Hi Elizabeth, there are only 12 original castles I believe that have the main tower dating back to the feudal times, many of the others have some structures still standing. Some were taken down and materials reused at the end of that time as a relic of the past and many others were targeted and bombed during WW2. The original ones like Himeji and Hikone are special but the recreations are also impressive. There are surprisingly detailed records of the work different Lords had done over the centuries and the rebuilds although often on modern foundation and made of non flammable materials are very faithful to the original. I particularly like that they rebuilt Okayama overlooking it's original huge gardens. Some of these smaller cities give a better feel of what the original castle town must have been like than bigger ones like Tokyo and Osaka.

We do love the cherry blossom and have been a couple of times in Spring but I think it's a country that has a lot of beauty and uniqueness to all seasons, we haven't seen the fall colours yet and can't wait to be back there for that too

It's a country that we've been back to several times and hope to return to again for a few more visits, we always leave with a list of places to see next time that's as long as the one we started with.

Let the stories on Japan come. I am all ears.