Himeji Castle, one of the architecturally beautiful castles in Japan, is currently undergoing renovation work (until 2014).
However, visitors can watch the restoration process of the three story castle from observation platforms, and they can still enter other areas of the castle complex and visit the castle defenses.
In this photo story however, I've captured the castle before the restoration project started.
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Find out more about Himeji Castle.
I was new in Hyogo then, and the snaps with the dark clouds is pure coincidence, no planned photo-shoot. Just lucky.