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Given that part of the purpose of this trip was to get away from all the various goings on around New Years time, it’s highly ironic — or just stupid — that I decided on the spur of the moment to visit Ise Shrine, which just so happens to be the holiest Shinto place in Japan. “The ‘vatican’ of Shintoism,” as it has been put. I almost got to where everyone was heading, but the steady flow of foot traffic soon became a solid wall of standing still worshippers, and I didn’t like my prospects of getting there and back in a reasonable time, and so I turned around. And less pragmatically speaking, I started to feel somewhat guilty of my agnosticism. A perverse notion in Japan perhaps, considering that if you asked the legions who were there today, “Are you religious?” the overwhelming answer would be “No!” But having experienced more or less the same thing yesterday at Himeji, seemingly the only person not offering a prayer at the shrine, I knew it would be awkward.

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Headed home tomorrow, which is a good thing. Took this tonight from Kobe’s Odaiba-like shopping complex at the port, which does have in its favor compared to its bigger Tokyo sister that it’s a lot more accessible (walkable from any of Kobe’s main stations). An excellent date spot no doubt. Actually I can’t help but see Kobe as one large date spot, which is probably why I haven’t taken to the city as I had hoped, seeing as I don’t have a date nor am I’m looking for one.

The first part of the day was spent at what is generally regarded as Japan’s most beautiful castle, Himeji, about 40 minutes west of here. (It would have made for a better image than the one above but I neglected to take a cell phone picture.) Being New Years Day, entry was free, but the place was packed and not a very pleasant experience overall. The reason for the crowds I discovered when I got to the top of the main tower, as there’s a shrine up there (it’s customary for Japanese to visit a shrine sometime during the first 3 days of the new year).

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Naoko warned me that I probably wouldn’t be overly impressed with Kobe’s “foreigner houses” and other attendant vestiges of European presence, and indeed she was right. It does seem to be quite a hit with the kawaii set, not surprisingly.