27 March 2926

We woke early to a beautiful clear sunny morning with snow visible on the mountain ranges in the distance. On the bus and on our way at 8.50am. First stop was Shiragawago village which is a traditional old style village in the mountains of Central Japan. The village is one of only 2 traditional village that remain. It must be incredibly hard there in the winter. The houses all have ladders to access the top storey in the winter when the snow is too deep to get in the lower level. Heating is from the cooking fine with the smoke passing through the thatch roof to melt the snowLæs mere