Takayama--Dinner (the banquet)

With the spoils of our sake crawl fully metabolised, we were ready for dinner. And what a dinner it turned out to be...

Once again our beautiful lacquered trays began modestly.




Sashimi bowl which included raw botanebi prawns (we saw these at the Tsukiji fish markets), tuna, seaweed and tamago rolled egg omelette.


Beautifully steamed, tender and juicy pork and mushroom dumplings.


A delicate sashimi salmon rose and lightly vinegared salad.


Dressed in traditional yukata




Our charming and efficient hosts kept plying us with more food...


Tonight's hotpot was marbled beef with mushrooms sizzled for a few minutes




Yes by now the lacquer tray was jam-packed with goodies, treats and delectable delights


Tempura which was wonderfully light. crispy and always beautifully presented. Tonight's tempura included tender octopus and an intricate bundle of soba noodles which were shaped into a springroll-type bundle and battered. Oiishi desu yo!


Seasoned rice, tasty and delicious.
Owww... my stomach hurts....


Clear palate-cleansing soup with a beautifully sculpted prawn.

I miss this place.

More photos to come...

Takayama--Sake crawl

Sake is to Japan as bier is to Deutschland. I've always been a bit impartial to sake with its crisp clean taste and no bloating side-effects.

In Japan of course, the varieties and types of sake are mind-boggling. Hot or cold? How to tell one from the other? We decided to conduct our own sake crawl to find out (for gastronomic research purposes of course).






Sake slushees. Try getting that installed at your local 7-Eleven!


Eating sake jellies.



We ended up sampling sake jellies, sake slushees, hot sake, cold sake and cloudy sake. Cloudy sake was certainly unusual with quite a strong aroma and flavour present in the white clouds.

The most important lesson we learnt was that cold is good! Cheaper sakes are often served warm to disguise harshness of flavour. The best sake stands on its own two feet ice cold and delicious. Sake is often served warmed in winter for maximum heating effect, although with most of these alcohol contents, some would call it overcaution! Sakes are also graded by quality and most supermarkets in Japan indicate the quality level and advised drinking temperature.


Street of local sake breweries in Takayama




Crates of sake


...and the Mama Bear said "Who's been sitting in MY chair?"

Takayama--Hida Folk Village

It was go-go-go today, and after checking out both the Jinya-mae and Miyagawa morning markets, we caught the local bus for the 10-minute trip to the Hida no Sato or Hida Folk Village.

Yes the whole idea seems to have "tourist-trap" written all over it, confirmed when we saw the giant maneki neko or lucky cat outside one of the tourist shops nearby. To find out the story behind the beckoning cat lucky charm click here.

However for a bunch of bumbling tourists like ourselves, the open air museum did provide a glimpse into what traditional farmhouses and typical buildings did look like in years past. In particular, the Hida area is famous for its gassho-zukuri architecture. With traditionally fierce winters, farmhouses were adapted to accommodate common road closures and isolation during the prolonged cold and snow. Rooves were built at acute angles to minimise the build-up of snow and the steep triangle shape was likened to gassho, or two clasped hands praying, and hence the name gassho-zukuri.

The thatched roof farmhouses here were relocated to this museum for the nearby Shirakawago valley.





I didn't realise how thick the thatching was for these houses until we got up close. No wonder Alex Kerr had such trouble with his Chiiori House near Kyoto.



The serenity and lush greenery of the area certainly inspired this watercolour artist who we watched momentarily.









All greeneried and thatched out, we caught the bus back into town for a quick lunch of soba by the railway station.



The noodles here were so delicious, tasty, perfectly al-dente and such a bargain. This bowl of noodles was only 380yen (about AU$4.70) and I couldn't even finish it all.

Stomachs lined and only just past 2pm, we set off for a DIY sake crawl. For goodness' sake of course! (groan)

Takayama--Miyagawa morning markets

After walking along the Jinya-mae markets we tackled the other major morning market in Takayama, the Miyagawa markets. These markets are further down the Miyagawa River near the Kajibashi Bridge.




Local on his mobile


Omochi for sale in vac-pacs.


Pickle sample anyone?


Much prettier than those annoying fruit stickers!


Coloured corn.




An edible bouquet!




These apples actually had their variety tattooed on the skin! One presumes stickers must have been used to create a reverse tattoo tan. And these apples were only 100yen, or about AU$1.25 each.


A taste-taster's paradise--the sampling smorgasboard.














When I took a photo of these, I was immediately offered a sample. I thought they were springrolls until she pointed out the paper wasn't edible! They were actually samples of seasoned rice. Again the Japanese never failed to impress me with their impeccable presentation.



Takayama was so affectionately quaint and charming with its traditional-looking architecture, picturesque inns and small-town feel. As we strolled through the quiet streets we happened upon the local nursery where all the kids were wearing pastel caps and looking totemo kawaii desu ne!. Ahh... I'm a sucker for kiddie photos...






I want one of these! (To ride in when I'm tired of walking)


Local mechanic with canine companion.

We walked past a dim garage and heard much whirring, clunking and bashing going on. When we poked our heads in we discovered a man-and-wife operation packaging sachets of noodles with this contraption. The husband was measuring out the noodles with a steel saucepan as accurately as any machine. Simple, non-nonsense efficiency. We were impressed.