Takayama

After our train hiccup yesterday we finally made it to Takayama just after 7. So much for the fast trains of Japan, We were on the stage coach the whole way here, took about four hours to go between two places 100 kms apart. On the plus side the last part of the trip was quite scenic. It’s a much bigger place then I was expecting and the trip from the train station to our accomodation and then out again to look for some dinner wasn’t too inspiring either. Very modern, wide streets, looks just like Brisbane.

Staying at another Ryokan here with its own Onsen. Tried it out a couple of times, and it’s nice but lying around in a hot bath for too long is not really my thing. Might be different if it was outside under the stars or trees. No dark curtain here, so we are up early and set off to find Takayama’s charms, if she has any. Turned out to have quite a few.

There are several things I wanted to do here but they all involve and hour and a half on a bus and we’re a bit over trains and busses so we’re having a day wandering the town.

We started with the morning market, which is on the other side of the train line from us and it’s obviously an older part of town then where we’re staying. It’s a bit like a local farmers market with some interesting stuff, not many people about yet. After getting a coffee we decided we’d better go see the famous narrow streets of its Sanmachi Suji historic district before it got too busy. They are lined with wooden merchants’ houses dating to the Edo Period, along with many small museums.

They are lovely, like all the old towns in Japan. So well restored, clean and tidy. They all turn into shops later in the day and there are a few people out getting ready, washing windows doing a bit of pruning. Every bit of spare ground in Japan is turned into a beautiful garden even if it’s only a few meters square. They are always flowers and sculptured trees, topiaries, statues, lanterns. Hard to distribute but so pretty.

Our walk took us past another little market at the entrance to Takayama Jinya and as it was opening we went in for a look. No it’s not a shrine or a temple. This was a local governor’s office during the Edo period. There were once lots of these buildings all over Japan however Takayama Jinya is the only one left today. It included residential area and storehouses for rice paid as tax. Not to mention a courthouse and torture room.

Walking back towards to market, we saw about four or five tourist buses pulling in. Glad we got up early today. Found another good coffee vendor here and as a couple of those busses were full of Australians he was doing a roaring trade.

Takayama has turned out to be a surprisingly lovely little city. Pretty streets and gardens, nice shops, and restaurants. We found a great Ramen restaurant for lunch, first time for it too. It never looks too appetising but it was delicious.

We headed out to Hida Folk Village after lunch, its more like one of our historical village, not commercial at all and very rustic. It’s more about the arts and crafts and the history of the ares. They had quite a few people there demonstrating pottery, painting ceramics, braided cord.

We managed to fill our day in quite nicely and are ready to tackle another train trip back tomTokyo. We’ve been down to buy the tickets and This time we will be there early!Read more