Last time I went Sightseeing in Second Life Japan, I showed you Kumamoto Castle, Osaka Castle and Tokyo Tower. This time, Aleister Kronos pointed out that a faithful reproduction of Himeji Castle is under construction.Â
Himeji Castle is part of Japan’s great cultural heritage located around 650 kilometers west of Tokyo. The castle is nicknamed “White Heron” because of its white plaster walls, plaster being a useful safeguard against fire in a building that is otherwise built entirely of wood. The current castle was constructed in 1601, though there have been fortifications on this site since 1333.
Himeji Castle is one place I’d really like to visit for real someday. According to Wikipedia, it is “one of Japan’s Three Famous Castles, and is the most visited castle in Japan.”
Have you been to the real Himeji Castle? Is it worth visiting?
Update: By request, here is the Second Life URL to Himeji Castle: http://slurl.com/secondlife/HIMEJI/128/128/0
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Haven’t been there yet, myself, but Reiko and I are planning on making the trip in the next few years. There’s quite a bit of Japan that neither of us has seen, and nothing says “fun” like a road trip 🙂
Hi
A SLURL or 2 for “Kumamoto Castle, Osaka Castle and Tokyo Tower” would be nice! Last time I looked, the Tokyo Tower sim itself had nothing resembling the tower on it… so I’m guessing it may be elsewhere.
Thanks
Al
Done! I’ve added the links to the foot of tge first “Sightseeing in Second Life Japan” post.
Thats pretty cool that people take the time to draw these things up in Second Life… the images look quite accurate.
There is a chance they do it for fun, but I suspect they own the sim and it costs over US$200 a month in land fees. So, to attract people (customers) to their sim, they hire a graphics designer to build a replica of a famous landmark. Then people like me write about it, giving them free advertising. Most of these landmarks are surrounded by virtual offices, shops, and land to rent, so it’s in their best interests to build something worth seeing. We see this in the real world all the time.