Category: Shirakawago

Whenever I think of our night in Shirakawago I smile. It truly was one of the highlights of the trip.  I have so many pictures from this day, so prepare yourself! But as usual, I’m getting ahead of myself, so let’s pick it back up in Takayama.

We woke up early and Sal took a soak. We checked out and had the hotel hold our luggage since our bus didn’t leave until the early afternoon. Even though we were traveling without our big suitcase thanks to luggage forwarding, we still had a big heavy backpack, our smaller rolling carry on bag, another backpack with gifts, and a shopping bag with more souvenirs. Well, the woman checking us out took all of it in one go. One go! She was little, but she was strong! She showed us her guns after I made a comment about her strength. It was pretty funny and we all got a giggle out of it.

We decided to check out the outdoor market for breakfast. They have two different markets that run almost every day. The market we went to consisted of a bunch of tables by the river selling snacks and some shops that opened to also sell food. Doing research before the trip I saw it mentioned that walking and eating is rude. I’m here to tell you that I saw non-Westerners doing it! We have manners (usually) and moved to the side to eat all of our goodies.

We had a few courses, including our first octopus balls (takoyaki). So hot, but so delicious!

We had some other treats, as well. It was all yummy.

I love going to markets for meals in Asia and getting to sample different things. Everything is almost always so fresh and tasty. As we were walking some students stopped us for questions again and to practice their English. There weren’t any gifts this time, but they spoke better English than the ones at the shrine in Kyoto.

 

We were going to take a craft class that taught you how to make the fake food they have in the window displays at restaurants, but when we got there we found they were inexplicably closed. This was the third or fourth time a place was closed without any reason we could distinguish. Ah well. We ended up wandering a bit and checked out a historical government building. You can read about it here. It was the last one of its kind left. The people working there were incredibly kind. We wandered through each of the rooms and looked at the gardens.

We were thirsty, so we stopped for some refreshment and air conditioning. It was so hot that day. I don’t know what this drink was – I guess a version of lemonade, but not made with lemons – but I had two because it was delicious.

 

Went to a very local ramen place for lunch and had to wait as it was busy. While we were waiting an old guy showed up and cut in line. In Japan! It was slightly shocking. He sat himself down and nobody spoke English, but it was clear they were trying to tell him to wait his turn as we were next in line. We decided to go, though, because it was really slow there and we didn’t have a ton of time. Instead we found a different restaurant. The woman running the place spoke English well and asked where we were from so she could add it to her globe. Cute.

We made our way back to the hotel to get our luggage, then walked to the bus station. Taking the bus was very easy as inside the station there were people that spoke some English and could explain where to wait. The bus arrived a few minutes before our departure time, of course. We had pre-booked and he had our name without any issues. He turned the AC off, though, when he arrived at the bus station, so it got hot quickly. It was only a few minutes and then we were on our way to Shirakawago! The scenery on the way was very nice and at the end we went through a very long tunnel.

Our traditional Japanese Inn, Shiroyamakan, was right across the street from the bus station. We arrived and were given green tea and checked into our traditional (corner) room.

This Inn has been in the family for generations. One of the daughters spoke very good English, which was a nice surprise. The accommodations included a car tour of Shirakawago, given by the Dad. No, he didn’t speak English. Instead he had a recording he played. It actually worked out great. He would make a few photo stops for us and pause the narration.

Dad took pics of us and we quickly discovered he had a sense of humor and did know a little bit of English — all cheese related. “Say…BLUE CHEESE!” “Say….SWISS CHEESE!” “Say…AMERICAN CHEESE!” before each pic. The man knew his English when it came to cheese, but that was pretty much the extent of it. I couldn’t help giggling. Every single time. Even when he was taking pictures of the other couple. I couldn’t help it – it was funny how into it he was! We continued on our drive.

He took us to a viewpoint that was closed to everyone else, but opened to us when we arrived. VIP treatment, baby!

It was  honestly one of the prettiest places I’ve ever seen. Between the unique homes and the mountains it was, in a word…wow.

Another car showed up after we had walked out and sweet talked the guard into having one minute to look at the view.

After we got back to the Inn we went for a walk in the little town. Of course I did a little shopping. Good grief. I never considered myself a shopaholic before, but in Japan I was really on the verge of being one.

 

It was getting buggy, so we headed on back. It was time to get ready for dinner. We got changed into our traditional wear (yukata), and were brought to a private room for our multi-course meal (Kaiseki).

That printout on the table had all of the courses listed. The food just kept coming and coming! We cooked some for ourselves, too.

I know you all probably think I’m a wimp when it comes to trying food after you saw everything Sal was willing to try in Kyoto at the BBQ, however I did try bear meat and I also tried everything at our dinner.

At one point the two sisters came into the room to take some of the dishes, and the sister that spoke English chatted and asked us some questions about where we were from, etc.  The one who spoke English well (I think her name tag said #4 daughter – not joking) asked how long we had been married and commented on how happy and nice she thought we were.  It may have been the nicest compliment we’ve gotten from a stranger; I was totally surprised.  Since she was being so friendly I decided to go out on a limb and ask her something I as dying to know: did she watch Terrace House? Terrace House is a Japanese reality show on Netflix that’s sort of like a G-rated version of The Real World, where strangers live together hoping to find love or achieve some other goal (it’s usually love related, though). Well, what followed was probably the most fun interaction I’d had with a local in any foreign country to date. The young woman could not believe I watched it and would translate back and forth for her sister. It was so much fun talking about the cast (they were filming the new one in Tokyo when we were there – I joked about trying to find the house) and just sort of having a conversation like you’d have with a friend back home. Having said that, nobody I know watches Terrace House, so it was that much more fun because I could finally talk to someone about it. Sal said we talked for 20-30 minutes. He kept laughing at how excited we all were to talk about it with each other. It’s a silly thing to connect with someone with, but it was great to make that bond. You can see my new friend at the end of this clip. I had no idea until I just watched it! Haha.

With full bellies we made our way back to our room. They had laid our mats out for us:

Of course there were some bugs, but I expected it. Sal fell asleep right away and started snoring, and all I could think about was if any insects were going to find a way into his mouth. I hid under the comforter! Of course eventually I had to go to the bathroom. It was a shared bathroom (our only one of the trip), but thankfully they had a Western toilet. Sharing a bathroom wasn’t a big deal at all and now I know and would do it again; it was extremely clean. When you go to the bathroom you switch out your regular sandals to bathroom sandals for cleanliness. I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to fall asleep laying on the floor, but it was actually pretty comfortable. Eventually the sound of the brook brought on sleep. In my mind I like to think I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

A truly spectacular day.