Chiba Castle (a Castle near Tokyo) - Short Trip

Activity > Other Cities and Areas > Sightseeing > Chiba

I visited "Chiba Castle". Truthfully... I didn't visit the castle to purposely visit the caste but to use it as a back-drop for a video I did (See the video below or here on YouTube, you can see the castle in the background on some shots).

I took the Sobu Line (Rapid) out to to Chiba Station from Tokyo (41 min. 640 yen) and then the "Chibatoshi-Monorail" to "Kencho-Mae(Chiba)" Station (5 min. 200yen).  From "Kencho-Mae(Chiba)" station I walked about 15-20 min. to the park (there are maps everywhere and the park is easy to find). It was HOT and HUMID, Oh boy!  By the time I reached the park I was literally dripping in sweat and had to find a little shop to duck into to cool off for about 15 min.

I went on a Wednesday so very few people except for some school kid groups and a few kids playing around the castle.  Well, I use the word "castle" here VERY lightly because this "castle" is just a "mock up" of a typical Japanese castle.  The actual "mock up" here does not even look like the original so... basically a Disneyland type structure which is used as a museum, the Chiba City Folk Museum (Japanese only).  This is also how you will see it named on the maps around town too, "Chiba City Folk Museum" and NOT "Chiba Castle". I don't quite understand it... its a pretty massive structure that obviously took a lot of time and money to build so... why not build it like the original?? The Tateyama Castle I went to a week earlier was at least "semi-close" to the original and on the same location (you can see a map of the castles around Tokyo here).

However... this "castle" is very close to Tokyo (you can get there in about on hour from Tokyo Station) and very easy to get to so if your visiting Tokyo and don't have a chance to get out to a "real" castle you can at least get the "feeling" of a Japanese Castle by visiting this one.

I spent a couple hours there taking very pictures, walking around the castle and working on the video.  The sky cleared up about half way through and was able to get some nice shots of the castle with blue sky and clouds in the background.  It was also nice to sometimes be on the grounds with absolutely nobody around! LOL