Takayama

Instead of lingering around in Kyoto for another day, we decided to do a day trip to Takayama on our way back to Tokyo. We had seen everything we wanted to see and we heard about Takayama last minute and just had to go. It was an intense journey for a day trip, with all the train rides eating about 7 – 8 hours of the day. From Kyoto we took a bullet train to Nagoya, from there we swapped over to the JR Hida Line. Make sure to check out the train timetable as the Hida Line comes about once an hour or less. Once we got to the train within minutes, we were bummed out at how busy it was. I didn’t realise that that it was not an ordinary train so the non-reserved car was packed out. We made sure to reserve seats using our JR rail pass on the way home. Not sure what the red baby thing is in the above photo but it was a symbol to the Takayama town. I saw it everywhere… but I felt a little weirded out having to cradle this red baby in a photo so affectionately.

We were ecstatic on the train ride as the gradient of lush green turned into speckles of grey and then caps of white. IT WAS SNOWING!! The surprising thing was that it was much colder in Kobe and Kyoto and there wasn’t snow. I guess the winds were still for our visit in Takayama, phew.

Our first stop was Hida no Sato (Hida Folk Village) is an open air exhibition of traditional houses. It was actually very similar to the one we went to in Kawasaki but curated differently, and of course, the blanket of snow was a different beautiful atmosphere all together. I tried my hand at bamboo stilts, it is a lot harder than it looks. The photo seems to appear like I got the hang of it, but I struggled and only lasted seconds.

I was much better on the bamboo cups….. but they really aren’t all that difficult. James was way too pro on the stilts, darn it.

As James is studying architecture and loves all things wood and natural, I let him run wild in each of the houses. I enjoyed the combination of house and snow, and also snow on its own. I just really haven’t seen it in my adult years and ironically, I turned into a child around it.

Persimmon tree! One of my favourite fruits as a kid when I was living in Japan. They do come and go in Australian grocery stores but they’re not very well known or common.

Afterwards, we strolled through the old preserved streets of Takayama. We enjoyed knick knacks like dango and marbled beef skewers.

We also found little nookies of antique shops, quirky homes and food stalls. That meat bun was a huge hit with my stomach.

We then rolled into Old Town, where homes dated back from the Edo Period still continued to do what they did more than 200 years ago – make miso pastes, brew sakes or chisel woodcraft. Then there were some that have been turned into jewelry stores and coffee shops.

That’s a ball of twigs – didn’t get to find out whether there was some meaning or if it was just a local decoration. We saw it hung outside of a few buildings, some brown & bare and some caked with the green of moss.

We bought a few locally brewed sake and I asked them how long they had been operating for… when they said 200 years in Japanese, I took a moment to translate it in my head. I just didn’t register that 200 years would be an answer. She said that their family had been doing it right here for centuries. How crazy is that?

We also got to enjoy handmade woodcrafts. I bought a daruma that had been chiseled out of a 50 year old local Japanese oak. With age they turn into a deep brown – I saw one that had been sitting around for 40 years after it had been chiseled and the colour change was drastic.

We lingered around in awe for a bit too long and was running late for the train. We sprinted with all our might to make the train within minutes. Running with winter boots was difficult. We’ll have to come back and stay a few nights in Takayama next time so we can pop over to the side villages of Shirakawa-go and hot springs in Gero.

Once we made the 4 hour journey to Tokyo, we met up with Taiga and Yuri at a Shinjuku Izakaya to enjoy dinner and say our farewells. I’m going to miss Taiga and Yuri very much, during the time of our Japan tour, they both became family. I address Taiga as older brother, and him to me as little sister. Humourously, I referred to Yuri (Taiga’s wife) as little sister – but from this trip I do see her as my big sister. She and Taiga took care of me so well as we traveled from gig to gig. I do hope to be able to do it again.