Autumn 2014: Himeji Castle and Nagoyama (again and again!)

I like making friends with the cats at Nagoyama. Seriously, they're the friendliest bunch of cats I've found in Himeji so far. The castle cats are cute, but most of them aren't too friendly unless you're one of their regular feeders. But the Nagoyama cats, now those are some affectionate kitties! Not all of them, but many are quite starved for attention even if you don't come bearing food offerings.

I took a lot of photos of this very photogenic kitty. He liked to talk while I photographed, and filled me in on what was probably a lifetime of cat gossip. Then he followed my bike around everywhere I went, which made for some tricky maneuvering. The company was nice, though!

The sun was starting to set, so I didn't have good light for very long. But the statues in the Nagoyama garden were looking great!

I first spotted the cat hiding in the tall grass. He didn't come out at first.

I think he enjoyed being photographed, because he liked striking poses like this long enough for me to get a good shot.

The sun was shining down on this statue at just the right angle!

The maple trees are at their peak right now, and I'm enjoying it immensely.

Another cat, but he was rather photo shy. He looked great sitting among the gravestones, though.

Himeji Castle

I briefly took some photographs of Himeji Castle while I was riding my bike to the train station (heading to Kyoto, see next blog post!). I admired a lovely crow perching in a maple tree, but he wasn't keen on having his photo taken. The castle it looking great, though! It's down to a single crane at ground level, and most of the scaffolding is gone now.

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Daley-sensei's Adventures in Himeji, Japan.

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