This weekend was one of those pre-paycheck-realization-that-I-need-to-eat-for-the-next-week type adventure weekends. That being said I did splurge a bit on Tuesday and bought a ticket to Akashi (halfway between Kobe and Himeji.) Part of Akashi castle is visible from the train and I've been wanting to check it out since my first trip to Himeji. Well, it turns out there's not much castle to Akashi castle aside from two towers and a lot of foundation. The grounds inside the outer moat are a large park with a lot of greenery and a few small lakes. A nice place if you're into parks, not so much if you're expecting a castle. Anyways I did snap a few pictures before moving on.

The East tower of Akashi castle.

The West tower of Akashi castle.
(You've now seen all that remains of Akashi castle.)

Keeping a stiff upper lip in the face of castle let-down I struck out in search of lunch. On my way I decided to check out Akashi's waterfront. What I found was a nice vantage point for the Banshu-Ako bridge.

It's hard to tell but under the span there are some tiny little HUGE OCEAN GOING CARGO SHIPS dwarfed by the scale of the bridge.

After lunch I headed back in the direction of home on a local train, getting off in Asagiri to check out the mounded tombs there. Unfortunately my map was lacking in detail and I failed to locate them. Asking locals was out of the question as, being in a residential area I was getting some strong "who are you, what are you doing here, when are you leaving," vibes. I eventually found a landmark on my map and navigated myself to the next train station. From there I attempted the next set of mounded tombs down the tracks (yeah, evidently they were big on earth-works in this area.) As seen below I found the right spot this time. It turns out this set of mounds is one of the big "things to see in Hyogo prefecture" (it's shown on a lot of posters and tourist maps.)

Looking North from one end of the tomb.

Looking South from atop the dais.
Seen to the left are Awaji Island and the big bridge.

After tromping around on various ancient burial sites I headed home and rested my feet for the next days adventure.

Wednesday was sunny and warm (as opposed to Tuesday's cool cloudiness) and a great day for a hike. Continuing my theme of inexpensive adventure I decided to re-hike some of the trails behind Shin-Kobe station. The last time I attempted this climb was right as the summer heat was arriving. I failed to go as far as I would have liked to. With a nice combination of weather and preparation (i.e. bringing water this time) I headed out.

The lowest of a series of small dams below the main dam site.

Bottom of the dam pictured above.
It hasn't rained all that hard in the past few days so the river was a bit on the dry side.

Waterfall posted previously.
The sun was at a lovely angle so I took a bunch more pictures.

Really, it's a nice waterfall.

A cool observation point just beyond where I stopped my last time up.

A stone marker on the opposite side of a log-and-vine bridge.

The goal!

The Nunobiki dam, constructed in 1900 has been providing Kobe with drinking water for over a hundred years. It is Japan's oldest gravity dam and survived the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji earthquake intact (though it has since been reinforced to prevent future damage.) The Nunobiki reservoir is a tranquil body of water and a nice place to rest away from the bustle of the city.

After taking advantage of said "nice place to rest" for a while I trekked back down the mountain and headed home. And that about does it for my weekend.

Next week as yet another 3 day weekend plus payday weeks which will hopefully equal big adventure. There's rumor of a hiking tail made from a disused railway out near Sanda...

Thank you very much to those who posted feedback, it was (and is always) greatly appreciated. I'm looking into some way to put more of my pictures online. As I posted 12 out of 200+ pictures from the last two days, what you see here is the tip of a very big iceberg. When I figure out how I want to do this I'll let you know where to find them. Lastly, (if I get to typing it up) I'll be posting a mid-week "bonus" post some time this weekend (your weekend, not mine, if that makes sense.) Until then:

Jaa Mata Ne.