Japan - Nagoya Castle

My trip to the Nagoya Castle was interesting. Turns out, the actualy castle was burned down after we bombed it in WWII. But it was rebuilt to look like the original on the outside, and the inside was turned into a museum to show some of the culture of Nagoya. But before I begin this tour, I have to fill you in on something else... the bugs.

The sound wasn't exactly what I was hopeing for in this video, but you can still hear it a little. When you are under the trees though, it's hard to hear the person talking next to you the bugs are so loud. When I first heard it, I thought (hoped) it was the electrical lines running through the trees, and I was able to believe it for awhile. That is until, I saw the bugs.

Ther are actually two bugs in this picture, but with the ground, it's hard to tell. It's also hard the tell the size. That is due to the fact that there was no way I was going close enough to these things to give you a reference point. If Steve would have been there, I'm sure he would've, but alas, it was just me. But I can tell you, these two, were both bigger than my big toe, much bigger. ewe.

But back to the castle.

Here is it. There is a moat surounding the whole thing, but now that it's not a functioning castle, the moat is dried up. The walls were built slanted like that to deter people climbing over them, and if they made it up those walls, there were swords sticking out of the top to deter them from actually making it onto the grounds. Kind of like our modern day barbed wire.

You can see the swords sticking out here, just below the eaves.

They call this a dolphin. There is one on the top two corners of the castle. You can just barely see one in the picture above.

This gun was so long I couldn't get it in the shot from the side. So I came up with this creative angle. Steve liked it at least. :) I would love to tell you why it was so long, but most of the signs where in Japanese, so I wasn't really sure what I was looking at half the time.

And finally, I know it can be boring to look at other people's photos if they are not in them. So here is my attempt at a self potrait with the castle in the background. Not too bad I'd say.