Blogs from Gifu, Japan, Asia - page 2

Wednesday, 20th September 2017 I hopped on to the Toyama Chitetsu Bus (advanced booking recommended) which would bring me to the Shirakawa-Go village from JR Toyama Station.The short 1-hour commute meant that I did not have to spend a lot of time travelling between places since I am not really a "bus" and "road" traveller. The Shirakawa-Go village is not a very big place as I soon found out after bussing my way to the viewing point for an overview of the place. In winter, the steep roofs would be covered with snow and that would certainly present a very different sight. Even though this is a UNESCO Heritage Site, I liked that the authorities have not overly exploited the site for tourist dollars. Bus connections to Toyama is still rather infrequent these days with about ... read more

Wednesday 22nd March We had some time to kill before checking out of our little home so we visited Kyoto Towers, just around the corner. This is Kyoto's tallest structure, standing 131 metres tall with an observation deck at 100 metres. It was built in 1964 to coincide with the Tokyo Olympics, on top of another building and from here were views all over Kyoto. It was quite clear when we were up there but still the cloud and smog did affect the distance one could see. From the viewing area the size of the train terminal could really be appreciated. After being up there for about 15 minutes Rags could feel movement in the building, probably due to wind. Even though he knew this, he couldn't get the thought of an earthquake out of his ... read more

Takayama to Norikoura What a day? It is surprising how a day can change so dramatically. We set off from town with a bit of cloud, which soon turned into a clear sky and getting warmer as we travelled up the quiet road with a hillside on our left with houses having well manicured gardens and lovely shaped trees. On our right were small tractors preparing the ground ready for rice planting. All too soon we were on the main road and climbing into the hills. Our first stop was at a small Tofu factory for our morning break. We had coffee, nuts, oranges and of course some delicious warm fried Tofu. Onward and upwards we pedalled for what seemed forever past snow ploughs and snow blowers, which was an ominous sight. I was nearly dead ... read more

The spring trip is almost over and it has been full of fun, adventure and laughter as we have explored both well known and little known parts of Honshu. Much of our trip has been in rain- mostly light but some very heavy but nothing seemed to dampen spirits as our troop took everything in their stride. In their own words in (prose or Haiku poetry of 17 syllables) are some samples views: The cherry blossoms. Burst into flower today. Waking our senses. Shinjuku Gyoen National Park Tokyo- A georgeous display of cherry blossoms, a delight o see the japanese people celebrating th ebeauty by painting the scenery, enjoying meeting,friends and family and picnicing under the blossom trees. The lovely families with young children, the peace and tranquillity of the gardens so neat and pristine. Young, ... read more

We arrived in Takayama about 4 hours after we left Tokyo. We actually got kicked off our first Shinkansen (fast train) as our JR rail pass didn’t cover that train. Kicked off sounds a lot more dramatic than it was; in fact we got numerous apologies from the man checking tickets, a bow and a please change at the next station. Takayama is a town of about 90,000 people to the north west of Tokyo in the mountains. It is famous for its traditional houses which line some of the main streets in the town. Our train was met at the station by a car from our home for the next three nights – a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn). We were shown to our tatami mat room by one of the staff who explained how the ... read more