21/09/2018 - Aizu, Day One!Very first step: the Tsurugajô castle. It has been entirely destroy

21/09/2018 - Aizu, Day One!

Very first step: the Tsurugajô castle. It has been entirely destroyed by the end of the Boshin War in 1868, and left to ruins. In 1965, the city decided to build it again with the plans they had, and here we are. The inside is mostly about the story of the Boshin War, which is great since it is my field of research, but I wish there were more details about the daily life in such buildings. I truly wondered what was the room layouts and such. It’s simply a museum in the shape of a castle. But it’s still great!!

The Aizu festival starts tomorrow and will last until Monday. I’m really looking forward to what I’m going to see!

I didn’t expand on the subject of the ryokan yesterday, but it’s a really nice place. From the outside, it looks old and a bit outdated, the inside is bit messy, but there is a homy feeling about it that I really like. And there’s an onsen (tbh I’m a slut for onsens), or more like a small bath but still filled with naturally hot water - or so I think. I’ve been the only customer there until a couple hours ago, now there’s also a Swiss guy staying for the weekend to attend the festival.

And the manager of the hotel is so PRECIOUS I LOVE HIM. He’s an old man who doesn’t speak a word of English, so we manage with my understanding of Japanese - which is surprisingly better than I originally thought - and this small remote-shaped translator he has and that does wonders. He’s always willing to help and talk about anything; the guy’s really fond of French litrerature, so we had some common ground to talk about. He seemed really happy to see that I’m interested in Aizu, and offered to help me by contacting some people he knows here and there, mostly at the town’s general library. Gods bless this man tbh.