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.

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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.

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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

Autumn Colours in Kamikochi

Today we left Tokyo for Matsumoto in the Japanese Alps. The easiest way to get there is by train, but I was hoping to visit the Fuji Five Lakes area on the way, so hired a car from Shinjuku. Driving in Tokyo was easier than expected and after a few turns our satnav delivered us onto an expressway heading straight to our destination. But when we got to the mountains it was cloudy, with no chance of seeing Fuji again, so we headed straight for Matsumoto and explored the city in the afternoon – more about this in a future post.

The next day we used our hire car to drive to one of Japan’s most popular attractions – Kamikochi. This is a protected area in the heart of the Japanese Alps, and the starting point for many pretty walks or more ambitious climbs of the surrounding mountains. Private cars are not allowed to drive all the way there, instead you have to use one of the many parking lots on the highway and take a bus for the last 10km to the national park.

On arrival there was a large reception area with restrooms, tourist information, ticket booth for the return buses and some snack stalls. We bought some coffee but immediately regretted it. The hot black liquid resembled dishwater and was hopelessly weak – coffee is the one food/drink that many Japanese establishments haven’t really mastered yet. What’s worse, there was nowhere to dispose of our paper cups, so we had to carefully throw away our drink and fold them into our backpacks. Japan is amazingly clean, maybe because there are almost no litter bins anywhere, and people are used to taking their rubbish home with them.

A short walk took us the popular Kappabashi bridge, with great views up and down the valley, including an iconic vista of the Hotaka peaks. It was crowded with tourists trying to take selfies, so we didn’t stay long and instead set off on our walk. It was a beautiful day, and the autumn leaf colours were spectacular, with all shades of green, yellow and gold – although we didn’t see much of the brilliant red colours that we had been expecting.

Our walk took us along the bank of the river. We met many other hikers coming the other way, most of whom were Japanese. They greeted us with a smile and a cheery “Konnichiwa” (hello). Many of them were wearing little bells that jangled as they walked, to deter bears. In my opinion no self-respecting wild bear would go anywhere near a path with so many humans passing along it, and the continual jangling annoyed me a bit. The obsession with bears seemed to be deeply felt, and the park authorities had also put up lots of warning signs and occasional bear bells along the path for additional protection.

At the end of the trail was a small restaurant, where we enjoyed another local culinary highlight – a tasty Japanese “katsu” curry.

The way back followed the other side of the river. At about halfway, there was a large, still pond (the Tashiro Pond), surrounded by trees with their autumn leaves. We sat down, breathed deeply and simply enjoyed nature’s beauty.

When we finally decided to move on from our idyllic spot, the path continued along a raised walkway through a green forest, where we met some monkeys. They ignored us as they strolled on, not even bothering to beg for food – they knew that in well-disciplined Japan, no one would feed them.

The sun was now beginning to set, and the autumn foliage offered yet more variants on gold and yellow in the evening light. We arrived back at the trailhead delighted with our day out, thinking that Kamikochi deserved its reputation as one of Japan’s top sights.

Back near Kappabashi at the end of the afternoon

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24th October 2024 8

Nikko – one of Japan’s highlights

Today I got up early to take the train to Nikko, home to some of Japan’s most beautiful shrines. First, I met my Japanese friend Aki, who is to be my companion for parts of my Japan trip. Shinjuku station was very busy and very confusing, and it took us some time dodging through the crowds of people to find the right platform. Unusually for Japan, our train was a few minutes late, but when it arrived we sat down in large comfortable seats for the two-hour trip. The first hour was dull – miles and miles of rectangular blocks of flats or offices. But then the city finally ended, and the concrete gave way to green rice fields and mountains.

On arrival, Aki and I made a short walk through the town to the forest where various shrines and temples are located. The entrance to this area is marked by the famous Shinkyo bridge, built in 1636.

Just after the bridge is the entrance to a beautiful cedar forest and the Nikko world heritage site.

Once inside the park, we made for the Rinnoji Temple, the most important in the area, and originally founded in the 8^th century by Shodo Shonin, a monk who brought Buddhism to Nikko.

The front (above) and back (below) of the Rinnoji Temple

After visiting the temple we took a few minutes to visit the pretty Shoyoen Garden next door.

Our next stop was the highlight of Nikko – the Toshogu Shrine. This is a memorial to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which ruled Japan for over 250 years until 1868. The shrine was at first a simple mausoleum, but was later transformed into a huge complex by Ieyasu’s grandson in the 17th century. There was a lot to see, and we spent about an hour wandering around and taking lots of photos. At the entrance there was an impressive five-story pagoda…..

…then inside the walls of the complex are a series of richly carved gates, shrines and temples….

Spectacular carvings at the Toshogu Shrine

More amazing woodwork, Toshogu Shrine Nikko

….and finally the relatively modest resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu himself. The workmanship of this temple complex is incredible and it richly deserves its reputation as one of the highlights of any visit to Japan. Making the site even more remarkable is setting, surrounded by the towering trees of a beautiful cedar forest.

After the truly awesome Toshogu Shrine, our next stop was the more modest Futarasan Shrine, dedicated to Nikko’s sacred mountains. Indeed, the whole area around Nikko is a national park, famed for its beautiful November colours – but sadly we did not have time to spend the extra day that a visit there would have required. The Futarasan Shrine was more modest than the other places we had visited in Nikko, but less crowded, and still very pleasant.

From there we made a short walk to our last destination, the Tamozawa Imperial Villa. This was constructed in 1899, using parts on an older building already on site and parts of a house in Tokyo belonging to the Tokugawa family. It was used as a summer residence for the emperor and his family. The villa was quite different to Nikko’s other sites – its restrained, elegant architecture contrasted with the extravagant carvings of the shrines. We found it radiated a feeling of calm and contemplation and were very happy we had chosen to visit this place last, to provide a peaceful end to a busy day sightseeing.

We both had a snooze in the train on the way back to Shinjuku, to prepare us for another night of partying – this time in the nearby Shibuya district, which is also famed for its nightlife. Shibuya’s station was even more confusing than Shinjuku’s and we spent a frustrating half an hour wandering through construction work, underground tunnels and then along raised walkways, with our Google Maps navigator totally unable to find its way out of the mess. When we finally emerged, we didn’t have much time left to explore the area but did at least get to see this aspiring boy band performing on the street.

Dinner was at the rooftop Ce La Vi restaurant and was excellent. Aki and I indulged in some very good cocktails and a glass of sparkling sake. It was a great way to end the day, even if we started early and got back to our flat at midnight.

View over Tokyo’s skyscrapers at night

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20th October 2024 3