Today we went to Okazaki, where Matt lived about four years ago for a summer. We visited Okazaki Castle, a wonderful little castle with a lot of history. Placed strategically in the center of Japan, Okazaki, Nagoya and Gifu Castles all featured prominently in the battles for unification that took place in the early 1600's. However, Okazaki castle had been an important stronghold since its first construction around 1455. It is in a wonderfully defensible location, situated on a river bank where many rivulets run in different directions. The castle changed hands several times and may have been moved in 1531 to its present site. In 1590 it was made more defensible with a series of precincts surrounded by moats (now gardens). The castle is most famous as the birthplace of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who later went on to unify Japan. From the train station, we took a scenic walk into the castle grounds. Although Matt...