Takayama and back

Beautiful Takayama........

We arrived in Takayama expecting that we would have a break from the heat we had in Kyoto, only to get off the train and find it was about 96 degrees! At least it wasn’t also humid. Takayama is up in the Japan Alps and is surrounded by mountains. It is very well preserved and has beautiful traditional wood houses throughout, many of which are hundreds of years old. Once of the nicer things about it is that it is small – we could walk from one end to the other which was a nice change from huge Tokyo and big Kyoto. It definitely has a small town feel and we found that the people were SO friendly.

The train ride here was spectacular –it followed the river (with beautiful blue-green pools and limestone banks) up the canyon filled with bamboo and cedar trees. We’d go through

On our first day we decided check out the Japan Alps National Park. They have a tram that goes up to the top of the mountains. We thought we could hike back down but found this wasn’t possible (probably because they are so steep). It was still beautiful and nice to be up so high. It was also amazingly crowded with Japanese tourists, the first time we’ve really felt like we were here during the high tourist period.

At the top of the Japan Alps!

There was a hot springs at the top, where they were cooking eggs in the hot water. We got a couple, just to try, as they are supposed to be good for you. The consistency was strange. The yolk was hard but the white was runny. I was pretty sure that the kids would NOT like this. On the contrary – they slurped them down and begged for more!

We did manage to get our hiking in the next day. We went to a nearby park that housed the ruins of the Takayama castle, which was originally situated on top of the big hill that made up most of the park. It was drizzling and muddy so we had the whole place to ourselves. We wound through the park on stair paths with bamboo risers through the pine trees and bamboo. It was hard to believe that the little town was just down the hill.

Hiking through the trees

Discovering the original walls and gate to the Takayama Castle

To reward ourselves for our hiking efforts, we decided to try a burger place we’d read about, Center 4 Burgers. The region Takayama is in Hida which is supposed to be famous for it’s beef. We ended up at this crazy place with 1930’s American memorabilia and Johnny Cash playing in the background. The Canadian tourist at the table next to us was devouring his second burger as we sat down. There was a good reason why – they were awesome – better than most at home! The guy who ran the place told us he had never been to the US but had learned to make burgers from a place he had worked at in Tokyo. He wants to open his own restaurant in the US…we had to explain that unlike Japan, there are burger places all over in the US. He was surprised!

Dylan considers taking a tenured position at Center 4 Burgers...

That night, we were fortunate enough to be in town for a summertime fireworks display over the river. The whole town seemed to come out and were all dressed in their summer kimonos. Carny-type food stands were up all over the place with not so familiar Japanese carny food like takoyaki (puffy little pastry balls with octopus inside them covered with teriyaki-ish sauce), shave ice (snow-cones), and fish paste on sticks. It was so cool to see all different generations together – even the hipsters in their traditional kimonos (you could tell because they still had their Duran Duran hairstyles) – all enjoying the evening. It was a different vibe than we had experienced in big Tokyo and Kyoto.

The next day we went to check out the nearby folk village. While there were a few houses originally in the village location, most had been relocated from another valley where they built a hydroelectric dam. Even thought it was a little contrived, it was still pretty cool to see the houses (you could go inside) and realize that they had been built without nails. Most of the houses were 200-300 years old.

David and Dylan check out the folk village

Checking out the construction without nails...

The kids loved navigating the village using the map and running around. Their favorite part, however, was probably dressing up in the traditional clothes and pulling the wagon. David refused to smile because he said if he did, no one would think he was working hard and make him do more.

Hmm...looks like David must be doing all the hard work...

David before his Takayama barber experience.

David after his Takayama barber experience!

We decided to go from Takayama back to Hakone and to attempt to climb Mount Fuji. You can climb it during the day or go up at night so you can watch the sunrise in the morning. We have decided on the nighttime trip but it will be too much for the kids so Dylan will go up on Sunday night and then return Monday morning and I will go up on Monday night and return Tuesday morning.