Takayama
Trip Start
Sep 04, 2007
1
58
59
Trip End
May 28, 2008
Takayama,
Chubu,
Japan
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The park surrounding the temple is home to many deer which used to be regarded as messengers of the gods. The tame deer are found all around the temples and often pester people for deer biscuits. Despite it being a Sunday, there were still plenty of kids on school trips....do they ever have time off school?
On Monday I left Kyoto and caught the train to Takayama in the mountains. This old city has many original homes, shops and Sake breweries. I spent the afternoon walking around the shops and seeing yet more temples and shrines. I treated myself to a Hida beef dinner in a traditional Japanese restaurant. Hida beef is comparable to the more famous Kobe beef (apparently the cows are massaged and sometimes fed beer and sake!). The beef was cooked at the table on a sizzling magnolia leaf and served with miso, onions and vegetables. It was really good beef.... not quite up to Argentinian steak, but a good effort!
In the morning I headed to an open-air museum called Hida-no-Sato. The site contains traditional Japanese houses that have been moved from their original sites to be preserved at the museum. The buildings are all made from wood with either thatched or slate roofs. It was a great place to spend a few hours before I had to catch the train back to Tokyo.
I spent my last night in Tokyo in a capsule hotel in Akihabara. My capsule contained a TV, radio and a reading light and it was definitely an "only in Japan" moment. The next day I made my way to the airport for my flight home and the end of my trip!
