Morning arrives unnoticed. Though winter, the sky was dimly lit when I wake up near 6am.

As a side note, we woke up during the night as the heater while needed going to sleep, became too strong during the night. So we had a little midnight supper, appreciating the rice balls and shiitake mushroom tea. The shiitake mushroom tea is fantastic, a small bit of pepper in the mix gives it a pleasant, warming sting. Later on we would shopped for it, but alas could not find ones with pepper. The pepperless one we bought was found lacking depth in its taste.

 

 

Breakfast is at 7am so there’s plenty of time for a morning dip in the onsen.

Overnight the men’s and women’s onsen has switched sides. It’s a way for the ryokan to let the guests enjoy different onsen baths and experiences. There’s a few more people this time, but few enough to not feel like intruding on each other.

After a refreshing bath, we head to the same private dining room as the night before. Usually breakfast is served in the guests’ own rooms, since Yatsusan has its own dining rooms, it utilizes them instead. I’m sure if one requested they’d be more than happy to bring it to your room.

The dishes are served mostly as a whole this time. There’s a few hot dishes that are brought individually later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hoba Miso Hida specialty, it’s spring onion, mushrooms, veges mixed with miso placed on magnolia leaf, grilled over a fire and goes fantastically with rice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After breakfast my parents goes back up for another nap, while I went exploring the maze of corridors of Yatsusan.

Since its founding, successive generations have gradually expanded the place with several wings, each with its own unique style and characteristics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is hard to describe the feeling of being in Yatsusan-kan. Aside from the impeccable service, the whole place is tended to with utmost care. You do not see it, but you feel it around every wooden beam and every paper door. Small artworks and trinkets are sprinkled about the place, populating and always piquing your interests, but never excessive to give the feel of getting in the way or distracting.

Clean and tidy, but not sterile. There are plenty of human touch, of hand written signs or notes when others might have opted for the convenience of a print out. Furniture and other fixtures are not uniform, keeping to the same theme but varied, it all contributes to a feeling of care and love, as though you can picture the owners personally placing every pebble and installing each light. A wonderful place which the owners invites you to share in its comforts and joys. You are not a patron paying, you are a guest welcomed.

 

Even the best experience must draw to an end. We checks out, leaving our luggage with Yatsusan-kan, and embark on a tour of Furukawa.

(Note, onsens in Japan often have a special “onsen” fee that’s used to maintain the onsen. Though some will choose to absorb this into the overall price, many will collect this as a surcharge when you check out. It’s not much, about 100 ~ 150Y per person)

 

 

Hida-Furukawa is not a very big town, nor many tourism spots. Its main attraction is a stretch of river canal lined with historic buildings.

 

 

There are two breweries in Furukawa, both apparently quite well known in the area. We bought a bottle of the gen-sake (undiluted sake), it’s almost milky in texture, full of flavour, almost a little too strong for me. (I still prefer my dessert wines)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately the Hida-craft museum is closed today. (Why is a museum closed on Saturday? I have no idea)

We then decided to skip on the Hida festival museum and head to Takayama a bit earlier than planned.

 

 

I believe Yatsusan-kan does more than just ryokan, but also ryotei (high classed restaurant). There were a group of business looking men which we spotted leaving after dinner time last night, and while we waits for our luggage to be brought down to us, we see the same group of men entering.

The okami drove us to the station, just in time for the local commuter train.

It takes about 20 minutes to get to Takayama. We hop off and head to our hotel to drop off our bags first.

 

Our stay in Takayama is Super Hotel. There aren’t that many choices of accommodation in Takayama, at least not ones in the price range I look for. There’s Spa Hotel Alpina, a hotel that prides itself on its top floor 360 view onsen, but its price is at the top range of business hotels. There’s Country Hotel and Hotel Hana, both on the cheap end but I decided Super Hotel was the better value choice.

There’s plenty of homestays if that is your preferred choice, though they are usually not bookable through Jalan or Rakuten and you need to contact them directly. Too much effort to organize in the scheme of things during my planning.

The lobby of Super Hotel is already piled high with luggages when we got there. Quite clearly quite a few others agree with my assessments and also considers it the hotel of choice for tourists.

Relieved of our burden, we’re now free to look for lunch. Most people come to Takayama for Hida beef meals and magnolia leaf miso, but we’ve had a taste of that last night and this morning (and probably of finer calibre too). So instead I aims for something simple, I’ve grabbed a few potential eateries off Tabelog during planning, and intends to play it by ears.

Most of the eateries are just off the north side of the main street. The first one, Tsuzumi Soba (つづみそば), famous for its chinese soba (misnomer, decidedly not chinese style), is full with people lined up outside, so we continue past to Mitsui Shokudou.

As a shokudou (eatery), Mitsui does not have anything fancy, what it is is well priced and decent taste. (about 600 to 700Y for a don or udon)

 

There’s just one thing I forgot when I picked it…. Japanese are real heavy smokers and while some restaurants are non-smoking, or at least have a smoking section (usually ineffective, some better ones will physically wall off smoking area), that’s not a luxury a small eatery can afford. Halfway through our meal, a group sat down behind us and began smoking.

We had to quickly finish our lunch and escape the smoke. But otherwise the place was excellent, the taste is good and the portions generous.

Since we got to Takayama earlier than expected (I had originally planned to have lunch in Furukawa), it gives us a full afternoon instead of just half. I think Yatsusan-kan really left an impression on my parents, they probably worried this trip might be too much about them and I wouldn’t get enough out of this trip. They encouraged me to go off on my own, they’re more than capable of wander the area and getting back to the hotel.

A sound plan, Takayama’s main attraction is the 3 historic streets, which has a lot of small shops full of souvenirs and small crafts and trinkets. And I’m not a shopping person, my main focus is Hyouka sightseeing, which would bore my parents to tears.

Parting ways turns out to be a great idea, as there’s more to Hyouka than I originally expected and would not have been able to do in the time I had originally reserved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking through the notes and Hyouka goods, I notice there’s a set of 4 limited edition coaster only sold at 4 places in Takayama. The design immediately caught my eyes. A little souvenir can’t hurt, right?

I walk out with a coaster in hand. I have an additional task ahead, Marutto Plaza only had one of the four available, so now I need to track down all 4 coasters.

 

 

 

 

 

Bagpipe is one of the places that sells the coasters I’m hunting. Unfortunately, it also only have 2 of them….

 

The hunt for the coasters continue. I did not enter Teacafe Katsute as I didn’t have to for another drink. Hopefully the last place has the remaining coasters.

The last place is Nakada Central Pharmacy (中田中央薬品), the owner must be a huge Hyouka fan, for it is the official host for the Hyouka Festival.

 

 

 

 

I’m in luck, all four coasters are in fact available here! (if only I looked here first…) With the coasters set now complete, I continue on my pilgrimage.

 

 

 

 

 

My pilgrimage now takes a short break. It’s nearing 3pm and it’s time to meet back up with my parents at Super Hotel and check in to our rooms.

Super Hotel’s concierge is a very friendly and experienced young woman. She quickly goes through the various rules and amnesties of the hotel (wifi in lobby, breakfast at lobby, help yourself to your preferred pillow from the pillow store…etc), she keeps her words simple and I found no problem understanding her. I knew most of what she was going to say, except the door lock. Super Hotel has no keys (not even swipe card), instead on each door is a number pad and a pin is generated to unlock it. Make sure to keep the printout of the pin safe.

After check in I continue my pilgrimage. All afternoon I’ve focused on the eastside, now it’s time to check out a spot just south of Takayama Station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After rejoining with my parents once more, we head out for dinner. Originally I planned for us to have ramen, but my parents didn’t feel too much like noodles so we decides to go to the main street and see what’s available.

 

 

 

We decide on Tanyakyo, a place that specializes in Hida beef (aren’t they all). It’s very crowded during the day but at this time, it’s fairly quiet.

 

During dinner, my parents mentioned this woman they met while waiting at Super Hotel’s lobby earlier in the day. The woman and her kid was also from Taiwan and she and my parents had a conversation while waiting for the Hotel to open check in.

She was going to the light up also and was surprised when my parents mentioned we are going to the light up and will actually staying in Shirakawa-go.  My parents said the woman was quite impressed that I was able to secure one.

Apparently she tried but couldn’t secure anything. She started planning from a year ago, tried to secure accommodations, even bought a fax machine so she can fax those homestays but they couldn’t understand english. In the end she had to book tour bus trips for the light up. The bus departs from Takayama and arrives in Shirakawa-go just before the light up starts, then comes back to Takayama after the light up.

Determined she would stay at a homestay, she booked one for Monday night all the same. No light up, but she gets to stay there.

Her reaction gave the wrong impression for my parents though. While I appreciate the praise my parents started to give about how good I had to be to have pulled this trip off, I must say getting accommodation for Shirakawa-go is not that difficult as the woman made it out to be. My priority were the English speaking, email bookable homestays, but if the woman was willing to go to the length of buying a fax machine, her options opens up greatly. Even up till early November I know people were still managing to secure accommodations. Some ryokans and homestays further out from Shirokawa-go also offered transports to the light up when you stayed with them.

 

Back in Super Hotel, I finally get a chance for a good night’s sleep. Super Hotel doesn’t have triple rooms, so I booked a double and a single. Curious enough, their double and single are basically the same, only double has a bunk bed on top so the second person can sleep up there if he so chooses.

I get to have a room to myself and can relax and roll around all I want on the bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sun rises over Nagoya.

I did not sleep very well during the night, perhaps too much on the mind over today’s challenges – getting to Yatsusan-kan. How full is the train? Even though I booked for reserved seats less people is preferable. And what do I do once we get to Furukawa? I should call the ryokan to ask for a ride, but what if my mobile roaming doesn’t work? Do I walk the 10 min there? Or maybe look for a payphone? Too much possibilities to consider.

Thankfully the first thing in the morning is simple. Breakfast.

I’ve booked breakfast with our reservation, so at least I need not think about what to do for breakfast.

Montblanc has its own western styled restaurant Mongiamo on the ground floor (or Japanese style if you so choose on the second, but I’d never go for Japanese breakfast at a hotel), it has has a public facing door, but for breakfast we enter from the hotel lobby.

There’s breads, grapefruits, eggs and sausages, quite a bit of salad and yoghurt, and hot drinks. Unlike buffets elsewhere where you’d b expected to toast your own bread and buns, here the staff would happily do it for you and bring it to your table.

Overall variety is lacking for the price (900Y), the taste nothing to report on. The only noteworthy item is red beans on toast, which is a pretty good fit.

 

Our Hida express leaves at 12:40, so we have a morning to do some sightseeing. Not quite enough to go very far, maybe just enough for one place. We decide on Nagoya Castle.

 

We get off at Hisaya Odori and walks toward the castle.

 

It’s about 20 min walk from Hisaya Odori through the government district.

 

Most of Japan’s castles were destroyed during WW2, Nagoya Castle and its palace was one of them. Though the castle keep was rebuilt not long after the war, the palace remained barren ground until recent years, when efforts are made to rebuild it. Mostly through donations, the first part of the restoration project is open to the public.

 

 

Like many rebuilt castles, Nagoya Castle only resembles the original in outward appearance, the inside is anything but what you’d expect a medieval Japanese keep to be. Each level is now museum with displays of swords and tools from the day, and there’s an elevator that goes right up to the 2nd highest level. At the very top is an observation level with souvenir shops.

 

All decidedly unhistorical. I think back to my visit to the Matsue Castle, one of the few remaining castles untouched by war and retained its original form. Dim interiors lit only by what light that finds through the arrow slits, crude unpolished black wooden struts of menace, narrow steep stairs. Primitive, utilitarian, a castle with a purpose, its face steeped in history.

We walk back to Sakae and its underground mall.

 

The stores here are a motley bunch, pharmacies, clothings, takeaway foods, cake shops, bakeries and sweets shops. Non-expensive items which might entice people going to and from work.

As noon nears we return to Montblanc, picks up our luggage and heads to the station.

The plan is to buy ekibens and have lunch on the train. However I’ve probably searched in the wrong place, unlike Tokyo or Okayama, we didn’t find many ekiben stalls. There’s a few, but selection feels a little limited. I regret not having researched for ekibens beforehand.

We picked our choices and headed up to the platform.

The familiar orange decor of the Hida Express greets me.

The train is unbelievably full. I thought this would be a lull period for visiting Takayama. Maybe friday afternoons are always this crowded? Can’t remember which day of the week I visited Takayama last time was.

My parents are initially confused by the train going “backwards”, as in the opposite direction the seats are facing. I quickly explained that the train will soon reverse at Gifu. Before Gifu station the Tokaido Main Line split off into the Takayama Main Line in a Y intersection, with Gifu at the bottom end. So the train “backs” into Gifu then goes “forward” onto Takayama Main Line for the rest of its journey.

The scenery has changed much from my last visit. The mountains are not the vibrant green it had been in the Spring, the hills are a dull brown, the evergreen forest broken with leafless barren branches.

As the train climbed, snow began to jot about the landscape. Initially only in the shady sides of the mountain and houses, then everywhere by a thin layer.

As we crossed into the Takayama valley, the fields became thick with snow. I became both excited and worried. How cold is it going to be? Inside the train where the heater is on full, the snowy landscape felt surreal.

Almost all of the passengers left at Takayama. We will be visiting Takayama as well, but not today. We will be getting off at the next stop, Hida-Furukawa, a few kilometres further to the north.

The express continued on with half its carriages.

If my mind wasn’t quite made up on calling Yatsusan-kan before, it certainly is now. The snow only got thicker. There is no way we will be able to walk to Yatsusan-kan, even if the roads are plowed it is certain to be wet and muddy.

I rehearsed in the mind about what to say.

As the train pulled into Furukawa, my eyes lit up at the sight of a white van. The heart races as I searched for any names on its side.

There, in blue letters, was the words 八ツ三館 (Yatsusan-kan).

I breathes with relief. Even though I had emailed them previously about my expected arrival time, they didn’t reply whether they understood and would be waiting.

Outside the station, a man in kimono approaches and inquires if I am who I am.

More than glad to see him, I took his and greeted him warmly.

Now things get a little more interesting… I’m not sure how etiquette is regarding taking photos, so I kept it sparingly while any of their staff is with us. Some photos of places aren’t taken on the spot, but rather taken later.

The van rounded around the ryokan and stops at the front door. We are welcomed by the okami (女将, owner of the ryokan) and several nakai (仲居).

Yatsusan-kan was founded around the end of the Edo period around 1850s. Founded by Sangoro (三五郎) who came from the Etchuyatsuo (越中八尾) area, taking a number from the founder’s name and his place of birth, so named Yatsusan. A place that’s now being run by the 8th generation owner, it has witnessed history through the ages.

In the Meiji period textile and fabrics industry was booming in the neighbouring Shinjuu (now Nagano) area. Many young girls from the poor farming areas of Hida were forced to leave their homes and go to work long hours in the factories. In order to get to Shinjuu, they had to make long and arduous journey across snow capped alps which many lives were lost. Yatsusan-kan was one of the gathering points for the young girls before and after their journeys, gathering before departing together and the place from which they disperse after returning.

Its halls echoes with footsteps from the past, Yatsusan-kan is now recognized as a cultural heritage.

 

 

Btw at ryokans and many other traditional Japanese houses, upon entering one is supposed to remove one’s shoes.

We are brought to a nearby waiting room. At the centre is a fantastic wooden firepit table carved of ancient wood. The charcoal embering in the middle warmed the room with a comfortable heat.

Warm matcha tea and desserts is served as a sign of welcome.

 

 

After some rest, I’m given a form to fill in regarding our preferred times for dinner and breakfast as well as any additional requests we would like to make.

One of the nakai, a young woman, then gave us a tour of the place and tried her best to explain the various rules. We are led to our room, it’s on the second level and surprisingly there’s an elevator for it. Here the okami takes over. It became clear later she has pretty decent English and for most of our stay we would be attended by her instead of one of the nakai.

Our room is called shiwasu (師走), the traditional Japanese name for December, the okami explains.

We sit down at the table and the okami welcomes us again, with some light conversation about whether it’s our first time in Japan. If I knew more Japanese I’m sure some interesting conversation could be had, okami is very nice and friendly. Soon she brings out the yukatas stored in the drawers and shows them to us.

After confirming dinner time again, she leaves us to enjoy our stay.

 

 

 

Before heading to the onsen, I decide to take a quick stroll outside, just to see how cold it is. Perhaps the excitement, I thought it is warmer than Nagoya.

 

 

 

 

We did not go very far. The ground is a little slippery but otherwise I’m assured that my new boots will be up to the job when we get to Shirakawa.

Upon return we head to the onsen. My parents are impressed by the service thus far and seeing the rooms are mostly empty as I planned, are eager to give the onsen experience a try.

There are no photos, so please look them up on the Yatsusan website (http://www.823kan.com/)

The onsen is small but relaxing, we pretty much have the whole place to ourselves.

Outdoors, submerged in hot spring, watching the steam rises against snow capped trees, sipping on provided fine sake. One could float here in lasting tranquility.

After a nice bath, I go about exploring the place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then comes the highlight of evening – Kyoto-style fine dining.

There are several ways which ryokans usually serve dinner.

Some ryokans have a dining hall where everyone is seated, some serve dinner in the guests’ own rooms. Some have individual dining rooms for guests (個室料亭). Yatsusan have its own dining wing with individual rooms, ensuring each guests get to dine in peace without being disturbed or concerned about disturbing others.

Some ryokans lay out the entire course on the table to reduce the number of nakai needed. Yatsusan serves them the proper, traditional way, with each course brought and served one at a time.

Yatsusan-kan prides itself on sourcing local ingredients, including its own vegetable farms, though in winter that probably matters less.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the luxurious dinner it’s time for a night time stroll to help with digestion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we returned to our room, our bed have been laid out and the tea table moved to the front half of the room. A new plate of onigiri (rice ball) is on the table in case we get a little nibbly and feel like some late supper.

 

 

 

Day 1 begins as previous maigo trips, going to Taipei airport and killing time at the paid-lounge, courtesy of the credit card company. It barely qualifies as a lounge compared to Cathay’s The Wing… but it got coffee (of the cheapest kind) and ice cream, so I’ll grudgingly qualify it.

There are not many choice of flights travelling to Nagoya. Either Cathay, China Airlines or JAL. The last one have the worst possible hours, late arrival and early departure. China Airlines does not fly every day which makes things very difficult, we have to get back before Chinese New Year and its time falls too close to New Year’s Eve. The only real choice is Cathay. Not that I mind, a few more miles accrued to exchange for lounge passes.

Upon landing in Centair Airport it’s a mad dash through customs. Unlike previous times, the realization of being in Japan set in as soon as we steps into the arrival lobby. Perhaps it’s the lack of a JR rail. In Tokyo I get to buy the NEX, in Kansai I simply exchanged my JR Pass, both relatively simple tasks interacting with people whom I can expect to speak English. Here in Centair, I’m forced to get ticket from an unknown, Meitetsu Rail and their unfamiliar ticketing machine. Having my parents around also added to the pressure to not mess up.

I first withdrew a large wad of cash from the ATM machine in the lobby using my new Citibank Plus card. My former trusted overseas cash solution of choice, the 28 Degrees card, decided free overseas withdraw was too much of a godsend and slapped on something like a 4% charge. Thankfully Citibank got better senses and was more than happy to fill the gap. (I’ll wager a gold coin that every single person who travels overseas regularly now has a CitiPlus card)

Travelling in Japan always feels a little odd, having to carry so much cash. Back in Australia someone holding a knife to me would be lucky to get more than 80AUD. You’d be hard pressed to find a place in Australia that doesn’t accept cards (and if they don’t, it’s probably because they don’t want it on record *cough* tax office-free discount). Maybe the ease and spread of EFTPOS in Australia paved the way for credit cards.

Next it’s crossing a skybridge to the Access Plaza.

The first confusing task is getting used to the way tickets are sold in the Nagoya area. Unintuitively, tickets are sold by price rather than destination. ie, instead of buying a ticket to Nagoya, you look up how much the ticket cost (850Y), then buy a 850Y ticket. Should you change your mind, you can then use that ticket to travel elsewhere that also costs 850Y to get to….

There are 3 types of services to Nagoya. The μ-SKY express which is all reservation takes about 30 minutes, it also has a express surcharge of 350Y on top of the usual ticket, for a total of 1200Y.

Then there’s the limited express (特急) which runs about every half hour that takes about 40 min. Be careful that some carriages are reserved seats which again will cost extra to sit in.

The slowest is the semi-limited express (準急) which seems to also run every half hour between the limited express, but can take up to 50 min. (So you might as well wait for the next limited express)

The carriage is sort of like your usual metro train, mostly standing room with seats lining the sides, the exception is a few standard 2-2 seat arrangements in the middle of the carriage.

At Nagoya Station we get off. The station had an interesting platform arrangement, with platforms on both sides of the carriage and people alighting and boarding from and to different sides and platforms. The doors on the right side would open a couple seconds first for people to alight, before the door on the left side opens for people waiting on the platform to board. A very clever design to separate and control passenger flow, now you won’t have people butting into each other on the platforms and stairs.

The pressure of having my parents around is getting to me, I’ll admit freely. I failed to pause and study the area as I would usually do. Meitetsu Nagoya station is just as complex as any other Japanese underground, with several levels, multiple exists and even more connecting corridors. Based on my vague memory from last time, I took a guess at where the central Meitetsu exit puts us in relation to the main JR station and walked out into the cold.

Note to self, anytime you’re not sure, right is probably more right than left.

Thankfully I could not have hoped for better navigation reference than the JR twin tower, a look up told me the direction was wrong and I quickly doubled back to the Sakura-dori side (station east side).

The wind is blitzing, the air freezing. Stumbling past the taxi jam in front of JR while cursing myself for putting my parents unnecessarily long in the cold despite my assurance the hotel is across the road, I worried about the days ahead if Nagoya is already proving to be this cold.

Our hotel in Nagoya (first and last night) is the Ekimae Montblanc Hotel (名古屋駅前モンブランホテル). As its name suggests, it is very much right before the railway station, across the main street and about 50 meters to the left. The schedule always dictated that we stay the first and last night in Nagoya and at the same hotel, it meant we can leave extra luggage with the hotel and retrieve it upon return to Nagoya, lightening the load we have to travel with.

Of the several reasons I chose Montblanc hotel, location was at the top of my list. It is the hotel nearest to the station (unless you count the high priced Marriot which sits on top of the station….). No need to transfer with luggage in tow, I can leave luggage at the hotel after checkout without the need to reserve much time in the schedule for retrieval, and nothing like being able to rest quickly upon getting off the bus after long days in the mountains. Weighing up the price of metro transfer and station locker, the price works out to be about the same compared to something closer to Sakae or Fushimi.

Sakae would be a better location if one plans to spend time mostly in Nagoya, but for this trip, Nagoya is just a springboard to Hida.

Slightly weighed in Montblanc’s flavor was that it had triple rooms… which is a oddity for business hotels in Japan. To be exact it’s a twin + sofa bed arrangement, still not something you see very often. A triple room is a ton cheaper than having to pay for a double and a single room.

Entering our room, my first thought is that true to its name, the triple room is pretty roomy. A room which I can’t bounce from one end to the other in a single leap? Huuuuge.

My parents, exclaimed how small the room is……..

Yeah…when you go with tours, they don’t exactly book business hotels.

Dinner time.

We head off for Yabaton (矢場とん), a famous tonkatsu (pork fillet) chain in Nagoya, famous for its miso tonkatsu.

There are several outlets, including some near the station. Since there’s no planned event for the night we head off for one in Sakae instead.

Right before Montblanc Hotel is an entrance to the metro station. Here I’m once again confounded by Nagoya’s ticketing system…  Select what tickets you want and how many, show total price, pay… that’s usually how ticket machine works. Nagoya metro? Insert money, then choose what ticket you want.

Thinking back on it, it does make sense in a vending machine sort of way.

200Y and 10 min later, we’re at Sakae and navigating the ever connected metro-department underground. Through Mitsukoshi then into Lachic department store.

Yabaton Lachic is on the 7th floor with all the other restaurants. We got there a bit after 5:30 and the restaurant is so empty I almost thought I had the wrong place. According to Yabton’s “current status” on its website, all of its stores frequently hit 30 min waiting queues.

There are no pictures, because I forgot in my eating frenzy.

It’s not much different from other tonkatsu aside from the thick red miso paste. A touch too savory, worth a try, but I would not go back for seconds.

Once again I reminisces about the tonkatsu I had in that small shop in Tokyo. Since that day, no tonkatsu taste good enough anymore. I must find the time and go visit it again some day.

 

 

We then walk up Hisaya Dori toward Nagoya TV Tower and Oasis 21.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s a roast your own oyster festival at the base of the Tower which we smelt from a block away. You buy a bag of oysters then go inside a line of tents, sit down next to a fire and roast them. If you’d like more, simply pop back out and buy more.

Close to the Tower is Oasis 21, a bizarre oval shaped pit with glass sail covering it. The open area at the bottom of the pit is used to stage various events, such as the World Cosplay Summit. Currently it contains an ice rink and christmas tree befitting the season.

 

 

 

After a relaxed stroll of the area, we head back to the hotel. At my parent’s insistence, we swung by the JR station and convenience store to purchase tomorrow’s train and bus tickets. I would have preferred to buy them by myself .

We returned to Montblanc somewhat early, close to 9 pm. I head out again, by myself this time.

There’s a viewing deck on level 15 of the JR tower called the SkyStreet.

It’s not a very high vantage point, it is free and close by.

 

 

 

 

Gazing across the cityscape and the dim reflections on the glass, I try to calm the nerves and recollect my thoughts.

Having my parents around is affecting me far more than I anticipated. I’m not thinking clearly, I’m rushing things, not enough time spent at Sakae, and missing photos. I also couldn’t figure out how get the smart terminal at the convenience store to bring up my bus reservation so I can pay and get my ticket. Everything’s going a little off, thankfully not much can go wrong yet.

The mind keeps running through the checklist and the plans for tomorrow. The real challenge comes tomorrow, Yatsusan-kan. I thumbed nervously through the prepsheet on my phone. Hope everything works out just fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shirakawa-go, a small town in the middle of the mountainous prefecture of Gifu, famous for its gingerbread-house like buildings with slopped straw roofs and heavy snowfalls. In the winter around Jan-Feb each year, a Light-Up event is hosted where spotlight is lit in the village and illuminates the village with surreal scenes of magical delight.

The initial phase of planning and research occurred almost a year ago, after seeing the photos of Shirakawa-go I offered almost passingly to take my parents on a trip, ostensibly because it will be difficult to secure accommodation for one person only. After confirming their interests, research work went into various transport and accommodation options.

 

Booking a homestay – The battle begins 6 months before leaving home…

In the closing days of June the light up dates is put up on the event website… and immediately the battle begins.

There are fewer than a score of gingerbread-like Gassho style homestays. Other accommodations are possible, however they’re more expensive, not the Gassho style house or further away from the village center. All which means it’s a real scramble to secure a place to stay at, with many booked out the moment the light up dates are announced.

To make things even more interesting….. you can count the number of places which can speak some english on one hand. On itself it’s a major annoyance, but not insurmountable, my written Japanese is halfway passable given sufficient time to check translations. The real challenge is only 2 places accepts reservation by email. For the rest? Phone and fax. I’m not confident I won’t misunderstand things over the phone, and where am I supposed to find a fax machine in this day and age? Not to mention I’m on VOIP which messes up fax transmissions. There are solutions, online faxes and platinum credit card’s concierge service or just braving long international calls, but none are ideal nor assured.

Which means I get 2, maybe 3 good shots, after that it’s luck and prayers.

The night of the light up dates announcement I was already phoning my parents for confirmation, at the same time begins drafting emails targeting the 3 dates in January (not possible in Feb due to Chinese New Year, and I wouldn’t try even if I could, the crowd would be terrible).

My first targets are the two email contactable Ootaya (大田屋) and Shimizu (志みづ). A plan B email is also sent to the Shirakawa-go tourism office which offers booking service or the other homestays.

Ootaya came back saying they’re not accepting reservation till November. And the tourism office came back with the status of each homestay, it’s a long list, but the short of it is they’re either all booked out or not yet accepting bookings.

A note regarding the tourism office. The dates they say the homestays start accepting booking is not the real one. That’s the date they’d start accepting reservations via the tourism office. Why that is I’m not sure, but I guess is some have been contracted out by tour companies and won’t release the rooms till later date, or possibly to pick and choose their guests. This is why people often report the homestays being booked out the day they start accepting reservations.

Or how I got a reply from Shimizu despite the tourism office stating they’re not accepting booking yet.

Lucky for me, Shimizu replied that they’re happy to receive me and my parents for the 26th Jan. I don’t know whether me having sent my email in both english and japanese made a difference, but I’m only too glad to have overcome one of the hardest hurdles with ease.

Anecdotally from various forums, the homestays booking became a total nightmare before July had even began in earnest.

After securing Shimizu there were a few later chances to pursue potentially “better” homestays, more professionally run or closer to the village center. But after much thought I decided against it. I’m not sure if I’d always be with my parents during our stay in Shirakawa, if they do need to return to the homestay early, a likely event since it’ll be quite cold there, it’d give a piece of mind to stay at someplace that speaks english so they won’t have problem with communications.

 

Planning the rest of the trip – The choices are all bad

What should have been straight forward planning turned out to be a total headache that’d haunt me for months until the later half of November.

Travel in the Hida area is simple. You get the Hida-road Free Pass (飛騨路フリーきっぷ), which gives you a return ride on the Hida express from Nagoya to the Hida area including Takayama (高山) and up to Hida-Furukawa (飛騨古川), then unlimited train rides in the Hida area. As an added bonus they also throw in free bus rides to Okuhida Onsen (奥飛騨温泉) and Shinhotaka (新穂高). You also get 10% off bus ticket from Takayama to Shirakawa. All for the unbelievable low price of 23800Y for 3 or 17800Y for 2. A return on the Hida express itself costs ~11600Y per person.

Too easy, buy the pass, travel to Takayama, go to Shirakawa with the bus, return the same way.

The only catch…. the pass in valid only for 3 days. Which when you account for the day in Shirakawa, does not leave you with much.

Assuming one takes the earliest Hida express on the first day then leaves with the latest on the 3rd, then…

If you spend the first night in Shirakawa, you could either jump on the bus immediately upon arriving in Takayama or spend 2.5 hours loitering in Takayama. For me this has the added problem of putting the 3rd day on the same day as the flight back to Taiwan, which essentially means wasting most of the 3rd day, not to mention the risk of a snowstorm stopping the Hida express and missing the fligh, ooooh boy.

If you spend the 2nd night in Shirakawa, you could return late and hope no blizzard stop you making the connection with the Hida express, or return in the morning and spend 3-4 hours in Takayama.

Neither options leaves you much time if you want to do a little more than sightseeing Takayama. Which I did….leading to my next headache.

 

Yatsusan Kan (八ツ三館) – Sure about that? Aren’t ratings usually related exponentially to price?

If this trip is ostensibly me making my parents tag along so I can stay at Shirakawa, then Yatsusan is my way of making up to them.

Yatsusan… I can’t quite recall how I ran across it, probably while searching for accommodations in and around Takayama. When I saw the ryokan I was….intrigued.

I had already been considering a ryokan, but truth be told Yatsusan was not quite within the price range I had in mind, nor its location.

Situated in Hida-Furukawa, a small quite town about 20 minutes from Takayama, the ryokan is steeped with history, its main building a cultural heritage, and its website surprisingly emanated charm and comfort without the arrogance or opulence so often found in other larger ryokans. A true historic ryokan, not one of those 10 stories tall modern day fashions.

Furthermore, it was rated 4.9 on Jalan and ~4.84 on Rakuten (two of the largest Japanese booking websites), unbelievably high scores and best in the region.

After much thought, I decided Yatsusan is definitely worth a visit. The problem was it now exacerbated my already strained scheduling. Fitting both Takayama and Yatsusan, its ryokan nature dictating arrival before 4 and leaving later than 9 the take advantage of its services? Impossible. Time spent at one of Takayama, Shirakawa and Yatsusan had to be sacrificed in order to fit in the 3 days of available time.

 

As it turns out Yatsusan would later develop into a highlight as much as the Light Up is.

 

Thinking outside the box, err…..train ticket

It still sounds crazy, but the solution to my problem came when I discovered that Yatsusan’s pricing on a Friday night was significantly cheaper than a Saturday which I had intended on staying. If I moved the Yatsusan to the Friday and spend 3 nights in the Hida area instead, it’ll prevent me from utilizing the Hida-road Free Pass, but I’ll also save on accommodation (staying in Takayama on the Saturday is also cheaper than spending Friday night in Nagoya). The price difference does not fully make up for it, but it makes juggling the schedule an option deserving of serious consideration.

Yatsusan + Shirakawa, cheaper, but stupidly crammed schedule, or

Yatsusan + Takayama + Shirakawa, fair bit more expensive, but plenty of free time.

There’s also a significant benefit that there’s barely any bookings for Yatsusan for the Friday while the Saturday is near fully booked. Moving to Friday would mean an empty ryokan all to ourselves. My parents are not quite so comfortable about the Japanese tradition of having to bath naked in the onsen, so having barely anyone there to share the onsen with will be a plus beyond measure, after all, much of the value of the ryokan lies in its outdoor onsen.

While not yet committed, the idea put me on a path of exploring more unconventional schedules, which finally brings me to the final discovery.

There’s a direct bus from Shirakawa back to Nagoya.

Which means saving both on money and time. It means actually cheaper total transport costs than the Hida-road pass option, and even more spare time, basically getting to spend a whole day in Shirakawa. The perfect schedule for what I had planned.

At last, the trip schedule took shape, 6 day (5 night) became Nagoya-Yatsusan (Hida-Furukawa)-Takayama-Shirakawa-Nagoya

 

For references:

Shirakawa Lightup website

Shirakawa Tourism Office

Yatsusan-kan

Hida road free pass is ~8000Y per person

Bus between Takayama to Shirakawa is 2400Y one way, 4300Y return (and 10% off with free pass)

Bus fom Shirakawa to Nagoya is 3500Y one way

 

Filling in the rest…. that sounds familiar, you turned this into what again?!

Now I can finally turn my attention to the finer details of the planning like what to see and do.

The last time I was in Takayama, Hyouka had not yet even finished its first season, so there are a few new anime setting spots, naturally this would be a good opportunity to see them.

Then there’s Higurashi, a cult classic which possibly popularized the taking cute things home (by force) and yandere meme. The game/anime’s small cut-off-from-the-world town just happened to be set in Shirakawa, where…surprise! one of the main characters also works as a shrine maiden at the local Shinto shrine. What can I say, mikos are moe, too bad azunyan never worked as one, Akiba would explode.

 

And well, I can’t say no for a chance like this, it’s like 3 birds with 1 stone… right?

So it is, I intends to also fill in some anime pilgrimage. It’s almost like a tradition at this point. San’in Maigo wasn’t initially planned to involve pilgrimages either, but it ended up having them. Mmmhmmm.

Now, you have any problems regarding this turn of event, please direct your complaints to Miss Rena Yandere

(Note: Yandere means she loves you to death, literally. Rena’s signature pose also involves a machete, just saying)