You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.

Hikone Castle

For class today we got to visit Hikone Castle. The castle is 400 years old, three stories tall, and surrounded by a double moat.  The castle was never intended to be lived in, (there is a house outside the castle proper for that) but it was meant as a place to defend should there ever be an attack. Though the castle was never attacked I could see how it could be easily defended.

The best part about the visit was the samurai drama being filmed there: Onna Nobunaga.
 Actors decked out in samurai gear were all over the place and even posed for some pictures.

Kelsey is clearly excited that one of the actors let her hold his sword.

Even samurai need water breaks.

 After our eventful trip to Hikone-jo we came back to JCMU to learn some fire safety. The fire department came and showed us how to use fire extinguishers (which we got to try out) and go over what to do in the event of a fire.