The Third Phase: Lost in Translation, Part Six - Mountain Villages and Edo road to Tokyo

Because Japanese trains and busses are so efficient at getting around Japan, and can also be quite crowded with standing room only, an efficient luggage transfer system has been established. Depending on the distance it might be overnight or over several nights. So before we took the bus from Kanazawa into the mountains we stuffed our day packs with two night's essentials, labeled our suitcases with our destination hotel name and address, and left them with the concierge (fancy name for multi-taking hotel clerk in our small hotel).

The next morning we boarded our bus for a brief stop at a historic village in the mountains of Japan. Shirakawago, a UNESCO site, is known for its gassho-zukuri farmhouses, which means "praying hands houses". These 250 year-old farm houses get their name from the steeply pitched thatched roofs that reach almost to the ground. The roofs are designed to support the heavy snow, which is ever present from early December to late April, and insulate the house. They are so effective that the attics of the buildings were use to raise silk worms, kept warm by the rising heat of the lower level and insulated from outside by the thatch and snow.

We were there in the shoulder season rather than the prime tourist time, which is summer with fields of vibrant green grass, or the more popular winter, with the buildings covered with feet of snow and pristine white. Still it was quite lovely and we were glad for some snow covering to feel how remote, cold and lonely it must be in the winter only a few decades ago.

View of main village after hiking to top of knoll

Most homes are still occupied, but the primary economy is now tourism

The building are in various states of disrepair after the winter season

Known for their Soba noodles we stopped for a bowl of steaming ramen after seeing the village.

We didn't see the Snow Monkey that frequents the village, but only on this poster in the restaurant.

We caught the next bus to Takayama where we had a short lay-over before transferring to another bus to Matsumoto. (This is why we forwarded our baggage). If we were to return, I'd want to spend a full day in Takayama. It's smaller than Kanazawa, and has lovely and active pedestrian streets. We felt a bit like "power travelers" getting off the bus, literally running the quarter mile to the town center, enjoying the ambiance of the town for about 45 minutes, and then running back to catch our next bus.

Ran across the bridge that separates the bus station from the main town.

Pedestrian street with shops and restaurants for locals and tourists.

After leaving Takayama we took a bus deeper and higher into the mountains to Hirayu Onsen. (See red bar on map below.) This was a day to relax in an historic hot-spring town. First glance at the photos one might think, "what a bummer - grey skies and snow on their vacation". It couldn't have been better timed.

Sign at bus station

Hirayu Onsen town on walk from station to hotel

In Japan an Onsen is a hot-spring bath, including the bathing facilities around them, often associated with a ryokan. The bathing pool is traditionally fed by a natural geo-thermal spring, of which there are 25,000 in Japan. The bathing facilities are typically segregated by gender and the expectation is to wash oneself sitting on a low stool in a common bathing area and enter the hot spring au natural. Our ryokan had indoor segregated public baths, and private baths that you could reserve for modesty. Not being exceptionally modest I wanted to bathe in one of the several historic, outside, and naturally stream-fed.

Male and female Onsen behind Torii gate

The male changing/cleaning room within the facility

The setting reminded me of Timothy Egan's book title "Snow falling on cedars". Lovely

After my bath, Robin and Teigan headed to their private hotel Onsen

On walk to dinner

Inside historic building for our final dinner in Hirayu Onsen

After two nights we waited at the station for our bus to Matsumoto, and hopefully get reacquainted with our luggage. While waiting outside the station market, we noticed a bowl of eggs in a pool of hot-spring water offering hard boiled eggs for sale.

Man-made pool for boiling eggs

The Japanese love these waving "cute" cats. It means something if the left vs right paw moves. ???

Matsumoto, surrounded by the Japanese Alps, is the largest city between Kanazawa and Tokyo. It is famous for its dramatically colored Black Crow castle, one of the few feudal castles that was not destroyed over the centuries and rebuilt. It also has an art museum dedicated to Yayoi Kusama an internationally known artist who channeled her mental illness and schizophrenia since childhood into joyful and playful art that also represents her meaning of infinity and inter-connectedness. Her signature style is polka dots, mirrors, and large scale installations. Living NYC at 96, she was born in Matsumoto.

Grilled dinner first night in Matsumoto

Three futon beds in our ryokan in Matsumoto

Across the street from our ryokan we found our Happy-Hour place for saki with a lovely waitress.

Black Crow Castle

Yayoi Kusama's Yellow Pumpkin

A highlight for us on this trip is walking a section of the Nakasendo trail (also known as the Edo trail), which was the primary road between Kyoto and the imperial capital Edo (Tokyo) through the Kiso valley for 250 years starting in 1600s. To get to our section's trailhead we took a train and then bus to Magome-Juku, a preserved traditional village from feudal times.

The trail starts in Magome-Juku, on a paved path through the town.

The village sits in a basin surrounded by the Japanese Alps.

After leaving the village the pathway climbs higher with views of the surrounding countryside

Sign post for our 4.7 mile hike/walk between Magome and Tsumago

One can almost envision the samurai riding through the forest between villages where no one hears you scream. (Ok, a little dark, but those were medieval times).

However, I was there to protect them, sword in hand.

The trail remains much as it has been over the centuries.

As we descend into Tsumago small farm fields emerge.

Upper main street of Tsumago.

Well maintained gardens line the pathway

Lower, less visited, street of Tsumago to the bus stop and return to Matsumoto

After our second night in Matsumoto, we took the morning train to Tokyo for Teigan's last day. Our only day in Tokyo with Shu was brief and we didn't see some of the classic districts that we would have preferred. So with Teigan we headed to the Ginza. Every major city in the world seems to have a "High Street" with the luxury brands, and that is the Ginza. While more interesting than the shopping mall or cross-walk scramble we saw on our previous visit, shopping is not my thing, design is. What was interesting is how high-end retail has its own "brand" of architecture (double entendres intended). My bias, I have to say, is that it's not really architecture (as form follows function) as much as decorative interior design on the exterior; eye catching to draw people in. I'm sure others will disagree - so be it.

We did visit a Whiskey shop with hundreds of brands so Teigan could buy Jimmy, her squeeze, a gift.

Back into the subway system to return to Shinjuku Station and our hotel

In the evening after dinner we went out into the high-tech neon and LED lit urban intensity of Shinjuku District - in the pouring rain, our only day of rain. One of the fascinating displays, strictly for entertainment, is the animated electronic board below. Look closely at the top edge. It's not a flat screen - but one 1/4 curves around the building. This curved flat screen, the perspective and shadows makes remarkably 3D videos as the cat moves around to eventually hit the wall switch with its paw and turn off the light.

3D animation on corner of building.

Even in the rain, the public areas are crowded

Teigan's return flight to London early the next morning was via Haneda airport, which is closer to the city center. While flown many times through Narita I'd never ever heard of Haneda, yet is it the larger and busier of the two and seems to serve local and international flights to the west, while Narita serves east to North America.

With our last full day in Tokyo on our own, we did what we love to do best - we walked. High on our list was Tsukiji Fish Market - though we had to take the subway to get there in this sprawling city. Before 2018 this was the largest fish market in the world with over 900 wholesalers and 480 types of fish, and other food stuffs. It was where buyers the world-over would come for the morning tuna auction at 5:30 am. In 2019, at the new Toyosu Fish Market, a single tuna sold for a record $3.1 million dollars! That fish didn't stink after three days! The original Tsukiji Fish Market is now a tourist attraction with vendors selling fish retail and food-stalls selling an assortment of premade meals.

Crowds of locals and tourists in Tsukiji Fish Market

Historic building in Tsukiji Fish Market

Food vendors

Our final stop on our last day was the Imperial Gardens and Palace of Tokyo. After all the other castles, palaces and gardens this was slightly underwhelming. Or maybe we were just tired at the end of walking an average of eight miles a day for two weeks. Visual overload.