Sunday, 5 June 2016

Hikone Castle リベンジ we met Hikonyan!

The day after we went to Himeji, I decided to take my family to another castle: Hikone. Even though they're both original castles, Hikone is a lot smaller, a lot quieter and overlooks Biwako, the largest lake in Japan.

You can get to Hikone by JR fairly easily from Osaka or Kyoto, and it takes an hour and a bit to get there.

Last time I went to Hikone castle was in Autumn, and the autumn leaves were gorgeous. This time, we managed to catch some late plum blossom:

Hikone castle itself is cute and teeny in comparison to Himeji. It looks like someone's house, really. I think it's my favourite castle.

The sakura trees were just about to blossom, I bet it looks lovely in full bloom. I think most castles in Japan have a fair few sakura trees planted around them. The view from the garden of Biwako was great too!

Another highlight of the day was that we managed to meet the Castle's mascot: Hikonyan! Hikonyan is one of the most popular mascots in Japan, up there with Kumamon. The actor was really good, and did a little sword performance thing... Except Hikonyan seemed to find it difficult, despite being a Samurai cat. It was so cute and funny. Hikonyan is definitely my favourite mascot, so I took a tonne of pictures and I also bought a few bits of merchandise.

The area around Hikone castle, especially around Castle Road, is cute and touristy, with a lot of old fashioned style houses and shops.

We also went into the garden. It was pretty wintery, and the water seemed to have dried up a little. It was definitely prettier in Autumn, but it was still really nice.