Atami
You know that you are old, indeed ancient, when you are older than a castle! Atami Castle was built in 1959 as a visitor attraction high above the city so giving panoramic views over Atami from the 6th floor observatory deck.
Not withstanding the dreadful incident in Italy, we travelled to the castle on cable car. We turned down tickets to the Adult Museum, little realising what further delights were ahead of us. The 6th floor was the viewing deck and on the 5th we entered ‘Touch & Try Edo Culture’ with opportunities to sit in a palanquin, lift a yoke & buckets and try on some clothing. The 4th floor was the World of rebus; who knew that these riddles ‘were loved by the common people of Edo’?! Not surprisingly they didn’t work in English.
And down to the 3rd floor ….. the Ukiyoe Erotic Art Museum. Such graphic illustrations! And how do you follow a floor of erotica? With matchstick castles of course! And 100 paintings of castles across Japan
Shinkansen
We travelled by Shinkansen, the bullet train. Superb; fast & spacious but oh so expensive, It would have been cheaper to hire a car for the day.
2021 … and there is a pay phone on the train! And phone cards are available from the guard on the train. Who doesn’t have a mobile phone these days?
UPDATE: A Japanese friend has told me that these phones are being removed at the end of this month.
Feeding the wildlife …
We treated ourselves to a nice fish lunch & decided to eat it sat on a bench facing the sea. I felt something skim my head … and Geoff lost most of his lunch before having a single bite! Greedy seagulls? No, a Black Kite. A pair of them continued circling overhead looking for their next course.
