Aizu

So a few weeks ago, I went with Joanne, Sara (Joanne's friend from England), and our friend Kumiko to Aizu for a little daytrip. Aizu is about an hour by car from Koriyama, and is known for its castle and its history. In the 1868, Aizu castle was attacked and a group of young Samurai went off to battle. When they got to the mountain on the outskirts of the city, they looked back towards the castle to find it aflame. Horrified, the young samurai did the only logical thing under the circumstances: the committed "seppuku," or ritualistic suicide, by disembowling themselves. Its sad, isn't it? The only sadder thing than a bunch of teenagers killing themselves? A bunch of teenagers killing themselves for nothing, because it turns out the castle was never on fire, it was a controlled burn in the woods next to it. Now THATS what I call a case of the Mondays! Before going to the castle, however, we went to lunch in a traditional Japanese restaurant. Isn't it pretty? Aizu is famous for its sticky rice, so I had that with some salmon and crab, and "mountain vegetables." I still don't know what those are.




Finally it was off to the castle. Isn't it pretty?




Then it was off to the museum. Check out these traditional Japanese war outfits. They put the "creep" in creepy!




The view from the castle. Check out the mountains!


Then it was off to the mountain where the White Tiger Company samurai committed seppuku. There was a very moving memorial to them there:




All in all, a fun day!