With the demise of Emperor Showa in 1989, the Showa Era came to an end in Japan and the Heisei Era began. Kani Tsuyoshi finished building his "castle home" in the same year, so he called it Heisei Kani Castle. His house sits on a lot with an area of about 1,370 m², and the entire lot is his "castle compound"--the main tower soars three stories above thehonmaru(main enclosure), and an annex which represents theninomaru andsannomaru(secondary and tertiary enclosures, respectively). The top of the main tower has two decorativeshachihokotiles that glitter with a golden light, calling to mind a real Japanese castle.
Kani lost his parents when he was very young. During the hard years that followed, his dream was to become the master of his own castle, like a feudal lord who owned the only castle in his province. Kani's dream came true when he was in his 40s, after his gravel business made lots of money.
He wanted the community to use his castle for different purposes, so he had the first floor of his main tower made into a single room. The room has 40tatami mats, large enough for local people to hold meetings and have parties. The second floor has been given over to karaoke rooms for everyone to have a good time. "I think of it as a kind of community center," he grins.
Kani's children have grown up and left home, so now he lives alone in his spacious "castle."

O-shiro meguri FAN is a fun-to-read website on the history and special features of Japanese castles, complete with pictures. The website name means "For people who like touring castles." Oka Yasuyuki launched the homepage by himself--his hobby, of course, is touring castles.
"The homepage gets about 18,000 hits a month. Most readers live in Japan, of course, but we also have visitors from the U.S., different countries in Asia, and elsewhere."
Oka's homepage lists about 300 castles. He writes about what he felt at some of them, and when readers send in comments on castles that they have visited, he posts them right away. "I began touring castles after I read some novels about the old feudal days. It's great to get a feeling for those days, and to try to understand how topography influenced castle design.
" The fan club's 460 members share information by e-mail. They ask each other questions about castles, and organize tours and activities for castle fans.