Japan/Hokkaido: Matsumae Castle
Matsumae Castle is the only traditional old Japanese castle in Hokkaido and the northernmost in Japan. It was built in 1606 to protect Japan and claim Hokkaido from the Ainu people of the north. The Castle sits near southernmost point of Hokkaido, on high grounds overlooking the Sea of Japan. Moats and high walls surround their three-storey structure. It’s kind of out of the tourist wats and nobody gets this far south along mostly rural and desolate coast, so I basically had the entire castle to myself.
