Inuyama

Once a year each group at work goes on a company trip as a fun outside of work bonding experience. Back at the end of September, we got to go to Inuyama, just a short train ride outside of Nagoya for ours.

Our first stop was Inuyama Castle, one of only twelve original castles left standing in Japan (not majorly reconstructed). The outside looks very similar to the reconstructed ones so kudos to the architects who helped work on the restored castles. Inside was much less tourist friendly, lots of steep staircases and narrow hallways which gives it a much more authentic feel for life inside of a castle. It wasn't really meant for a fun day trip, it was meant for military fortification. Highlight was probably the veranda around the top level that you could walk around that gave a pretty good view of the city.

Our second stop was Urakuen Garden and Tea House. There was a pretty walking path around the serene garden and we stopped at one of the tea houses to have a proper tea ceremony. Good to experience, very interesting. And tasty! Didn't get too many pictures, but here is the tea house. Japanese tea ceremonies are an integral part of the culture, with many specific gestures and orders to follow. They are important that there is an entire website devoted entirely to the art of tea ceremonies. Click here for link!

Our last stop was Ukai fishing on the Kiso River. Instead of using fishing rods or nets, these fishermen use live birds to fish for them. I was a bit worried when I first read about it, just from a general ethics standpoint, but it is very ritualistic and ceremonial and the birds are treated quite well both before, during, and after the process. And I'm sure these animals are quite used at this point, their ancestors have being doing it for hundreds of years now. It was all done at dark so it was pretty cool visual.

Cool trip with cool people all around. Here are a few more pictures for the road. Cheers!