Takayama and the Japanese Alps

We fixed breakfast in the kitchen of the hostel this morning. Check the spelling--this is not a hostile kitchen, but a hostel kitchen.  They provide things like salt, pepper, seasonings, sugar, flour, and all the pots and pans and dishes one could possibly need to cook full meals.  We used the toaster and microwave to make a filling breakfast of toast, cereal and milk, tangerines, and hot tea.

It was chilly outside at this altitude, so it was the first time to break out the gloves on this trip.  There are two markets in Takayama, and we went to both this morning.  Denisa had read that there are delicious apples available in the fall, and she was delighted to find them.  We ended up buying a basket of apples, and they threw in a couple extras for free.  We asked the woman selling apples what kind of apples they were.  Denisa misunderstood that they were Yoko apples.  The saleswoman corrected her, "No, my name Yoko--these are Youku apples!"

We are happy to report that they are some of the most delicious apples we have ever eaten.  They are crisp and sweet, and the juice will run all the way to your elbow when you bite into them.  They were a great asset to our meals in Japan!  We also went to another market that morning and bought some very nice cherry tomatoes for lunch.

 We also purchased something that got the unusual-snack-award for the day.  It is a square made of egg whites and sugar that was dipped in a honey and egg batter and then toasted.  It tastes a little like honey-sweetened toasted meringue.

Takayama is an old city in the foothills of the Japanese Alps that enjoys some of the off-the-beaten-path tourists like ourselves.  We walked through the streets enjoying a smaller town.  Those small narrow streets have to have small narrow cars.  We think that these Japanese cars may be too narrow for two people to ride in, but they fit neatly in a small parking place.  Their tires look like the size on most American lawn mowers.

We've mentioned that Shinto shrines might be hidden in the hills, but are just as likely to be on a busy street corner.

Speaking of street corners, we like the pedestrian lights that we are seeing on many Japanese streets.  This light is red, but the height of the column of dots in the lower section indicates how much longer it will be red.  It started with the red dots clear to the top, and it is counting down.  The same applies when it turns green.  It will have a full column of green dots in the lower screen when it first turns.  So a pedestrian will know if they have time to cross the street based on the height of the column of green dots.

On this cool autumn morning, we headed up into the mountains on a trail on the east side of town.  The color of the trees was just stunning!

We have noticed cemeteries tucked into the hills as we sped by on the train.  Today we got to see one of those cemeteries at a slower pace, shaded by a beautiful tree.

We have also seen some beautiful gardens as we sped across Japan, so it was fun to sit quietly and watch this little woman bent over her crop today.

We have seen that even though it is November, Japanese gardens are still looking good with cabbage and onions ready to harvest.

We came to a public place, and found one of those handmade brooms that we have seen in action so many times. Denisa is enthralled with these brooms, and if we had room in our suitcases, this would be a great souvenir.

We managed to stumble onto the Kitayama Walking course, and it was a great walk through the foothills.

We haven't seen much wildlife in Japan, but we felt right at home when we saw this bear warning sign.  We didn't pack the bear spray this trip, so we are happy to report that we didn't need it today.

When we got to the top of our hill, we had a good view of the snow-topped Alps.  If we had more time, there is a bus that could take us closer to the tall peaks.  

Have we mentioned that we love the color of the trees in these mountains?  We spotted this group from afar, and just kept walking in their direction until we could see them up close.  This area close to Takayama has more deciduous trees than pines, and we think we have arrived at the peak of their color.

We hiked for over four hours today.  After days of cities and Buddhist temples, it was nice to be back in nature, wandering through God's wonders again.  But our trail eventually took us back to the Higashiyama Walking Trail that dips into town and a series of temples again.

It is interesting to see trees that are turning red little by little.  It was fun to see leaves that were half still green, and the other a splendid red.

We found ourselves in a park at the edge of town, sharing it with a group of pre-schoolers on a picnic.  We snapped several more pictures of the trees here.

A couple eating in the park couldn't speak any English, but he got up and gestured that he wanted to use our camera to take a picture of the two of us together.  So even if we can't speak the same language, we are impressed with the spirit of the Japanese people.

Hungry from all our hiking, we went in search of our "meal of the day."  We have read that Takayama is known for its beef.  We haven't seen any cattle as we have sped across this country, and we have found beef to be very pricey.  So all we could afford was this sampling of beef-on-a-stick at a local shop. The older Japanese man grilled it after we ordered, so it was fresh beef!

We then found a noodle place that was recommended by our Fodor's guide as well as our hostel.  Ebisu has been hand-making buckwheat soba noodles for 100 years.

They seated us at a low table with floor pads for seats next to a Japanese garden.  Sensing we were noodle rookies, our waitress brought a four-page book that gave instructions on how to eat them correctly.  She explained that we could keep the book as a gift.

So we dipped into the broth, tried the spices on the table as instructed, and used the chop sticks correctly.  We even slurped just as the book explained.  The chicken in the noodles was the chewiest we have ever experienced, but the noodles were top notch.

We had just enough time to pick up our luggage stored back at the hostel.  We also picked up our precious apples, and some cookies we had purchased.  Our train reservations are working well.  Denisa researched best times to travel based on express train schedules that get us to our next destination fastest.  Her guesses for the amount of time needed for sight-seeing in each place have been fairly accurate.  Our 2:39 train had to hitch up additional cars, and we actually pulled out of the station at 2:44--the only time we  experienced a late train in Japan.  The setting sun was lighting up the fall foliage as we left the mountains.

Mark threatened to start counting how many times Denisa exclaimed, "So pretty!" on this train ride.  It was also our first time to ride in the front car of the train.  Mark was tall enough to see over the seats to the front wind shield.  It looks like these rice fields were just recently harvested, and we could see the snow covered mountains in the far distance.

We changed from our local train to a shinkansen at the busy station in Nagoya.  We are headed to Tokyo, and it looks like most of the passengers are making a fast business trip between the two large cities.  Mark was the only man not wearing a dark suit at this station.  The black suit is definitely a part of their culture, as we have seen many school children wearing these suits every day to school.

We have found bathrooms to be one of the things that differentiate Japan from the United States.  But the toilets on the shinkansen trains are ultra-modern, and you don't have to touch anything.  You can wave your hand over the sensor to lower the seat, and another wave will flush.  This train is obviously geared to the businessman, because there is one toilet for men, and another for men or women.  That's the reason for a separate button for lowering the seat.

We had a fast ride into the Tokyo station.  We've came a long way from a small town in the mountains to the largest city in the world!  We checked into our business class hotel in the financial district of Tokyo.  We took a picture of the room, and realized that every room we have stayed in looks the same.  All the color schemes have been brown and white.  All the beds have been small and the rooms are just big enough to walk around two sides of the bed.  All have provided kimonos or robes and slippers.  All have very firm mattresses, but this one was the hardest of all.  We looked longingly at the industrial carpet on the floor thinking it might be more comfortable.  It's going to be a long three nights sleeping on this board-hard bed!