Taiyo Park

A hillside north of Himeji holds a replica of Neuschwanstein Castle, a stretch of the Great Wall of China, a rank of terracotta warriors, several moai and a pyramid. It is not a joke, and it is not a corporate theme park either. A local social welfare organisation built it to create work for people with disabilities, and the whole place has the slightly rough, entirely sincere quality of something made by hand rather than designed by committee.

Two zones, both covered by one ticket. The Stone Zone is the older half: about a hundred metres of Great Wall you can walk along the top of, roughly a thousand terracotta figures in a hall, Easter Island heads on the grass, an Egyptian section. Nothing is to museum standard and nothing pretends to be. The Castle Zone is the white castle on the hilltop, reached by a small slope car, with a trick-art gallery inside, a room of stained glass and a viewing floor looking back over the Harima plain.

Expect around 1,300 yen for the pair; the only separate charge is the slope car for adults. Allow two to three hours for both, more if you have children, who tend to treat the place as a very large playground.

Getting there is the catch. A car takes twenty-five minutes from Himeji Castle. By bus it is a forty-minute ride from Himeji Station to the Nakagawara stop and services are not frequent, so check the return time before you set off. Go on a clear day, because almost all of it is outdoors.