The Iya Valley – Nagoro Scarecrow Village, Vine Bridges and Tsurugi-san

Iya-Valley-autumn-colors — The beautiful Iya Vally in the Fall

We woke up and were treated to the typical multiple course ryokan breakfast, which we ate whilst keeping an eye on the weather outside. It had stopped raining, but was still cloudy. However, as we finished our tea, we suddenly saw a patch of blue sky. Perhaps we would be lucky.
We set off in our car on a road following the Iya river, climbing up the remote and sparsely-populated valley. We saw very few people in the settlements we passed, but after a few miles we came across a village that at first sight appeared to be teaming with life.

Nagoro Scarecrow Village — Finally some people!?

On closer inspection, the “people” were dummies, more usually used scarecrows for scaring away birds. They were everywhere – harvesting in the fields, waiting for a bus, working on the road, even engaging in a tug of war in the sports hall of a disused school.

Scarecrows-waiting-for-bus-Nagoro — Meeting the locals at Nagaro

Consulting our guide book we realised we had arrived at Nagaro village. The scarecrow story started when a woman moved to the village to look after her aged father. To occupy herself, she made a scarecrow in his likeness, which was so realistic that fellow villagers would say “good morning” to it as they passed. She made more figures, many using local residents as models, as way of relieving boredom and loneliness – the area is suffering from depopulation as older residents die and younger people move to the cities to find better jobs. Other people followed her example, and now there are around 350 scarecrows in the village, which has become a tourist attraction. When we visited we saw around 100 scarecrows, two human tourists and one dog – but no local people. So although the initiative has put Nagoro on the map, it has not solved their depopulation problem.
A few miles down the road there was another, more famous tourist attraction – a pair of “vine bridges”. These structures are made from planks of wood tied together with natural vines and were originally built hundreds of years ago, no one is quite sure by whom or why. There were originally many such bridges over the Iya river, but now only three remain, of which two were here, almost side by side – the larger one is nicknamed the “male” bridge and the smaller one, “female”.

Iya Valley Vine Bridge — The “male” vine bridge

I cautiously stepped across on the male bridge with my little teddy legs, leaving Aki, who does not like heights, behind me to film my progress. The gaps between the planks were quite big, and I think even a human could have slipped between them into the river, clearly visible under my paws far below. Certainly a little teddy could fall through and disappear without trace into the water. I finally made it across and let out a big sigh of relief. I used the “female” bridge to get back, and fortunately this was shorter and lower, and less of an ordeal to cross. With my adrenaline rush over I could relax with Aki to enjoy the wonderful scenery around the area.

Iya Valley Female Bridge — The “female” bridge

We continued our drive up the valley, steadily gaining altitude. As we rose, the vegetation changed and we found ourselves driving through mixed forests, including many spectacular maple trees, their leaves a bright red. The mountains were a patchwork of greens, yellows and reds, and very beautiful.

Autumn Colors in Iya Valley — Iya valley colours

We arrived at the chairlift station taking hikers up to the starting point for trails leading to the various mountains surrounding us. The chairlift ride itself gave wonderful views of the forests’ autumn colours, even if it was a little scary, since the chairs lacked any protective barriers to stop you falling off.

Tsurugi Chair lift — A spectacular but not very safe chair lift

The most popular climb in the area is Mount Tsurugi, the second highest mountain on Shikoku island. But we decided to climb the very slightly smaller Mount Jirogyu, which the Iya Valley tourist information website said offered even better views. We paused continually on the way up to take pictures of the wonderful views in a mix of cloud and bright sunshine.

View Tsurugi area — Views on the way up Mount Jirogyu

But as we neared the end of the climb and with our goal in sight, clouds blew in from the west, obscuring the summit.

Mount Jirogyu Summit — Mount Jirogyu summit beckons as clouds rush in

We climbed up all the same, but all that we could see at the top was thick cloud.

on Mount Jirogyu — Shame! The “view” at the top.

Out of the sun, it was chilly and windy, so we hurried back down. Below the clouds we could once again enjoy the autumn foliage.

View mount Tsurugi — Views on the way down

We drove back to our ryokan to have a hot bath to warm up, after our exposure to the cold mountain air and damp clouds. It had been a brilliant day but could have been perfect if only we had started maybe an hour earlier so that we could enjoy the view from the summit of Mount Jirogyu . That will have to be a plan for another trip – we liked the Iya Valley so much that we will try to come back one day.

Next Post: More Iya Valley, Kotohira and Takamatsu

Previous Post: Kochi (Japan), Shikoku

4th November 2024 4

Off the beaten track in Shikoku – from Matsuyama to Kochi via Uchiko

Today we set off deeper into the island of Shikoku. First stop was a small old town called Uchiko, many of whose buildings date from the Edo period (1603-1868). It was a laid-back sort of place, with a slow pace of life, which we enjoyed as we strolled around. We ended up spending much longer there than planned.

Uchiko Kabuki theatre — Uchiko’s kabuki theatre

A courtyard in Uchiko — Courtyard in Uchiko

After a coffee for the road, we set off through Shikoku mountains and forests to our next destination, the port city of Kochi on Shikoku’s south coast. The road twisted and turned upwards, through dense forests – sometimes of pine, sometimes of bamboo.

It then followed the path of a pretty gorge, turning into a single lane road, in places barely wider than our small car. Driving was quite tricky, but Aki handled it well, as I navigated.

Fortunately, we were the only people on the road and never had to deal with a car coming the other way. We had chosen a very pretty, but also very slow route for which Google had calculated a hopelessly optimistic travel time. As a result, we arrived in Kochi after night had fallen. We parked our car in the tower recommended by the hotel. Being Japanese, Aki has seen these before but for me it was a complete surprise; She drove into one of the tower’s four entry bays, parked the car on a sort of platform at ground level, and we got out. I was wondering what would happen next and how this could possibly be a car park, when the platform rotated 90 degrees and rose up into the air, disappearing up the shaft of the building. It was a fully automated system where a computer places your car into one of the available spaces deep inside the block somewhere. The attendant told us the tower could hold 200 vehicles. He gave us a ticket and impressed on us the importance of not losing it!

parking tower in Kochi Shikoku — A new experience – a parking tower!

We checked into our hotel – it was one of only two modern-style hotel rooms we had booked for the whole trip, and seemed to be used mostly by business travellers. Our room was small, but comfortable enough. After unpacking we set off straight for dinner. Like any port city in Japan, Kochi is known for its seafood and its speciality is seared raw tuna. We ordered some and got a huge plate for a price that back home would have got you one small tuna steak in a supermarket.

All this (plus one piece we already ate) for 12€ in a Kochi restaurant!

The next day we explored more of Koch. First stop, as always, was the castle, which I liked, even though it looked very similar to the others we had seen in Japan. The view from the top was particularly impressive, looking north, I could count no fewer than eight successive mountain ranges, one behind the other.

view from Kochi castle — One of the views of Shikoku from the top of Kochi castle

Back in Kochi town we stopped for brunch in the market, treating ourselves to fish, oysters and sea urchin – the latter being one of the few expensive forms of seafood here.

We checked out from our hotel and recovered our car, which appeared from the depths of the tower as if by magic – this time facing forward, towards the road, ready to be driven off. Our next destination was the Iya Valley, deep in the Shikoku mountains, but on the way we visited two attractions on the outskirts of Kochi. The first was the Makino Botanical Garden, named after a famous Japanese botanist. It seemed to be a spring and summer garden, with no flowers in autumn.

Makino garden in Kochi Shikoku — In the hothouse of the Makino Garden

The Chikurinji temple next door made up for the slight disappointment of the gardens. It grounds radiated harmony and peace, and would have been a good place to sit and meditate, if we had had time. Shikoku is home to a famous circular pilgrimage that includes 88 temples dotted around the island and is 1,200 km long. Chikurinji is temple number 31 on this route, and we saw some pilgrims, dressed in white, praying at the shrine.

Chikurinji temple Kochi — The atmospheric entrance to Chikurinji temple

pilgrim approaches temple Kochi — A pilgrim enters the main gate

It was now time to head on into the mountains. The scenery became rugged and would have been very impressive, had it not been raining. We arrived at our destination – a basic ryokan – in the late afternoon and spent the time before dinner catching up on admin. This included anxiously checking tomorrow’s weather forecast……there would not be much to do on a rainy around here. Fingers crossed for tomorrow…..

Typical Shikoku mountain scenery on the way to the Iya valley

Next Post: Iya Valley , Shikoku

Previous Post: Matsuyama, Shikoku

3rd November 2024 4

Almost off the beaten track – Matsuyama

We arrived in the evening in Matsuyama where I had booked an Airbnb. These seem to offer great accommodation options in Japan, if you are prepared for the difficulties of finding the address (or communicating it to a taxi driver). The place we had reserved proved to be worth the effort, with a wonderful host. We had a large downstairs living room, with small but beautiful Japanese gardens on two sides, and a large upstairs sleeping room.

bedroom Matsuyama — The bedroom of our Airbnb in Matusyama

After settling in we set off to find dinner. We were in a residential area, far away from the centre of Matsuyama, and the options were all very traditional Japanese. An outside light and sign would indicate the existence of a restaurant, but to see what one was like, you had to slide open the door – more or less committing yourself to eating there if they had space. On our first night we were lucky and ate very well, and very cheaply.

restaurant Matsuyama — Local restaurant in Matsuyama – slide the door

After a good night’s sleep, we set off to explore. Matsuyama is the largest city on the little-visited island of Shikoku. It is almost, but not quite, off the beaten track for western tourists, with a few making a short trip over from Hiroshima. First we saw the inevitable castle. Matsuyama’s version was bigger than the others we had seen in Japan, and offered good views over the surrounding area….but we were beginning to think that all Japanese castles look pretty similar.

All the same, a fun highlight of our visit was the opportunity to watch human tourists dressing up as samurai (unfortunately they had no teddy-size costumes to offer for us).

From the castle we headed to the spa town of Dogen, now a suburb of Matsuyama. It had a completely different atmosphere, with a wonderful retro train station, many shrines, several quirky attractions and one very famous one.

Temple in Matsuyama, Shikoku — Steep steps to this Matsuyama temple!

Amongst the off-beat things you can do here is tasting citrus fruit juice. We found a bar where they had around 20 varieties of mandarin juice on tap – you fill up small cups yourself and pay according to the number of samples and the varieties chosen. The bar gave helpful guides to the sweetness and acidity of each choice, and a genealogical chart showing how they were related.

You can taste around 20 varieties of mandarin juice

The famous attraction here is Dogo Onsen, Japan’s oldest and probably most famous onsen, and supposedly the inspiration for the bathhouse in the Ghibli film “Spirited Away”. Records document people coming here as early as the sixth century, and legends tell of gods visiting well before that. The current structure dates from the 1890s and is a wonderfully elegant building.

Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama — Dogo Onsen, Matusyama, from the outside

We bought tickets for a private room, got changed into the yukatas provided and were treated to a typically Japanese experience. A maid in a traditional kimono brought us tea and a snack and explained which areas we could visit, with much bowing and many “arigato gozaimasu” (thank yous). We enjoyed our tea before trying the separate male and female onsen reserved for the private room guests.

The bath itself was a bit of an anticlimax – an elegant enough room, but fairly small, and on the inside with no natural light. The water was a hot 40°C, so even the experienced Japanese visitors did not soak for too long. We retired back to our room to cool down, and then made a tour of the building, of which one of the highlights was a private bath reserved for the emperor.

Emperor's Room Dogo Onsen — The Emperor’s changing room

We had one more, short, final dip in our own bath before our ninety minute visit time was up and we had to leave. The joy of the experience was more the atmosphere, the building and the ceremony rather than the actual bath itself.
On emerging outside we found that it had started to rain, so we headed back to our flat and then out to eat. The restaurant we had enjoyed the night before was full, so we tried another and were less lucky. It seemed to be a place where people came to drink more than to eat, and half the seats were already taken by a group of three drunk locals. They were very friendly but also noisy. The owner continually topped up their glasses with whisky from one of the bottles kept behind the counter; in places like this you buy your own bottle, which they write your name on.

Bottles for frequent visitors to the restaurant

We retired back to our flat. It was still raining, but we opened the sliding doors to our Japanese gardens and enjoyed listening to the raindrops falling on the plants outside. The sight and sound were hypnotic and peaceful, and the prelude to a great night’s sleep.

Japanese garden in Matsuyama — One of our Japanese gardens at night

Next Post – from Matsuyama to Kochi, Shikoku

Previous Post – Magical Miyajima

2nd November 2024 5

Magical Miyajima

From Hiroshima we took a short ferry ride to the small island of Miyajima. On arrival, the area near the ferry terminal was quite touristy, with restaurants, cafés, souvenir shops, lots of visitors – and many deer, who roam around freely. The more domesticated ones hang around the town, trying to beg or steal food from the tourists (no unattended snack is safe from them); the wilder ones roam through the forests of the island. I had splurged on a treat for our accommodation – a night in Iwaso, one of Japan’s top ryokans (traditional inns). We found the place easily, but at reception they very apologetically told us that they were overbooked……..and would regretfully have to upgrade up to a private cottage. It was probably the best room in the whole place, located right at the end of property, next to a small stream. We lost no time in settling in and enjoyed the view and pleasant sound of water cascading over rocks.

It was now late afternoon and we set off to explore, first following the sound of traditional Japanese music drifting through the forest. We came across a performance of traditional Japanese dance, representing two priests overcoming two demons.

It was a wonderfully colourful spectacle, but it seems there not so many ways that demons can be vanquished, and after half an hour it got a bit repetitive. Since it was nearly time for sunset, we left the dancers and hurried to see the famous torii, the gate to the Itsukushima shrine, which at high tide appears to be floating on the sea. Despite the crowd of other tourists, we found a free bench on the seashore to watch as the sky turned from blue to orange to red to purple. As it grew dark, lights came long to illuminate the torii, which shone a bright red in the night. I had to discipline myself to stop taking photos and instead sit back and simply enjoy the beauty.

After that, it was time for dinner at the ryokan. The hotel had provided traditional Japanese clothing – a yukata (a casual form of a kimono) and a haori jacket to wear on top. They were very comfortable and when we arrived at the restaurant, we were glad to see most guests had opted to wear them. Dinner itself was a feast with many courses, which we chose to accompany with sake. Returning to our room, we found that the staff had prepared it for bed time by setting up two futon beds in the middle of the room.

Well fed and watered, we settled down on our comfortable beds and listened to the sounds of the stream outside until we fell fast asleep. We awoke for another sumptuous meal – breakfast this time. There were so many small bowls of food set out on our tray that the hotel provided a sort of map to tell us which was which.
Suitably nourished, we returned to enjoy our cottage for the remaining time left to us before check-out. We left Iwaso with a heavy heart, depositing our bags at reception and setting off to explore the island. First we returned to the Itsukushima shrine. It was now low tide, and the famous torii could be approached across the wet sand of the beach.

The torii is in fact firmly anchored to the ground

Legends say that the first torii on this site was built in 593, when the shrine was established. Over the years the torii has been replaced many times, and it probably took its current form in the 16th century. The torii we see today dates from 1875.

We dragged ourselves away from the beautiful, harmonious structure of the torii to take the cable car up to near the top of Mount Misan, Miyajima’s main mountain. We then walked the short remaining distance to the summit for some great 360 degree views over the Inland Sea, forward to Shikoku and back towards Hiroshima.

We decided to walk down rather than take the cable car again, which turned out to be a lucky decision.

We chose one of the many different possible paths at random and after passing through dense forest, arrived by chance at the mighty gates of the Daisho-In complex, which turned out to be an unexpected highlight of Miyajima, with some unusual sights quite different to what we had seen already in other temples in Japan.

…and striking features inside the temple complex

It was now time to leave magical Miyajima. We picked up our bags at the hotel, and their shuttle service dropped us at the ferry terminal. Our day ended with pleasant cruises across the Inland Sea – firstly back to Hiroshima port, and then by “jetboat” on to Matsuyama on Shikoku, the fourth largest island of Japan’s archipelago. The day and a half on Miyajima had been truly memorable and one of the highlights of our trip so far. Once you get away from the crowds around the ferry terminal, the island emanates a sense of peace and harmony, of which the beautiful torii is the ultimate expression.

Onwards to Shikoku – Cruising the Inland Sea

Previous Post: Hiroshima

Next Post: Matsuyama

1st November 2024 8

An Unexpected Lesson from Hiroshima

Sunset from the Prince Hotel (it really was this colour)

Today we said goodbye to Kanazawa, a city we had really enjoyed. We took a bus to the station and went by train to Hiroshima, a trip that took about five hours, including a stop in Osaka to buy tickets for the second leg of the journey. Our hotel was the Prince Hotel, located some way out of town centre on a peninsula near the port.

The hotel had hosted the meeting of the G7 in 2023 and seemed very proud of this fact. We visited the table where the world’s leaders had lunch (by special arrangement, the hotel can offer deep-pocketed guests the same menu as served that day).

Vote for Trouspinet and Aki! (at the table where the G7 had lunch)

By the time we had checked in, it seemed a bit late to do anything in the city so we enjoyed the hotel’s onsen, which looked out onto the Inland Sea, the stretch of water separating Honshu (Japan’s biggest island) from Shikoku (the fourth biggest). It was a great view, and as the evening drew near, we got dressed to go to the top floor bar to see the spectacular sunset shown above.

The next day we started our exploration of the city with a pleasant walk around the peninsula we were on, which gave us more views out towards the countless small and large islands of the Inland Sea.

We arrived at the port, and I checked our onward boat connections, before we caught a tram to Hiroshima’s most famous and most visited site – the Peace Park, which contains the Peace Memorial Museum. We went around the latter first. It was a harrowing experience, starting with immediate impact of the first use of an atomic bomb.

At the start of the museum – Hiroshima before and after the bombing

The first part of the exhibition focussed on a large group of school children who had been mobilised to demolish wooden buildings and who were working near the place where the bomb exploded. They suffered horrific burns, which were shown in graphic detail in photographs, and either died immediately or later, in great pain. Next there were exhibits of some of the victim’s belongings like singed clothing or charred watches, and then a description of the longer-term suffering of people that survived the initial blast but died later of various illnesses caused by radiation or burns. It was harrowing and shocking material, leaving a visitor sad and angry. Later floors of the museum were a bit easier to visit, being devoted to the development and reasons for use of the bomb, testimonies from survivors and the efforts to rebuild the city after the war.

Outside the museum was a complete contrast. There was a beautiful park, with several monuments promoting peace.

Memorial to schoolgirls killed in the Hiroshima bombing

There was also the Peace Memorial Hall, with a display of a view of the city after the bombing as seen from the hypocentre (point where the bomb exploded), and a sculpture representing a clock showing 8.15 – the time of the explosion.

A bit further away was the Atomic Bomb Dome – the ruins of a building that was the only thing left standing near the centre of the blast. The dome itself was made of copper supported by iron girders; the heat of the explosion melted the copper but left the iron standing.

After seeing the sites in and around the Peace Park, we went for a stroll around the city centre. There were few other classic tourist sights, but it had a pleasant feel, both relaxed and busy at the same time, and a remarkable location – sandwiched between mountains and the Inland Sea, with its countless small islands. As we headed to the port to catch the ferry to our next destination, we contemplated the contrasts between the utter devastation after the bombing and the thriving city that exists today, with its friendly people and peaceful vibe. Perhaps there is another important message to be taken from Hiroshima, in addition to the evils of nuclear weapons. It is one of the triumph of the human will in the face of suffering and adversity – in the form of the thriving and pleasant city the Japanese rebuilt from the ashes of Hiroshima.

Previous Post: Takayama

Next Post: Miyajima

30th October 2024 7

Takayama and Ainokura

Today we hired a car to make a day trip to two interesting destinations which seemed to be fairly close to Kanazawa.

The first was the village of Ainokura in the mountains, famous for its gassho or “praying hands” style thatched farmhouses – so called because the triangular shape of the steeply slanted roofs resembles two hands pressed together in prayer. This design ensures that large amounts of snow cannot build up on the roof in winter – a big problem in the area. After a coffee in the village’s only café, we strolled around and took a few photos.

Ainokura was a cute, quiet place, well worth a stop on the way to our main destination for the day – the small city of Takayama. It looked like a short distance on the map, with the driving being mostly on motorways that ran through mountainous terrain – probably a nice drive. However, it turned out that the road ran nearly entirely under the mountains, in dingy, very long tunnels with an insultingly low 70 km/h speed limit. Occasionally there would be a brief burst of natural light as a tunnel ended…..only for a new one to come immediately into sight ahead of us. It was probably the most boring stretch of road I have ever driven.

We finally reached Takayama and parked the car. The centre was similar to the geisha district of Kanazawa – old wooden houses converted to shops, tea rooms and restaurants – only with more tourists. Aki was happy browsing the shops for souvenirs, but I was feeling rather grumpy, annoyed that Takayama did not seem to be worth the long and boring drive.

However, my mood improved when we left the centre and dived into some quieter side streets, where there were antique shops that interested even me. Aki was even happier and made a few small purchases.

We wandered on and found a pretty area with temples where there were also a couple of museums. One was the intriguingly named Takayama Festival Floats Museum. It turned out to house several of the huge, colourful floats used in the famous Takayama Festival, which takes place twice per year, in spring and autumn. Most floats have wheels and are rolled manually by team of people in colourful costumes, but one had to be carried by two alternating teams of strong men (and weighed 2.6 tonnes).

The second museum was rather bizarrely devoted to a carved wooden scale model of the shrines at far-away Nikko – why they were on display here in Takayama was not explained, but it still made for an interesting visit.

After that we strolled until we reached the main river that runs through the city. This, surprisingly, contained some of the large koi carp that you usually only see in ornamental ponds. We could not understand what stopped the fish escaping up- or down- stream or how they didn’t end up being eaten by the herons we saw perched on the riverbanks.

Feeling better about Takayama we regained our car and made the long drive back to Kanazawa – which was even more boring this time because we drove it one go, completing the last hour in the dark.

We rewarded ourselves by returning to the restaurant we had visited by chance on the first night. The chef recognised us and greeted us enthusiastically. We again gave him a budget to work with rather than try to understand his menu, and again we were treated to another inventive feast of top-quality sea food.

Previous Post: Kanazawa

Next Post: Hiroshima

30th October 2024 4

Kanazawa – a city with many sides

Over the next couple of days we explored Kanazawa, a port city famous for its food, and which retained many old districts, since it escaped bombing during WWII. The city was once the headquarters of the powerful Maeda family, who sided with Tokugawa Ieyasu in the decisive battle which led to the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Maeda’s Kaga clan became the second richest and most powerful in Japan, which greatly benefited Kanazawa’s development.

Our first stop was one of the city’s main attractions – the Kenrokuen Gardens. They were rather different to places like Kew Gardens that we knew from elsewhere in the world – very neat and ordered, as if in Japan nature is also elegant and tidy. It was a beautiful sunny day, so they looked at their best.

Inside the garden grounds was the beautiful Seisonkaku Villa, built by one of the Maeda clan chiefs for his mother.

We were only allowed to take photos of the villa’s beautiful garden, not its inside

Our next stop was Kanazawa castle. This had burnt down several times during its history, mostly a disastrous fire in 1881 which left only one gate and two storehouse standing. It seems that fire and lightning were much bigger threats to wooden Japanese castles than enemy attacks. The buildings have been painstakingly restored in recent years, and now it makes for an impressive sight, even if what is visible is mostly modern reconstruction.

We didn’t visit inside, but inside continued our walk through the castle’s park to the city’s former geisha district. This was an odd mixture of charming quiet lanes, with wooden buildings and very few people, and a very busy centre with the same pretty houses, but lots of tourists.

Quiet (above) and busy (below) streets in the Geisha district

We stopped at the Ochaya Shima Geisha House, once a place where the geishas used to entertain their customers and now a museum (unlike most of the other former geisha houses, which have been converted into shops and restaurants). It was very pretty, but there was (as often in Japan) very little explanation in English about the exhibits and the geisha profession.

Our final stop of the day was a workshop making gold leaf and sculptures using this precious material. There were some really nice souvenirs on offer, but for us the highlight was the toilets, whose walls and ceilings were covered with gold (the ladies) or platinum (the gents).

The next day we explored the city further, first visiting a district where many former samurai houses are preserved. It was indeed a beautiful area, despite the occasional tour groups. One of the old houses had been converted to a shop selling cakes and sweets, and we stopped there for a mid-morning coffee.

For lunch we headed to the Omicho market, a short walk away. The seafood here is rated amongst the best and freshest in all Japan, and originally we had planned to buy some sashimi for dinner. But we found that the shops selling food had mostly closed or sold out, leaving only restaurants. So, we changed plans and had an extraordinary sea food lunch instead.

In the afternoon, we explored one final part of the city, a short bus ride away on the other side of Kanazawa’s river – the Teramachi Temple District. We found dozens of small temples located either on the main road or down quite side streets. We ended up outside one of the largest ones, the Myoryuji Temple, more often known by its nickname of “Ninja Temple”. There were signs saying that guided tours could be booked by telephoning to make a reservation or by applying to the temple office. This seemed rather strange – temples are usually free to visit – and we wondered if it was a tourist trap. We decided to give it a chance and were put on a tour leaving immediately. It was one of our best decisions of the holiday.

The structure was built by a Maeda lord at a time when there was deep mutual suspicion between his clan and the ruling Tokugawas. Superficially a temple from the outside, it was in fact a disguised military installation with many features to ensnare enemy soldiers or assassins. The tour was in Japanese only, but they gave us booklets with a description of each room in English. Our guide led us through fifteen rooms, each with a fascinating set of features, including many devious traps for the unwary. These included a secret escape tunnel, sunken pits for enemies to fall into, hidden doors, a watchtower, and our favourite – a small windowless room where a vanquished samurai warrior was expected to commit ritual suicide if he had failed to defeat intruders. The forty-minute visit was a highlight of Kanazawa and also of Japan as a whole.

The outside of the “Jinja Temple” (sadly photos inside not allowed)

This pleasant surprise concluded our exploration of Kanazawa. We thought the city’s reputation as one of the most interesting in Japan was richly deserved.

Previous Post: The Alpine Route

Next Post: Takayama

29th October 2024 6

Wow – Japan’s Alpine Route

Today we set off on one of Japan’s great travel experiences – the Alpine Route. This involves a succession of different modes of transportation that delivers travellers across the Japanese Alps – from Ogizawa in the southeast to Toyama in the northwest. In our case, the trip included extra sections getting to the starting point and also from Toyama to our final destination of Kanazawa. I had researched the trip on the web, but was rather confused by the description given by the Japanese transport company managing the route. It all seemed rather complicated, including surrendering our luggage at the start and magically getting it back at the end.

We had to set off early on the 07.48 local train from Matsumoto to Omachi. The weather was cloudy and I worried about the complexity of the trip, whether we would actually see anything up in the mountains, and how cold it would be on top (the weather forecast for Murodo, the highest point of the route, was 0°C). A physical discomfort was soon added to our mental ones; our backsides started to get uncomfortably hot. Although it was a basic local train, the seats were heated when they detected that they were occupied by passengers. The intensity of the heating suggested that they were designed for the depths of the Japanese winter, when temperatures in this area can drop to -15 °C – and not for autumn. We found the only way to survive was to continually change seats, moving on when our new places got too hot to endure. The few other passengers in the train – all Japanese – looked at us with puzzlement. They seemed not to mind having their posteriors roasted.

We arrived at the small, uninteresting town of Otomachi about an hour later and were glad of the exposure to cold mountain air. We found the office offering bag forwarding and handed over our luggage, wondering if we would see it again, and waited for a local bus to a place called Ogizawa, which marked the beginning of our ascent into the mountains. This turned out to be another unremarkable small settlement. To get this far we had spent three hours on mundane local trains and buses, under heavy clouds, and were thinking that the Alpine Route had better be good to justify all this effort. Next, an electric bus took us through a long tunnel to the first stop on the Alpine Route proper. As the bus slowed down to stop at its destination, we could see brilliant sunlight streaming in from outside and hurried off to admire the first of a series of amazing sights – the Kurobe dam. From this point on, words cannot do justice to the scenery and I will let our photos tell most of the story of an amazing trip.

From the Kurobe dam there was a cable car to Kurobedaira, where there was a small botanical garden and yet more stunning views.

From Kurobedaira the Tateyama ropeway took us to Daikanbo….

….from where an electric trolleybus took us through the mountain to the highest point of the trip, Murodo (2450m), where the scenery markedly changed and where we made a short hike.

From Murodo, there was a regular bus down to Midagahara. On the way we saw, and then entered, the magical “sea of cloud”.

After we had entered the “sea of cloud” the weather was, unsurprisingly, cloudy and there was not much more to see. We still had to take a cable car down to Tateyama (where our luggage was magically waiting for us), then a painfully slow local train to Toyama, and then an express “shinkansen” to Kanazawa, and then a taxi to our house. We finally arrived at around seven, after 11 hours of travelling – half of which had been magical. We dumped our bags and headed out to the nearest restaurant. They only had a menu in Japanese, written with such a highly stylised script that Google Translate could only decipher the words “conger eel”, “egg” and “today’s horse” amongst a sea of hieroglyphics. We asked the waiter to choose for us, setting a budget of 7,000 yen, and were served a real feast with six courses including – sashimi, tempura, omlet and miso – all of very high quality. We ate so well that it was a relief when tea arrived to signal the end of the meal. It was a fitting end to an exceptional day.

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27th October 2024 7

Quirky Matsumoto

Matsumoto’s main tourist attraction – its castle

Today the weather forecast was for heavy rain, and so we decided to visit Matsumoto, the small city we had chosen as a base for exploring the Japanese Alps. First we had a big traditional Japanese breakfast.

Matsumoto is a pleasant, quirky place with some classic and some very unusual tourist attractions. One of the former was just across the road from our ryokan (hotel) – a museum devoted to weighing scales. This was such a weird idea that we had to visit. It was actually quite fun, with a collection of old devices from different centuries, and a whole room devoted to the once important task of weighing silk worm cocoons.

Our next destination was Matsumoto’s famous castle, but on the way we saw the Matsumoto City Museum, which advertised a special exhibition about the art of Japanese food. Unfortunately, this had only one panel with any English explanation, and we were left looking at plastic models of different types of fish or radishes. We did at least learn that around Japan’s coasts and in its rivers there are 4500 species of fish, as compared to only 300 in my native UK.

Matsumoto castle was a more traditional tourist destination. It is one of the few castles remaining intact from Japan’s feudal age, and was built around 1600. From the outside, the castle, its moat and grounds were beautiful. Inside was rather disappointing – it was quite bare, with a few museum exhibits about weapons and other aspects of life in that period. The interior was laid out over six floors linked by very steep staircases. Each successive floor got smaller and smaller, the staircases became steeper and stepper, and the queue of visitors to go up them got longer and longer – all to reach a totally empty sixth floor.

Matsumoto castle – impressive from the outside

Our next destination was the Matsumoto City Museum of Art. The highlight here is a series of rooms devoted to the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who was born here. Some rooms were devoted to her work using mirrors, and then we came across this huge colourful pumpkin…

Having seen almost all Matsumoto had to offer, we returned to our ryokan to wait for the expected rain. A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn, and ours was a comfortable place to sit and work.

We only ventured forth at dinner time, to a restaurant recommended by our host. It was so popular, that we had to queue to get in, but once sat behind a table, we enjoyed a huge feast of soba noodles (made from buckwheat flour).

Matsumoto had been a pleasant base for our trips around the Japanese Alps, but tomorrow we were due to move on, for something that I hoped would be a highlight of our tour around Japan.

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27th October 2024 3

Off the Beaten Track in the Japanese Alps

Today was one of those wonderful days when a traveller discovers something for themselves. Our original plan was to drive to the Japanese Alps, and then take a bus/cable car to Mount Norikura, Japan’s third highest volcano. However, when we got into the mountains, it was cloudy and we thought that we would not see anything at the top. As we wondered what to do, Aki noticed a small sign with a picture of a large, bright red maple tree, so we followed the direction it indicated and found ourselves driving through a beautiful meadow, with nature’s autumn colours on full display – but this time with the red that we had been missing during our walk at Kamikochi.

The road went past a café, which, unusually for remote places in Japan, served excellent coffee and which had an excellent view of the scenery. In the car park in front, there was a sign showing a few short walks in the area, so we made a circular hike of around 5km, marvelling at the colours and taking lots of photos. We saw very few other people on our way, and almost no foreigners at all. Most of the people we did see were gathered around the big red maple tree shown on the road sign.

Our guidebooks did not mention the area. Maybe outside of autumn it is nothing special, but for us it was one of the highlights (so far) of Japan.

The map also showed a couple of waterfalls, which were a bit far to reach on foot, so we drove to visit the Zengorno and Sanbon falls, both of which were well worth the drive and short hike.

After a day hiking in beautiful forests, it was time for another of Japan’s traditions – a dip in an “onsen” or hot bath. These are found all over Japan and are hugely popular. They are often fed by volcanic hot springs, particularly in the Japanese Alps region. We drove to the well-known spa town of Shirahone Onsen, which was a short distance away, and paid for a day visit to the baths at the Awanoyu Ryokan (a hotel). After getting undressed and carefully washing in a shower room, we soaked in a pleasant outdoor pool for an hour. The water was milky white, and a relaxing 40°C, whilst the pool was surrounded by trees at the bottom of the river valley. Sadly no photos were allowed, so I have to use this one found on their website (from a rather sunnier day!).

It was a pleasant way to end a day of exploration and surprises, well off the beaten track.

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