Springtime in Japan

Easter weekend in Osaka and everyone seemed to be on the streets. We walked the length of the Shinsaibashisuji shopping street, a covered lane of several blocks, where you can find every manner of shops, from high street retailers to Kimono hire shops. We wanted to get full value of our JR passes, so we took a trip to Himeji Castle. The whole complex was very crowded, and we joined a queue to enter the castle. It took almost two hours to gain access and look around the castle, giving great views over the city. The grounds were full of people, having picnics and enjoying the warm spring sunshine. When planning the trip, we had wanted to visit Universal Studio. We also thought as Easter wasn’t a holiday, it may be quiet. Oh dear. We set off early, though even at 7:30, the trains were crowded, and even though the attractions weren’t open the park was packed. We had such a fun day, we managed to get on a few rides, waiting the relatively short time of 150 minutes to get onto the Harry Potter experience. The main memory of the day, was seeing all manner of people all dressed the same, in their favourite character costumes, Minions, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, all the characters of Harry Potter, even a few full shark outfits.

That night, we decided to go to the Omeda Sky building, have a look at the architecture and take in the vista. It was dark by the time we got to the top but the view was worth it.

The next day we made the trip by bullet train to Takamatsu to visit the art island of Naoshima. It has several galleries, the ChiChu Art museum built into a hillside, the Art House collection and a series of seven buildings which have been re modelled. We had a great day, and caught the last ferry back to Takamatsu, which has a shopping street longer than either Tokyo or Osaka.

Next stop was Kanazawa, where we collected our hire car to explore the Japanese Alps. We had a mix of rain and snow over the three days of our visit, but we managed to take in Kanazawa Castle, and Kenroku-En Garden. We also drove up the Noto Peninsula taking the unusual beach drive, where you can drive 10 kilometres or so along the beach. Our hotel in Kanazawa was near the preserved Samurai area, perfect for a bit of street exploration.

Our drive to the Alps took us to Shirakawago, a World Heritage Site by way of their 250-year-old preserved farmhouses. Perfectly timed snow started to fall just as we arrived, and we toured the small village under snowfall, it must look majestic in winter.

We continued our drive to Takayama where we stayed in a Ryokan. Takayama is a little town, the main sightseeing is within a 20-minute walk from the Ryokan. Small shops, bars and restaurants lined the streets and it made for a great stay. Out of all the places we visited, we had fewest issues here making ourselves understood.

We continued onto Obuse, our base to visit the snow monkeys. Obuse is a small town, which also has a museum dedicated to the artist Hokusai. It had an impressive array of his sketches and paintings, and two films broadcast in English and Japanese. We also had an interesting experience trying to find somewhere to eat, as most tourists only stay for the day. We found a bar serving noodles where the owner followed the Premiership, so by using mime, sign language and Google we all managed to make ourselves understood and we ate our meal of pork and noodles alongside his young family. An unexpected pleasure.

Early the next day, we set off to visit the Monkey Park in Yudanaka. The drive took around an hour and then we made the short walk through the park to the hot springs. We’ve watched the webcams and seen their behaviour. Unfortunately, the snows had all gone, but the monkeys still use the hot springs as their own personal sauna, and we spent a good while watching their antics.

Our last day with the car had us drive to Matsumoto for a one-night stay. We arrived mid-morning, just in time to return the car. The centre was easy to get around, and we walked up to the Black Castle, where there were far less crowds than we had encountered in Osaka. Again, the weather wasn’t great, we were still in the lower alps and the snow had turned to rain.

We were now coming to the end of our trip, but the one we were most looking forward to. We wanted to walk part of the Nakasendo Way. We left Matsumoto very early for the train to Nagiso. We wanted to try get something to eat and managed to find a café opening its doors. We ordered coffee, but it was too early for lunch, but the owners did something really kind. They knew we were hungry and came to the table with two baked sweet potatoes, just what we needed, and a lovely act of kindness. It certainly set us up for the walk.

We wanted to make the walk to Tsumago, then onto Magome but it seemed no matter where you started, you had to walk uphill. We worked out by the time we got to Magome around four hours later, we seemed to have been endlessly climbing. Turned out it was the same, if you started to walk the other way from Magome, it was a very sleep climb out of the village onto Tsumago. It was a memorable experience, taking it easy, walking in the spring sunshine.

We had some lunch in a local café, before walking for about an hour downhill to our spa hotel just outside Magome. The Hanasarasa hotel was a traditional Japanese hotel. There were no beds made up in our room, just tatami mats. Beds were made up when we took dinner later. Several courses were served, all with instructions from our Japanese hosts.

The following morning, we took the hotel shuttle to Nakasugawa Station to catch the train to Nagoya, and onwards to Kobe for our final night. The transport system worked very well, all trains were punctual, and we made our connections with time to spare. Our final train journey was taken on the Nozomi bullet train. It was strange on rails, when it seemed easier to take to the air.

We arrived in Kobe mid-afternoon, on a lovely sunny spring like day, so we took the opportunity to take the cable car to the Herb Garden. The view was amazing looking out over the bay almost able to see Kansai on the distant shore. We spent the evening picking up some last-minute souvenirs and after our final night, made the short trip to Kobe airport to catch the fast ferry to Kansai Airport. We have such great memories of a trip to a country of so many contrasts, and we don’t want to wait another 10 years for our next visit.