Not Takeshi's Castle

With the weather cooling down, we enjoyed exploring a 400-year-old castle in Matsumoto. It was immersive, with seven wooden floors connected by steep, cramped staircases (some at 61 degrees!). Lots of memorabilia with the history of how Muscats were developed and Samurai armour functioned.

In the war room on the top floor, we were rewarded with 360-degree views of the mountains. The space needed to have unparalleled visibility of the terrain for strategising. I found this, along with other tactical elements of the build, fascinating, including slits in the walls for muscats to fire from and gaps between the floor and wall to drop rocks on enemies scaling the wall.

I'll never know how they did that in Samurai armour; I could barely scale the steep stairs in shorts and a T-shirt!

One vending machine raid and 10,000 steps later, we were back at our new posh hotel. We dutifully removed shoes at the entrance (Mum would approve) and tucked them in shoe lockers.

Upstairs, the rooms are cute with indirect lighting, welcome jellies and powdered teas! The shower cubicles are still small, but this one has a seat and adjustable rose. The kids were thrilled we had separate rooms; my anxiety took a moment to talk down, but then I remembered we were in Japan. After flopping on the bed, none of us moved until pizza cravings drove us out into the humid rain. A short walk and a flight of stairs saw us holed up in a tiny pizzeria called Beans. Yes, Beans; we don't get it either. However, a sweet, older couple delivered surprisingly good pizzas, and we watched Multiverse and played hangman until 7-Eleven sirened us with weird snack energy for dessert.

Back at the hotel, a soggy team Blackford dripped all over the foyer, mobilising hotel staff to magically appear with towels and unspoken eye-rolling. 'Bloody tourists, where is your umbrella?!' We are now dressed in Kimono PJs and slippers, ready for our Onsen saunas and soaks later. When I say we, I mean it's us adults so as not to emotionally damage our offspring with our nudity.

PS. I did it! How liberating! 😆👏Read more