Himeji + Kyoto

September 3, 2025

Early to bed, means early to rise. Maybe jetlag is still a struggle but at least it works in our favor this direction. Caught a 7:45 train to Himeji to start the first half of our day at castle number two.

Grabbed a quick breakfast on the walk to the castle — mine was a strawberry and butter bun and K chose an apple custard bun. I could have eaten three of mine — soo good and I will 100% get another one before we leave Japan.

Himeji Castle is one of the few that survived WWII bombings miraculously and it is such a sight to see. Known as the “White Castle”, we were able to climb all six levels and see all the intricate details.

In case you were wondering, the high was 99 today too. The humidity however has to be higher than yesterday. I truly don’t think I’ve ever felt so wet, so fast doing very little walking than I had today. Like dripping wet. Like you could ring out my clothes and I don’t remember what if feels like to be dry kind of wet. Add that to climbing castle steps barefoot with little to no air flow. Thank goodness this place was worth the wetness.

As we were walking back down, they had a selfie station set up for phones. I’m not sure why most places don’t have these for those of us introverts traveling with two people who want in the same picture or for solo travelers. And because of the heat, there wasn’t even a line.

A wander back to the train with a pitstop for more hydration and a quick peruse down the chip aisle – my far our favorite aisle to peruse in foreign countries, and this one did not disappoint. 10/10 will find these again before we leave. Literally tastes like salty-sweet corn. We also picked up some butter syrup pancakes out of curiosity. They were actually really good too.

After an hour on an air-conditioned train, we had some false confidence (maybe stupidity) that it wasn’t ‘that bad’ and we could walk 15 minutes to the Go-ji Temple. It was worth it, but closer to the heat of the day so holy hot. Because of the sacredness of Buddha, we also weren’t able to take pictures of all the Buddhas in the buildings, but they were really beautiful [taking their picture turns them into objects, which then means they are among ordinary objects — the opposite of what Buddha stands for].

Back to the subway to hit one more spot — which turned out to be the most touristy spot — Fushimi Inari Shrine (aka Thousand Torii Gates Shrine). Now we have fully hit the heat of the day. I’m now totally drenched again with heat rash all around my ankles. Touristy things aren’t our jam anyways, so we saw the gates and got the heck out!

The heat at this point is unbearable, so back to the hotel to cool off and shower before finding something else to eat.

Yakitori was the plan, and we found a spot near our hotel which ended up being really really good (Torikizoku).

Now back to the hotel to change clothes for the third time today and get some sleep after our 23,000 steps 🙂

Jessica

Hello! I’m Jessica, the voice behind Wandering with Mr. and Mrs. Ennis. My husband and I are off-the-beaten-path travellers who approach life with curiosity, compassion, and above all, kindness. Through our stories of adventures (and occasional misadventures!), we hope others are encouraged to explore beyond the tourist guidebooks and take the road less travelled.