The Japanese Alps
31.03.2024
25 °C
We are racing against the clock now as we jam a fortnight’s worth of sightseeing into a week. Spring has finally arrived, and we have a long way to go from Kanazawa on Japan’s west coast to Tokyo on the east. The coastal plains of Japan are so densely populated that it’s sometimes difficult to believe that most of Japan is sparsely inhabited forested mountains. A 90-minute bus ride from Kanazawa to Shirakawa-go took us under the Japanese Alps through numerous lengthy tunnels until we emerged into the alpine village renowned for its ancient thatched houses…
The snow was still on the ground, but was being quickly melted by the warm spring sun…
Another bus, and yet more long tunnels, took us south into the heart of the alps at Takayama where we visited the museum of Yatai…
Twelve of these highly decorated Yatai floats weighing several tons have been paraded through the streets twice a year in celebration of spring and autumn since the 17th century. Only four floats are on display in the museum at any one time, but we caught a glimpse of another in its garage as it was being prepared for the festival…
We couldn’t wait for the festival, but we found time to visit a nearby Shinto shrine where the priest and his assistant were blessing someone’s new car. While we are beginning to reach a point of saturation with Japanese temples and shrines, we found several very attractive small ones in the grounds of the main building…
And the temple’s pond was teeming with colourful fish…
Takayama is a bustling tourist hub with alpine walks, various annual festivals and events, and many streets of Edo period shophouses which could easily fill a tourist’s week... 
But the promise of cherry blossoms called us back to the warmth of the coast and we took a scenic two-hour train ride alongside the Hida River and through the forested alpine passes in a journey that reminded us of our home in British Columbia. And when we arrived in Higashi-Okazaki we found the cherry blossom festival in full swing with many manga characters hamming it up for their followers…
However, although some of the vaunted riverside cherries were in bloom, they have yet to reach their full potential…
So, the blossoms can wait until we reach Tokyo. In the meantime, we had a quick look at Okazaki Castle - famous as the birthplace of Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1542. Ieyasu is revered as the man who established the Edo shogunate in 1603 that was responsible for uniting and pacifying Japan...
With Higashi-Okazaki behind us we have just one more stop before Tokyo – the resort town of Kamakura close to Yokohama. It’s Easter weekend and there isn’t an Easter egg to be seen, so we will have to make do with some Japanese Kit-Kats. But should we have the strawberry, apple, matcha or maple Kit-Kats – or one of the dozen other varieties found only in Japan?
Always interested in roofing and that thatched variety is fascinating. Must be a couple of feet thick and layered. Venting below the peak unusual as well.
by R and B