Poor Robby is ill today. Today is a travel day. We take a 40-minute ride from Kyoto to Nagoya, then a 2.5-hour ride to Takayama. Robby sleeps and misses the scenic train ride. The small mountains are covered with trees, mostly bamboo and evergreen. Small towns have large, ceramic-roofed houses surrounded by modest plots of land, either rice patties or vegetables. Every garden or plot of land is neatly tended; every inch impeccably clean. When we get closer to Takayama, we weave over & across, following the same wide, shallow river. The lush greenery & rushing river reminds me of Washington State.
We arrive to Takayama, a small historic town flanked by two rivers & surrounded by picturesque mountains. This town is surprisingly English-friendly. Maps & signs are posted everywhere in Japanese and English, and many restaurants have English menus. Takayama is like Yangshuo near Guilin, China, and Goreme in Capadoccia, Turkey: foreigner-friendly towns far out from the big cities where foreigners can find rest in the natural scenery of the countryside. Towns like these have done well catering to backpackers.
We find our lodging, Minshuku Kuwatani-ya, settle in, and take a walk into the central part of town. We seem some recurring themes here:
- BEEF: Hida beef is offered in butcher shops & restaurants - even beef sushi rolls
- A red figurine in a black handkerchief with cones for arms & legs. Our waitress says it’s a “MONKEY BABY”
- WOOD: Woodcraft is common art form here, so we walk by many furniture stores full of wooden chairs, tables, clocks, etc. Jorg would love it.
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