On the second day of the meeting, I visited Nijojo Castle. One of my brothers, who is an orthopedic surgeon, had lived near there while he had been attending a school that is referred to as "yobiko" in Japanese. Yobiko is a special preparatory school that students who have failed university entrance examinations often attend to prepare for the following year's exams. My brother was struggling to pass the entrance exam of the medical school living near the castle away from home. I recalled those days and visited the castle. This story is 30 years ago, but nothing had changed in Nijojo.
This castle is known as the site where the last tycoon, Yoshinobu Tokugawa, had made up his mind to put an end to the Edo Era. This decision leads to the bloodless restoration of Imperial power in 1868. This castle may as well be called the starting point of modern Japan.
My brother used to pass by in front of this castle every day on his way to and from yobiko. This castle might be the turning point of his life too.
The first picture is of the garden of the castle and it was really beautiful. The second one is of the Shinkansen Express Train. I got on the Shinkansen for the first time in 10 years. It was a totally nice and relaxing time.
I used what you call German Shinkansen, ICE this spring and I felt that it was comfortable and just like Japanese Shinkansen at that time, but I was wrong. The Shinkansen was far above the ICE.
(Vocabulary)
preparatory 《[名]の前でのみ》 準備の, 進学準備の
restoration / restoration of Imperial power in 1868 明治維新
on the [one's] way to and from school 学校の行き帰りに
as well ～もまた
Hello there!
I hope you are enjoying your Golden Week. We just returned from a 3 day camping trip in Narita. It was a lot of sun and the weather was great! It was perfect.
Posted by: Sarah | May 02, 2010 at 02:22 PM