One of the best things about travelling in Kansai is that there are a lot of interesting places that you can get to by train very easily. We were staying in a hotel in Kobe for two nights, and had originally planned to stay in Osaka and Kobe for the first two days. But we decided to use the second day to go a bit further. We considered spending an extra day in Kyoto, or going to Nara. But in the end, we decided to take a train to Himeji on the second day to see Himeji Castle.
I had promised to take my son to a building with one million steps, because he loves climbing up steps. I had been thinking that I could say that Kiyomizu Temple was the place to enjoy steps, but it turned out that Himeji Castle was the paradise for step lovers.
My son had a great time in the castle. We had to take off our shoes and carry them with us in a plastic bag as we toured the castle. This let us feel the cold of the wooden and stone floors. It was quite a challenge for me as a blind person. Without wearing shoes, I could easily hurt my toes by walking into an unexpected block of stone. And I had to be careful not just of my feet, but also my head. Many of the staircases had low ceilings which you had to duck under. Finally, a lot of people kept walking straight into me as I was carefully trying to feel my way over a raised step and under a low ceiling, because many parts of the castle were quite dark, and people didn’t notice my white cane. But we got through the castle without injury, and with a great sense of achievement.
We had udon for lunch in Himeji and then took the train back towards Kobe. The Sanyo Line runs along the coast of Hyogo and for parts of the trip has fantastic views of the ocean. I used to live in a place called Maiko, near Akashi, and I loved taking that train line.
On the way back to Kobe, we stopped at Suma, and went to Suma beach. The day was December 25th and it was pretty cold. “Surely it is too cold for our son to go into the water!” said my wife. But he was very keen. So he left his heavy winter jacket on to protect his upper body, but took his trousers, socks and shoes off, and ran into the water in his pants. He endured the cold to find shells and bits of wakame in the sand.
In the evening, we took the train back to Kobe. We visited Harbourland, and rode the Ferris wheel to get a view of the city. Then we went to an old jazz bar that I used to go to in Motomachi called Jam Jam.
The staff member greeted us as we entered by saying, “Irrashaima – hey?”
She was surprised that we had taken our seven year old son to an evening jazz bar. My wife says that she literally jumped a little in surprise. I suppose that it is meant to be a place for only adults. But never mind. She let us sit down.
Jam Jam has enormous speakers which play jazz so loudly that you can’t hear anyone talking unless you shout into their ear. This was the room of sound which I had promised to take my son to.
I had a high ball and pizza. The food options were rather limited for a seven year old. But my son ordered a curry flavoured hot dog, which fortunately wasn’t too spicy for him to eat. We enjoyed having our ears blasted with jazz for a while and then got ready to leave.
“Where is my phone? I’ve lost my phone!” said my wife.
She searched around our table and in the toilet, but couldn’t find it.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll use my phone to call you.”
I called my wife’s phone. But unfortunately, the jazz was blasting in our ears so loudly that we couldn’t hear her phone ringing. Being in the room of sounds has its disadvantages.
We did eventually find the phone, which had fallen to the floor. From the castle to the beach to an evening in Kobe, our legs were pretty tired by the end of the day. We retired to the hotel and rested in preparation for going to Kyoto the next day.
“I wonder if it was such a good idea to let
our son play in the freezing cold ocean today,” said my wife. “I just hope he doesn’t catch a chill…”
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