Not to be confused with Matsushima which is the place with a bunch of islands in the bay, Mastumoto has the only (?) Japanese Castle that is still in its original form; There are a number that exist, but have been rebuilt. Anyway, very cool, as you get to walk through the main keep which is actually pretty darn small, and they have a few display cases setup showing off the armor and weapons (guns) used during the period (The castle was made in 1592-3). The moat looked a little low on water though, as the multitudes of Koi were scraping the bottom and making little silt trails wherever they went.
On the way back, I stopped by the "Olympic Stadium" as its called, however, i think they just slapped that name on it because aside from a little Sculpture with a little of medalists for the 98 Winter Olyumpics, the structures in places were all for Summer activities: basketball, swimming, baseball, soccer, they even had wrestling (at least thats what the picture looked like). Youd think theyd at least have an ice skating/hockey rink! Overall a pretty nice facility though with all sorts of park areas surrounding and oddly enough, right across the street, some rice paddies, some peach trees, and what looked like grape vines.
Going to Nagoya tomorrow! Looks like someones on to me cuz i tried to do another overnight trip, this time from Nagoya to Hiroshima and the only types of trains they have are sleeper cars which,even with my rail pass, i need to pay extra for. Darn it!