Stoat - Where?

Gifu seems to be in a constant state of reconstruction and the downtown area is already much changed from when I first arrived. One aspect of this improvement is a new park area behind Gifu Station with seating, water features and even some grass! Occasionally after work, we like to go and sit there, meet up and relax. Depending on the time of day, you can see people practicing martial arts, break dancing, playing with their kids or even just sleeping in the sun. There also seems to be a small homeless community (Japan does have homeless people despite what people like to think), who sleep in the shelter of the buildings by night, and neatly stack their cardboard and do their washing in the river by day. It’s not too uncommon for them to greet us, so it wasn’t really too strange to have a guy sit next to us when we went there tonight.
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Castles abound in Japan, and are great because they give you a good reason to visit somewhere new and you can convince yourself that you are doing something culturally enriching. Critics might say that they all look the same, but ignoring this castle-ist viewpoint and going to visit them yourself gives you a good idea of the differences in structure and style and reminds you that, despite being built for the same purpose, no two castles are the same.
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