Wednesday, May 30th .....

It was a big day today. Again, we woke early and were having our ¥349 breakfast by 7.30. We caught the bullet train to Nagoya and transferred to the Limited Express Hida for Takayama. I’ve been on this train once before when I first came to Japan with the students from Gib Gate. I have very clear memories of Takayama but had completely forgotten how beautiful the journey is, from the wide plains around Nagoya through narrow mountain valleys with stunning vistas on both sides.

Marilyn and I had taken books to read because it takes more than 2 hours to get there but we found that we couldn’t concentrate on reading because we kept getting distracted by something we saw out of the corner of our eyes.

I’ve said it before and, no doubt, will say it again – the trains in Japan are brilliant. I am forever astounded by the sheer number of bullet trains we see on a typical day and they are a pleasure to ride in, but the Limited Expresses which connect the regional cities have their own special features. The Wide-View Hida train we were on today has the seats higher than normal and huge windows to maximize the enjoyment of the view. Because of the mountainous terrain, it’s not a particularly fast train but that doesn’t matter.

Takayama is called Little Kyoto because craftsmen from this region were drafted to work in Kyoto when it became the capital of Japan. When they returned home, they built houses in the Kyoto style and they can still be seen. Takayama also is famous for the Hana Matsuri Festival which is held in April and October each year. The special feature of the Festival is the fact that huge wooden floats are dragged through the streets of the city by teams of men representing various suburbs, if you like. The floats date back to the 1700’s although many have been re-built various times. As we walked through the city today, we passed several tall garages where individual floats are stored. Four of them are on permanent display at a kind of museum so we couldn’t pass up the chance to get a good look at them.

When I came here in 1997, it was particularly to see the Festival and I can remember these extraordinary vehicles being manhandled by up to 40 men in traditional costumes. I’m sure I’ve told this story before but one of them stopped in front of our party and one fellow, who had had a drink or two, passed out little cups of sake to all our kids. It was all good until he discovered I was Kojo Sensei (Head Teacher) and he was very embarrassed at behaving so badly in front of such an eminent person. Somewhere I have a picture with this fellow’s arm around my shoulder, pointing at me in awe.

Somehow, the time got away and we had a late lunch before running to catch our train. It was 8.30 before we arrived back at the hotel, having had an exceptional 13 hours.