(This is photographic follow-up from my previous link, and will make a tiny bit more sense given that. Only a tiny bit, mind you!)

Here’s my own take on Matsue castle, complete with Awesome Action Tree:

And the view from the top of the castle (yes, that poor woman in the pillar supported my weight for a short period of time), looking down into the castle grounds:

Matsue’s actually quite pretty, and definitely a different side of Japan from the major cities. (Though it felt more like a small town, Wikipedia states its population was about 196,000 back when we visited. Hrm.) I forget what about it caught Brian’s interest, back in the day, but I’m glad it did. Aside from the castle, the other “major” attraction (as I recall) was Shinji-ko, a major lake in town (photo by Andy):