Japan 2017 - Gaiden: Nijō Castle

Nijō Castle.

Osaka Castle is one of those mandatory stops in the famed city. It's pretty, heck, gorgrous even, at least from the outside - a quality one will see a lot of in Japan. I was just a tad bit disappointed to find out that it's been turned into a modern museum after its most recent reconstruction.

It's worth a stop, surely, if just for the history lessons - but there's a missing bit of authenticity for those who really want to see how the castles of old Japan once looked like. Maybe I've set my expectations from what media about Japan we outsiders consume, so there's that.

The silver lining was the gashapon machines in the castle gift shop, which spat out historical samurai miniatures - perfect for use in tabletop games for that exotic touch. Sadly, I didn't have a lot of hundred-yen coins with me, so  I wasn't able to get as much as I wanted.

Truly, if there ever was a hack to the gambling aspect of the human soul, Japan has found it in the form of gashapon. I had a feeling that these particular gashapons were exclusive to castles, and a bit of Googling confirmed my suspicions.

Based on the information available, there was only one place that was even remotely close to us - Nijō Castle in Kyoto.

Castle Gardens.

We had a packed itinerary, and I was really happy that we managed to sneak an unplanned visit during our day in Kyoto. Fushimi Inari-taisha sort of kicked my ass earlier, which made this side trip a bit sweeter.

Nijō Castle proved that sometimes things just click without rhyme or reason - it was much better than we expected, and despite everything I'd go so far as to say it's much better than Osaka Castle.

We were left in awe as we walked the same halls as the samurai of old. There was an atmosphere of serenity as everyone walked through the ancient corridors, admiring the remnants of an ancient society. There's something to be said about a culture being able to command respect even from foreigners, and Japan is one of the better examples of this.

Gardens, said to have been supervised by the Emperor himself, surrounded the castle while ancient stone walls stood guard against the myriad threats during the Sengoku period. Inside, recreations of gold leaf panels and hand-painted murals adorned the rooms.

It's an incredible feeling to see context being added to the names of historical figures from a time long gone - especially if one's only exposure to them are from hyperstylized retellings from countless shows and video games.

Overall, Nijō Castle was one of the highlights of the Osaka leg of our trip.

Personally, I guess this proves that good things can sometimes happen when we go out of our way in pursuit of our silly whims. Whether it's an infinite monkeys with infinite typewriters kind of thing, however, is anyone's guess.

Sengoku Loot.

And yeah - I burned a good bit of change on those damn samurai gashapons.

It was worth it.