My Trip to Himeji castle had to be the most beautiful poorly planned experience that I ever had the grace of planning and participating in.

The Castle itself was something straight out of a fairytale. It was a marvel of Japanese engineering and completely blew me away with how large it was. None of these pictures will do justice to the size of this thing.

I payed a pretty penny (yen) to go all over and into the castle. I got to learn the history of the castle as a defensive position of a famous family. It was an indomitable fortress that was almost impossible to advance through. The castle was used for only two things. The storage of gold and the storage of weapons. Every wall was a weapon rack, and every other wall was a place to shoot out of.

The castle took my breath away with the detail in every single corner. It was a testament to the passion Japan has towards its history. Every structure is maintained using modern technology, while also preserving the beauty of the ancient structures. Which is even more impressive once you’ve experienced on of their tropical storms…

I failed to check the weather for my day in Himeji and a tropical storm following a hurricane was arriving on the same day. I saw this halfway up the castle. At the very top, I was getting battered with wind and rain in the heaviest rain I had ever experienced. With no umbrella and lots of castles left to explore I decided to walk through the halls as they fought the elements. Amazingly, nothing collapsed.

Learned a valuable lesson about weather apps, but I would definitely do it again if given the opportunity.