry you off. And lastly the toilet flushes automatically when you stand up. The result is that that Japanese must have the cleanest bottoms in the world, and also the cleanest hands. Public toilets on the other hand are usually squats, although on a much higher plane than in other Asian countries.

Eventually it was back to the Ryokan for an earlyish night. The shared bath was vacant when we got back so we were able to take a bath together. But the traditional grain filled pillows were like rocks! I had a headache before I even fell asleep!