Nijo Castle was probably one of the more awe-inspiring places we visited while in Japan. It just happens to have been the home of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the last Shogun of Japan.
I know him better as his fictionalized version, Toranaga, from what is probably my favourite novel of all time, the aptly named Shogun by James Clavell. I first read that massive tome when I was about nine year old, after finding a copy on my grandmother’s bookshelf, and was forever fascinated by Japan after that.
The trouble with really cool places like this is that they are always crowded with people. Combine that with the fact that they are almost never open during the best early morning or evening light, and getting great photos is pretty much impossible.