A Side Trip to Nearby Furukawa

We visited the Miyagawa Morning Market early today and make some purchases at the local food vendors and artisans booths. We then caught the train to Furukawa where we enjoyed a walkabout through the town where the Furukawa Festival takes place over two days in mid April. There were many beautiful wooden temples and it was pleasant to stroll along the quiet streets bordering the river. Multicoloured Koi fish can usually be found in the street gutters starting in April but were not abundant yet. The highlight was the Festival Exhibition Hall where we saw 3 very ornate festival floats, operated some mechanical marionettes, watched a 20 minute film of the festival, and got a chance to fly like a firefly. We also got to see the food presentations for the various ceremonies during the festival along with the displays of sake bottles produced in this town. Back at the hotel we enjoyed the onsen ( Japanese hot bath) before heading out for dinner.Read more