We departed Takayama under a brilliant blue sky and made the GPS Lady's day (she even sounded chipper) by taking the toll-ways to Shirakawa-go. Instead of winding through snow-dusted mountains, this express-way ploughed through them. We lost count of the tunnels - the last one was over 11 kilometres long.
We spotted an Eneos Station as we entered Shirakawa-Go, and were promptly descended upon by 3 gents who variously filled the tank, wiped the windscreen and shot the breeze with us. The chattiest of the three offered us a map of the Village we were heading to in English - which came in handy.
As we neared the historic area, some seriously-uniformed parking attendants waved us onto our eventual car park with their glowy batons. Due to the clear skies, the distant snow-capped mountains were plain to see - belying the sub-tropical 15 degrees as we stepped out of our Mazda.
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| Thatched roof and snow-capped mountain thrown in for good measure. |
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| The Martin clan a little taken aback by all the available sunlight. |
Ogimachi Gassho Village (located in Shirakawa-go) is World Heritage listed, and consists of dozens of traditionally-styled farm houses - their thatched roof-lines pitched to shrug off the thick coverage of snow received over winter. Thanks to the trip only taking an hour, many of the thatched roofs were still steaming in the morning sun as we arrived.
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| A world away from the bleak functionality of North-eastern Hokkaido. |
There were a number of family shrines located around the village - often overlooking small vegetable gardens, as well as a large Shrine devoted to Hachiman (who crosses over both Shintoism and Buddhism).
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| Shirakawa Hachiman Shrine |
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| Each house is typically 3 stories high, and they farm silk-worms in the attic... those not taken up by the housing of evil twins that is. |
As you do in an alpine village, we purchased some ice-cream (hey - the temperature was into double-figures). Quite bizarrely, Jen spotted one Japanese photographer taking a quick shot of us before scurrying off. Those damned paparazzi.
More to quell the constant goading by the Martin kiddies than any real need for sustenance, I purchased a Hida Beef Bun (a steamed bun with a centre of locally grown beef and gravy) - Japan's answer to the meat pie....only they actually have meat in theirs.
Having had our fill of World Heritage beauty and Hida beef in equal measure, we embarked on the second leg of our journey to Kanazawa. Jen broke out the Anpanman biscuits along the way. Anpanman is an outrageously-popular cartoon character who had a bean-paste bun for a head. Obviously.
In any event, while a fan of the show, Joshie did not enjoy him in biscuit-form nearly so much. I managed to get one of his side-kicks, a guy that has a piece of toast for a head.
We spotted the Sea of Japan as we neared Kanazawa, but our attention was quickly re-directed to more pressing matters. Essentially, Kanazawan drivers are nutters. People were veering across multiple lanes as they developed sudden urges to turn down side-streets. Others would cruise along the wrong side of the road for quite some time (a few hundred metres) prior to turning a corner.
Somewhat surprisingly, we made it to Kokusai Kanazawa - our accommodation for the evening. Large and flash-looking, it boasted its own pool-side Chapel. We noted a number of gentlemen in shiny grey suits and at least one lady in a puffy, white dress.
We dumped our gear in our room, and made a quick tour around Kenrokuen Gardens - known as one of the most beautiful in Japan. It was a perfect way to unwind after a day on the move - although I fear the herd of us trampling through may have upset the tranquility of the place just a smidge.
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| They love a bit of moss in Kanazawa. |
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| Near the Rainbow Bridge (which is in reality just a small stone bridge) in Kenrokuen Gardens |
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| Practical means to ensure ancient trees stick around. They use hard-wood timber posts, fastened with rope. |
We dined at the Hotel tonight and forewent the several fancy options available to try out the buffet. It was decidedly kid-friendly, the only intervention required on my behalf was to prevent a frozen dairy incident when Lily tried out the 'pour your own' soft-serve ice-cream (it was operated by a foot-pedal). It appears she has a lead-foot.
Tomorrow sees us return the car and board a train to Kyoto, where we shall be staying in our own apartment for the next few nights.
