Japan Trip 2023 Part II: Kanazawa and Takayama

We moved on from Tokyo a few days ago and the next stop was Kanazawa. We are travelling by train, with a Japan Rail Pass that you can only get outside the country before you arrive. Western Europe has a similar rail pass program to encourage tourism. Both are good deals, we will save over $1K on rail travel with it. The other travel tip is to get an e-Sim for your phone before you come. You can keep your regular sim card for phone and text but get access to cellular internet. We set up ours with Airalo and this company also has options for the US and for Europe. 

Kanazawa has an impressive gate at the main train station:

and an impressive samurai era castle with nearby gardens:

The picture above is of a garden in a restored house that belonged to a prominent Samurai family. There is an area of town with traditional homes from this era. 

We next moved on to Takayama. This was my best experience so far in Japan, but maybe only because it was not so hot there. We had an apartment by the river, near a morning market where we got some local produce for a couple of meals (I am Veronica's personal travel chef). 

There was a fireworks display by the river one night. It was a traditional event, where men held the fireworks in their arms while they were going off. A local we talked to said they were covered with water before they do this, but does that really help if something goes wrong? I don't think I would do it. There are Spring and Fall festivals here with elaborate floats, some of which we saw in a museum:

There was an historical village nearby we got to by bus with traditional buildings from mountain villages and displays of the tools they used at the time. The shingle and thatch roofs were pretty interesting.

In another, longer bus side trip, we went up a mountain on a gondola at the Shinhotaka Ropeway. 18 degrees at the top of the mountain... heavenly. 

There was a very accessible grocery store, Family Store Satoh, near the apartment that I recommend. There is a seating area on the second floor where we rested after arriving before we could check in to the apartment. Veronica discovered that there is yoghurt in Japan made with Bulgarian bacteria, which made her happy. She is working on her chopstick skills...

We are now in Kyoto, just getting ready to head out and see a shrine.