takayama

i went to takayama in gifu prefecture, which is north-east from Osaka during silver week.

silver week only occurs once every several years. it occurred this year due to an interesting law that japan has – that if a work day is sandwiched between 2 public holidays, that day will become a national holiday too. so last week, we had 3 consecutive public holidays that came after a weekend, so yay long 5 day break!

however, thanks to the long holiday, our 5hr highway bus ride took 8 hours instead. the jams along the expressways were disgusting! and it occurred both going there AND back. it was plain awful. that’s because highways all receive a 1000yen discount (which is almost half-price) off the tolls on public holidays – yet none of the several japanese people whom i’d told of my plans to go to takyama warned me about the jam. gahh.

we also found our accommodation was also rather lacking. the walls werent merely paper-thin – they were, in fact, only just paper. gahhhh.

takayama, however, is a rather pretty place, rather similar in the way that many traditional japanese places are rather pretty too.

you find these rickshaws all over japan, and they’re very common in tourist spots. however, i’ve never been solicited before, except for the one time when i was with a japanese person. i wonder why this is the case..

there was a rather charming shop:

with a cute sign board:

so was their “we are open” sign:

the inside was a bit random though, with startrek and china together:

there was also this amusing souvenir:

and i really wonder if there’s more implied by their tagline:

from where we stayed to the more central part of takayama (it’s a really small town actually), we would pass by this pretty street corner:

the red bridge that has both pedestrians and cars:

this scene looks like just like any other place in japan:

and here’s what a branch of the post office looks like in takayama. the words “支店”mean branch office, and i was extremely amused when i saw it:

there are a few rivers that cut through takayama, but this was the one which had the most interesting stuff i think. i kinda liked the view of this:

i dont know why, but i found the 3 deck chairs that stood facing the river, all arranged at exactly the same angle, rather fascinating:

and it must have been a good morning for me, because the crates, stacked up like that, seemed pretty too:

along the river was a stone plaque, and for the first time i actually understood all of what was written on it. it says, “beautiful hometown/in spring summer autumn winter”:

other pretty sights along the river:

takayama also has quite a few interesting statues:

the latter two statues are meant to be some guardians of some sort i think. not sure though :P

walking along the street, i saw a bird’s nest!

the river walk was a beautiful one, because some people had ventured right down to the banks:

there were duckies in the water too, and one boy was hopping from rock to rock, and was really good at it too! never once did he lose his balance or falter:

the sky was gorgeous that day as well: