Stepping inside the teppanyaki room resurfaced memories of dining at Nijo Castle throughout my childhood and teen years. Just this past April, my family dined at Nijo Castle to celebrate once again.

The Nijo Suite overlooks ... an expansive separate living room and a bedroom with an elegant silk headboard panel, both with big-picture windows overlooking the castle grounds.

Nijo Castle in central Kyoto was certainly ostentatious enough to fit the bill. Unlike other noble homes of the day, Tokugawa's gleaming white structure – decorated with ornate wood carvings ...