Monday 25th June - Kanazawa and iPhone Cables

Wow sorry this has gotten so behind - it's a good job I am making notes as I go!

So... how hard do you think it would be to find an iPhone cable in a completely strange city where you dont speak the language? Answer – actually even harder than you might imagine. Firstly a lot of places don't open till ten, and secondly it took three shops and calling into the Tourist Information Office. But in the end... Great Success! Anyone visiting Kanazawa who wants bits for mobile phones, iThings or similar should just go immediately to the fifth floor of The Forus shopping centre near the station and look for a shop called Aeon. Super-helpful staff not remotely phased by foreigners talking balls while making vaguely obscene gestures to an iPhone, and all manner of accessories for various communication devices. In the end I didn't just buy a cable, but also an actual charger since it was surprisingly not that expensive and it means I don't have to bugger about with some of the trickier hotel plug outlets which are too low to the counter to accommodate anything but the smallest adaptor.

Luckily this expedition had been fuelled by a home-cooked Japanese breakfast, which are available at Sumiyoshiya on a daily basis if you want them – you just order them the night before and they're 1000 yen apiece. This was another adventure in cuisine, but apart from the strange, watery, tofu jelly thing which I had encountered at Takayama Ouan and knew I didn't like (though ate half of regardless, just to be polite), it was all very good indeed. I made a mess of eating the fish, which came practically whole and with no clues how to tackle it with chopsticks, but fortunately there was no one around the see, since the only other people in the room were an American couple who were having a Western breakfast so clearly they had no room to pick fault. In any case they were engaged in some kind of terse, quiet coupley argument for the entire time they were there, which didn't incline me to putting on my best table manners ever either. They carried on arguing (louder) after breakfast too, because I could hear them from my room, and they were still at it in the evening. Blimey – way to have a relaxing holiday, folks.

I hadn't actually intended to walk to the station (twenty minutes) by the way, but after trying a couple of shops near my hotel with no luck, I had decided to walk in that direction in the hope of encountering an electronics shop.  It did mean I got to enjoy a stroll through downtown Kanazawa though. It wasn't the main shopping area (that's tn the other direction, and comes with a full set of designer shops, department stores, trendy boutiques, cool kids in Sunday best and the obligatory McDonalds) but it was a pleasant walk regardless – there's been some effort made to provide shade on most pavements and there are random water features and bits of public art. I also ran into a Brit (even though he had a half-American accent due to his parentage) who hailed me while having a quick smoke outside of a convenience store (smoking on the street is not allowed in most areas of Kanazawa, and especially the ones with wooden buildings, for obvious reasons)! We had a five minute chat about the city – I believe he is either studying or teaching there – literally it was a very short chat as he was between classes, but he was very sweet and answered a couple of my questions about tourism sights.

I'd  picked up a Loop Bus day pass for 500 yen while I was in the station area, and despite the fact that I was now one and a half hours behind on my intended sightseeing schedule, and still had to charge my iPhone so that I had a camera, I was determined to at least hit some of my intended sights that day. Initially I'd intended to take the Loop Bus back to Omi-Cho Market which was right by my hotel, but forgot it was the last stop on the loop and therefore it was faster to walk. By the time I had gotten back, gotten my iPhone charged and posted an update to my blog it was almost noon, and time was eating into my plans. On the plus side, I had been able to take a walk through Omi-Cho market as a shortcut back to the hotel, and see it in full force for the first time. It really is an amazing place – if you love a proper market, then it's like some kind of paradise. Fruit, veg and seafood everywhere you look, and people hawking their wares cheerfully. If I'd been self-catering that place would have been a goldmine.

But once back on the schedule again my first stop was the castle, since I knew that closed quite early. Kanazawa Castle is a reconstruction but it has been faithfully done by craftsmen using traditional methods and as traditional materials as they could acquire – the bill for reconstruction being 4 billion yen, according to the information guide. It's a more sprawling affair than Matsumoto, but it commands an impressive position and really is a striking building and well worth a visit. As with the reconstructed gatehouse, there's disabled access and they have gone to some pains to include English options on the little talking informational doohickies that are dotted about, as well as braille signage. The donjon (keep) in built in a diamond shape, and all the pillars and supports are also diamond shaped – it's very odd once you're inside to note that the rooms are not square. Apart from being bloody hard to build, it seems that this was likely done to make it possible to see all areas of the castle from the keep. But also, I am sure, to impress the hell out of all the other nobility. Because that's what castles are at least half about, in any country.

There's a nice, shady little formal water garden to rest in before you leave, and you can wander the castle grounds and park without paying to get into the buildings, which is nice. I did go inside though, because I love castles in general, and this one had a gorgeous smell of fresh wood still, even though it was rebuilt a decade or more ago. There is still building work going on to reconstruct another of the gates, so I'll be interested to see how that looks in a couple of years when it's finished – I'm sure the tourist information website will post pics.

After the castle, I legged it across the bridge to Kenrokuen Garden again, though this time I skirted the garden itself in a bid to find.... another garden. Yep, I am a fan of gardens, it's true. I'd heard of this smaller one – Gyokusen - which had once been the private garden of the Nishida family, but is now in the care of a charitable trust. It's a really lovely place – small, but with all the required elements of a Japanese garden, and it feels much bigger than it actually is due to the fact that if you approach the same feature from a different angle, the views are completely different. Extra bonus – the woman spotted that I had a brochure from the tourist information centre (in Japanese, but I took it for the map on the back) and so I got a 100 yen discount on entry!

They will also serve you green tea and a sweet in the garden as part of your visit, but I have to admit here, I am not a massive fan of green tea and especially wary of the powdered formal variety which I am told is stronger and more pungent than the regular stuff. Also ~I was in a hurry after losing a chunk of the day and very conscious that I had to get to the Samurai district before everything closed at four thirty. So since there was no-one on duty in the tea house when I finished my wanderings, I took the opportunity to slip away. Sure, the tea was covered by the entry charge, but I don't mind them having the money for tea I didn't drink since it's a magical place which is very well looked after. And I figure they'll just scratch it up to my not realising that tea was available, since the woman at the entry desk did not speak any English.

After a brief stop at the traditional arts and crafts shop to buy some sweets for later, I finally hopped on the Loop Bus for the first time that day and now pretty sure I wasn't going to get my money's worth out of the pass. Oh well. At least I got one ride, up to the Nagamachi samurai district for a walk round the streets and hopefully to check out the Nomura house – which is not a private residence but is open to the public. But here is where I ran into exactly the same problem I often have when sightseeing or attempting to find things in the UK... the sudden absence of signage. And despite how tourist friendly Kanazawa is, it has exactly this problem, and  in fact it seems as endemic in Japan as it is in the UK. You'll be following signs quite happily, or looking at your map, and abruptly... NO MORE SIGNS, or the map isn't quite right in scale, since it's an illustration and open to some artistic licence. Not that wandering the back alleys of this Edo-type area isn't jolly good fun, but it's progressively less fun when you're on the clock, hot and tired and can't find the one damned house you WANT to find.

Luckily I happened on one of Kanazawa's free rest stop/information centres (some of which have free wifi too, by the way) and threw myself on the mercy of the old chap who was manning the desk, asking the way and showing him my map with a helpless look. OH NOES, he said (or an approximation of such) and informed me that it was 4.15 and that the place closed at 4.30. But I think he must have taken in how hot and knackered I looked, because he promptly left his desk and walked me the short distance to the place I was looking for – guess what, the name of the attraction on the building was not the same as the one used on the tourist guides – le sigh – so I had walked past it already – probably more than once. He also (I think) intervened for me with the woman at the desk to get me in close to the end of the day, and I thanked him profusely before he went on his way. Thankfully it's not a big place to see, and nor is it expensive – plus it turned out I got a discount because I had a Loop Bus pass, though I did not know this until the woman at the entrance desk pointed animatedly at my purse (the pass was sticking out) and at the entrance prices on the wall. Honestly I was none the wiser still, but grasped the gist of what she was saying since I'd already had the discount conversation earlier – or rather, been on the receiving end of the information (not exactly a conversation since I don't have the Japanese to do anything much but look pleasantly surprised and grateful and give the appropriate thanks).

It was worth the hassle just to see inside an actual residence (albeit reconstructed) from the Edo era. I hadn't gotten to see the layout of places where people actually lived apart from in the folk houses at Hida (which of course are rural, not to do with the samurai or ruling classes), so I was very keen to check it out. Again there was a compact but lovely garden – a water garden/courtyard this time – and it was a pity I didn't have the time to  sit and enjoy the sound of the water and watch the enormous carp. But I didn't want to push my luck since I think they stayed open a little longer than usual anyway, but at least I got to see it, even if it was a shorter trip than I had initially planned.

By now I had run out of time for the Higashi-chaya geisha district, which was the last on my list – again I was aware that things closed at four thirty there, so regretfully I decided to skip it. But it was only just before five, and because I had started late, I was still up for some sightseeing.

A quick look at my map indicated that I was only a stones throw from a shrine – Oyama Jinja - that is open 24 hours for looking around the grounds, so I decided on a whim to go and see that too.  Unfortunately I had once again reckoned without disappearing signage and odd mapfuckery, and in the end I took far longer to find it than I should have, but stumbled on it eventually – more out of bloody-mindedness at that point, admittedly. Glad I did though – again it had the most amazing water garden. After baking in 28 degrees heat all afternoon, things were starting to cool and the shade by the ponds was a blessing. I actually hung around there just enjoying the building and grounds for half an hour or so, practically on my own save for a couple of people coming up to actually use the shrine on (I guess) their way home from work.

Really after that I should have taken the Loop Bus home, but instead I decided to walk, since the evening was really rather nice, and it was an excuse to walk along the main shopping drag, even though I didn't actually want to shop. It was only about twenty minutes back to Omi-Cho market and the attached Miza departnent store, where I knew there was a restaurant floor that was calling out my name (yep, the breakfast earlier had filled me up so much that I had not eaten a thing all day, just drunk a whole lot of cold drinks from vending machines).

Unfortunately when you're tired and hungry it's not the best time to run into that nightmare scenario of not knowing what the fuck is going on in a restaurant. After mooching round the many places and many cuisines on offer, and being pressed into trying some interesting goopy sweets by a lady selling delicatessen foods (I felt super guilty for not buying any by the way – argh) I chose what I correctly guessed to be a Japanese/Italian fusion place, a food mix I was curious to try, and which was staffed by very enthusiastic and friendly young women. There were a couple of ladies leaving as I arrived (I read that this type of cuisine is popular with Japanese women as it's lighter than traditional noodles) but I was the only person in there apart from them – it was a bit early for the dinner crowd at barely gone five thirty. But ididn't care, since I picked out what I wanted pretty swiftly – no English on the menu but the illustrations were clear enough, and seafood pasta sounded good to me.

The waitress came over to bring me water and take my order and a ventured to indicate what I wanted and ask for THAT PLEASE in Japanese. Job done, you'd think. But no – then I tried to order a drink and clearly that confused the shit out of her, despite the fact I'd managed it with other waitresses in cafes. I know they did cold drinks but couldn't read the Japanese for what they were, and pointing at it wasn't going to cut it here as it was one of those “all one price, selection of drinks” things that you see in English restaurants sometimes too – so one multiple picture and one price. Apparently struck by an idea she asked if I wanted coffee, and just to get a bloody drink I said yes that's fine. She clearly thought I was mental for wanting coffee with dinner and not after it but oh well,  But that wasn't all. Oh no. Next she came back with a completely unintelligible laminated sheet of which I could read a bit of the katakana but that didn't help me guess what it actually meant. By this point I just wanted to drop through the floor and/or leave the place, whichever was easier, and she was equally embarrassed. A British person and a Japanese person, utterly failing to communicate – I swear to God it was like a vortex of excrutiating embarrassment – her because she couldn't explain and me because I couldn't understand. I had no clue what she was trying to tell me and in the end just said yes, to put an end to the whole debacle and save her from any more attempts to explain “service” which was the only English word she could find to use and which was not helpful in conveying what was going on.

From that point on and all the way through eating my pasta I was wondering what the heck I had said yes to, and god damn it I'm on a budget what the hell was I thinking. This truly is my nightmare scenario eating out abroad, no lie. The pasta was pretty good by the way – shrimp flesh and soybeans and all tossed in a light miso broth.

To my very great relief, what transpired after she had cleared my plate away was that... she brought me a dessert with the bill, which only contained the itemised coffee and pasta. It was a slightly fancy sundae type thing with chocolate brownie, cream, cling peaches (yes really), sorbet and ice cream. It would seem that what she was trying to explain was that a dessert was included in the price as a special haha. Thank goodness! I wasn't actually particularly hungry by that point but I ate it anyway as after all the effort she went to trying to communicate it would have been rude not to.

Completely stuffed with food, I made a slow walk home up the hill before going for a long soak in the bath. Best way to end a day, though there was still time for one more amusing incident back at the hotel. In the process of asking a question of the younger owner (she is the one with the pretty high level of English), I had my little clear wallet full of hotel info and sundry printouts that I have brought with me so I know where I'm going and what I'm doing. She was laughing and asking how many places I was staying and how long, because it does have a lot of paper in it, heh. Anyway I assured her it was not all hotel confirmations and that my last week would be in Tokyo. Her response was pretty much “why spend a week in Tokyo” which is a common response anywhere but Tokyo, I think (plus Kanazawans are a proud-of-their-city lot in general, remember). So, I said “Oh I am going to see some rock concerts, and half pulled out one of the Buck-Tick ticket confirmations in explanation. “Ohhhh... Baku-Chiku!!!” was her immediate and genuinely excited response. “They are very famous! I have seen them on television!” Sadly, she also noted that she is too busy to go to concerts, but still, she seemed pretty thrilled about the whole thing, which made me smile no end.

This would not be the last time that Baku-Chiku would elicit that kind of response by the way, but more on that later!

• Photos from Kanazawa of the castle, garden and Samurai area are on Flickr here with all my other trip pics - in reasonably chronological order.

Music for this day was Living on the Net by Buck-Tick (Ken Ishii remix). If only I was, I wouldn't need a bloody cable.

Sunday 24th June - Onward to Kanazawa

After checking out of Takayama Ouan on the 24th, I hit the bus station again to reserve seats on the highways bus to Kanazawa. Well two highway buses to be accurate - one to Shirakawa-go and then one to Kanazawa from there. At the bus station I ran into a really nice chap from San Francisco who was holidaying in Japan with his wife, her sister, and his little daughter (who was pretty cute). So it was nice to have a chat for a while and laugh at him almost getting on the wrong bus (a bus arrived and he started flapping that his wife was in the bus station. However, it turned out they were actually going my way but he nearly ended up going back to Matsumoto until his wife informed him he was an idiot haha).

There was more gorgeous scenery on the way to the rest stop at Shirakawa-go - I really can't get enough of the breathtaking mountain views and the "oh shit" feeling when you get a glimpse from below of the road you just travelled on (or are about to) precariously clinging to the mountainside. We dipped down to enter Shirakawa-go, as it's nestled in a valley where the farming is good.

Shirakawa-go is an original village with the same style of housing as that on display at Hida Folk Village - it's a big tourist draw although in this case, people actually live there and some of the homes opeerate as shops or guest houses etc. I had debated spening an hour or so there and catching a later bus, but my feet were as sore as hell from all the walking so I decided to be prudent and give them a rest, just poking about from the rest area instead of stomping about for two hours in the blazing sun. If I ever come back I will definitely give it my tourist £££ though as it was a lovely place, if a tourist trap.

While I was sitting in the shade drinking water and admiring the views, an older gentleman came and sat near me and promptly engaged me in conversation... in Japanese. Argh! It's very nice when a native Japanese approaches for a chat as most shy away, but then I always feel bad that I can't chat with them properly. Anyway luckily I had learned enough basic Japanese to tell him "Sumimasen. Watashi wa nihongo ga chotto wakarimass" (Sorry. I only understand a little Japanese) and to spot that he asked me what country I was from, to which I was able to respond "Igirisu dess". This seemed to be the right answer (?) as he nodded very animatedly about that and promptly turned to tell his wife (I think) that I was English... and then I lost track of what else he was saying but she smiled and nodded at me too. I apologised a couple more times for my crap language skills but he didn't seem to mind, and positively seemed happy to sit there until it was time for his coach to leave. I'll take a stab and say he was on holiday from a rural part of Japan as he didn't look like a city dude and in common with the UK, the folks who don't look like city folks (or definitely aren't) seem the most amiable and chatty to strangers.

Also at Shirakawa-go I had a chat with a solo female French traveller who was in Japan for several weeks (I was quite envious of her for that) - she was also going to kanazawa but since we had reserved seats we didn't sit next to each other on the bus, even though there were only about four people on. Japan seems very ordered about that sort of thing and I didn't want to cause any fuss with the driver.

The scenery calmed down on the way to Kanazawa after that though there were a LOT of long tunnels - and by long I mean tunnels of several kilometres apiece. If you can't build a road on a mountain, build one THROUGH it, I guess! I'm glad I did the buses for this part of the trip as if I'd taken the train I'd have had to go round the mountains and missed all the views.

It all got a bit more urban coming into Kanazawa - and let me tell you that when it comes to the outskirts of cities, there's a uniform pattern that seems to apply globally - factories, offices, out of town shopping centres, ringroads... you know the drill.  If it weren't for some of the architecture and the signs in Japanese, you could be driving into Manchester, Leeds or Bradford. Most cities here aren't built on a grid system either so even more like the UK in that respect (as opposed to the US).

Kanazawa buses rather conveniently stop at the train station, just like at Takayama, which meant I could pop into the Tourist Information Centre for a map and some info on the city before I went to the ryokan/minshuku I was going to be staying in. and huzzah - there was an English speaking volunteer guide on duty (as there was every single time I popped in) who gave me a bunch of info, explained how to use the buses, get a taxi to my accommodation, and offered some advice on a side trip I wanted to make to Natadera temple in a neighbouring area.

My first encounter with a Japanese taxi was as smooth as silk, and although I had learned a few basic phrases on the bus, I didn't need them, because at Kanazawa Station the cabs pull up one at a time at the command of a smartly uniformed dude who asks where you're going and then tells the driver. Luckily the place I was staying at is a historic building that has been run as an Inn for centuries so I only had to mention the name and he was all "Ahhhh, Sumiyoshiya! Hai!". I felt a bit cheated of my chance to try out some new Japanese haha.

It was super early when I arrived at the hotel, and I had intended just to leave my bags there and go out until check in time, but I was pounced by the tiniest and smiliest little old lady in a kimono you have ever seen, who ushered me to my room (after I had taken my shoes off, naturally) and made me sit down, drink a cup of tea and eat a sweet. Awww. I know this is common practice for ryokan but Sumiyoshiya is a much more casual establishment than the expensive formal places so it caught me off guard. I was absolutely horrified when she scuttled off while I was drinking my tea (I wasn't quite sure what to do next) and came back with my bags. JFC - I mean, *I* can carry my bags just fine but I wouldn't wish them on a teensy little old lady to carry! I practically tripped over myself to thank her as she took me on a quick guided tour of the place to show me the laundry and the baths. She also kept apologising in broken English that she couldn't speak my language but that "the young ones" can (who seemingly were out shopping). Bless.

After that she left me alone to relax, and relax I did for an hour or so until I decided I had been plenty lazy for one day and that it was time to start hitting the sights (by this point I also knew that the midday sun would have passed, which is always nice). The younger element were back from their shopping by this time and did indeed have a very good grasp of English, explaining to me how to get to Kenrokuen Garden and marking the exact location of the hotel on my tourist map. So Kenrokuen Garden it was - 15 minutes walk or so through Kanazawa Castle Park which was literally round the corner from the hotel.

I didn't stop at the castle this day as it closed at 4.30 and it was already almost 3, plus I knew that Kenrokuen was only open till 6 and figured I could take my time more in three hours than one and a half. And I had three nights in Kanazawa to look forward to anyway.

Kanazawa, by the way, is a very tourist-oriented city, though seems to mostly receive non-Western visitors due to the fact that it is not yet on the bullet train route. An extension to Kanazawa is currently being built (you can see stretches of it from the trains) which will connect it to (I think) Kyoto or Nagano, and make it much quicker to get to than it currently is. And Kanazawa appears to have embraced this imminent bright new dawn with gusto. The station is a gleaming beauty which is both incredibly easy to navigate and very well signed in English as well as Japanese, all the buses have information (wriiten and spoken via announcements) in both Japanese and English (also I think Chinese and Korean), and there are maps and guides to most everything in English too - including an excellent tourist website. In addition, it's the first place I have encountered where accessibility for disabled visitors seems to be prominent - the reconstructed castle gatehouse which I popped in to on my way to to Kenrokuen, has been rebuilt to incorporate a ramped access (as has the castle itself, as I found out the next day - that has ramps, an elevator and also stairlifts). One thing though - everywhere you go if you ask for information, expect to be asked where you are from. The entire city seems to be doing a survey on where its visitors come from - I am guessing so that they can better tailor their tourist offering before the advent of the bullet train!

Another thing about Kanazawa is that the locals seem rightly proud of their city and its arts/culture. There is a museum for every conceivable aspect of Japanese craft, history and art, no lie, and the tourist office is very pro-active about designating things cultural properties (including my hotel) and promoting them accordingly. Buses are a breeze to negotiate and there are little animated maps of the tourist-oriented Loop Bus route, showing you in real time the location of the next bus. I could easily have spent a week there and not run out of things to do, but as it was I had picked out a few highlights plus noted a few other things in case I had time in passing.

Kanazawa also has more than its fair share of gardens. If there's one particular cultural thing that Japan does exceptionally well, it's gardens, and if you're going to see a garden in Japan, you may as well go see one of the best, right? And in fact that was how I first found out about Kanazawa as a city (despite its aspirations, the fact that it is currently bullet train-less means it isn't prominent on English language tourist sites), Kenrokuen came up on a search as one of Japan's top three gardens. And indeed it is lovely - at less than 3 quid to get in and see it. I spent a good two plus hours walking around there, it's one of those places where you can wander round and round and keep finding new things, or new angles to see the same things - just as any major garden should. It's a gorgeous example of its kind and I can totally see why it's one of the top three. It has a long history, having been created many years ago by a local toff, and it has mostly been preserved exactly as it was. The only thing that I found jarring was that they have gravelled all the paths, and I know why - it's much easier to maintain and is common to many places worldwide. But in Japanese gardens, sound is an important part of the aesthetic and sometimes the sound of the gravel crunching under your feet had a tendency to drown out the more delicate sounds of water, wind and insects. To combat that, I took the chance to sit down on one of the many benches dotted about to admire particular areas in depth. Gardens are like a living art gallery, and watching other tourists (mostly Korean, Chinese or Japanese) dashing about and taking snaps before moving on in a hurry was kind of sad to me. But hey, it meant I got the benches to myself mostly so there is that!

After Kenrokuen I took an roundabout route back to the hotel to test out the map and my general sense of direction. GREAT SUCCESS - I found it, and on the way I found a Lawson convenience store in which I picked up a few snacks (no lie, I was still stuffed from that enormous breakfast at Takayama, plus I had ordered a home-cooked breakfast for the next day in Kanazawa so didn't want to overeat before bed). My futon had been laid out and there was free oolong tea in my room, but first I went to make free with the shared bathroom (Japanese style again), which really is the best thing ever for easing tired muscles. After a good scrub down at the faucet you can submerse yourself completely in hot water for as long as you like (it stays hot). It seemed like I was the only female in the place staying in a room with no private bathroom so actually I had the bath to myself all the time I was there, morning and evening. It was bliss!

The relaxation however did not last, because I got back to my room to discover I had somehow lost my iPhone cable at Takayama Ouan. Argh! My phone battery was almost flat and I also couldn't get the pics off apart from wirelessly (Sumiyoshiya may be traditional, but it has wireless Internet!) and that was apt to drain the battery even more. Thank goodness the younger manageress spoke English, because when I went to reception to explain my predicament, she called up Takayama Ouan (they had found it and it was in lost property), arranged for them to ship it overnight on the next day and in the mean time told me where I might be able to buy one locally (because I didn't want to be without a camera).

While I was loitering at reception waiting for Ouan to call and confirm this was okay, one of the maids (who despite lack of English was very friendly) wandered by and observed that I was wearing the provided yukata over a pair of light cotton pyjama bottoms. "Good idea!" she exclaimed, but I felt forced to explain in basic English that I was actually wearing it that way because it was a tad on the revealing side for me to wear otherwise due to my relative size versus Japanese women (I didn't want to flash my legs or cleavage  every time I moved and also had a camisole on underneath though she couldn't see that). Basically I told her I was fat and sadfaced haha. She laughed and then since it was all women there at the time (I doubt she'd have done it if a guy had been present) she made a gesture with her hands against her own chest to indicate big boobs accompanied by an expression of admiration that made me laugh out loud.

That encounter cheered me up over the cable snafu and after a nice cup of oolong I fell asleep and had no trouble with the futon or the bean pillow whatever. I did, however, discover that my toilet seat was heated and had absolutely no idea how to stop it. So I spent three days being shocked by a hot seat whenever I went to pee. Ah well :)

• More pics as usual on Flickr, and the song of the day for the 24th was The Cure's A Forest

Saturday 23rd June - Takayama and Getting Naked in Public

Two observations – mention you're English to Japanese of a certain age with some grasp of the language, and they will immediately comment about the Olympics. Respond to the follow-up question with “I live near Manchester” and you'll hear “Ah, soccer! Manchester United!”. Trufax.
This happened to me in Takayama, and it's happened to me again in Kanazawa (yes this blog is behind, shush).

I'll try to keep this one briefer so that I can catch up. No idea if I'll manage it but we can try.

I think I was still suffering from the after-effects of jetlag, considering I fell asleep at 10pm after the trip to Takayama, despite the trip itself not being immensely tiring. The payback for that was that I was up at 5am, but luckily at Takayama Ouan that meant that the onsen on the roof was open – morning hours were 5am to 9am. So I grabbed the basket provided in the room with two towels (one for washing, one for drying) and headed for the 13th floor. I did not bother with the samue top and pants that they also provide (and which most guests wore around the hotel all the time), because the set they left in my room was too small in the boob area and I did not want to get into the conversation about sizing when I am clearly way oversized for most things Japan. It would have sucked to put them on the spot.

On this particular morning I decided to use the smallest of the private baths, since when I got there it was free and I wanted to take a picture of one of them – obviously taking pics of the ladies public baths was not possible. Also it was a good chance to practice the whole sitting-down-to-wash thing, which I am pretty clumsy at to tell the truth, but practice makes perfect. I have to say that I really enjoyed the experience, and a good soak banished the lingering backache that was nagging at me after the flight. And the view over Takayama, while slightly steamed up, was very pretty. In the relaxation area outside the baths they provided a huge iced barrel full of little Yakult drinks for guests to cleanse their insides as well as their outsides. So I had one of those too, since everyone else was doing so.

After that, I ventured down to breakfast, where I confirmed my suspicion that I was indeed the only non-Asian in the building, heh. Breakfast was a Japanese style buffet included in the price of the room, with a few Western “continental” options as well. My God I have never seen such a bewildering array of food I can't identify haha. Honestly, it could have fed half of Tokyo in terms of variety and amount. And let me tell you that all rumours to the contrary, Japanese on holiday sure can eat. My tray looked puny by comparison to the stacked-high trays of many of the guests sitting around me,and I didn't leave the room empty by any means. I had an assortment of meat, fish, pickles, egg and of course rice, though I decided to forgo the miso soup given that it was already pretty warm at 7.30am. I also had a mini-croissant from the Western selection (which was pretty boring compared to the Japanese stuff) just because they looked nice – and in fact they were pretty good for a Japanese approximation of a foreign pastry.

It was around this point I was grateful that for whatever reason (and probably what my parents thought was a fad), I taught myself to use chopsticks as a teenager. I'm by no means an expert, but I can manage decently well, and am quite proud to report that I even managed a soft-poached egg whole without making a mess or spilling it down my shirt. I saw one guy eating yoghurt with chopsticks mind you, and that left me in awe. If I wasn't sure how to eat something  I had sneaky looks at what other people were doing and by dint of that managed to consume the lot. And of everything I had on my tray, the only thing I wasn't so keen on was the beef stew (yes, at breakfast). Hida (the area in which Takayama is located) is famous for its beef, and it wasn't that the  beef was bad – more that the Japanese like to toss everything in there and I am not keen on fat and gristle. The lean bits were very good, though, and the juices were delicious.

After breakfast I uploaded a few photos and then hit the road to do some sightseeing. My list for Takayama was fairly short as I only had a day, and consequently had eliminated the temple district in favour of seeing Hida Folk Village, that being more unique overall. But first I just went for an orientation walk around town, checking out the famous morning market and a few of the main streets in the older part of town. Takayama has a lot of quality souvenir shopping going on and while I didn't buy anything, I did stop by a couple of shops to admire some of the lacquerware, jewellery, fabrics and art on sale. There are also plenty of more ordinary souvenir shops, but even they were neat and tidy. I walked over a couple of the bridges that cross the river through the centre of town and through the old, preserved Edo-era streets before winding up at Takayama Jinya for my first scheduled sightseeing stop.

Takayama Jinya is basically an old government building from the edo period, and a great example of the architecture and design of the time. As with most of the cultural attractions in Japan, it seems, entrance was pretty cheap and you can dawdle as long as you want. There's more of the shoes off stuff – pretty much any interior of an old building requires this, and I was getting used to carrying my shoes in a plastic bag at this point!

After Takayama Jinya, I stopped on a bench outside to reapply some suncream as the heat was starting to amp up, then I headed off for a bit more wandering and to try and find a buddhist temple in the vicinity. In my efforts to do so, I completely missed it, though I did find a restaurant I had heard was good but hard to find, so quickly bookmarked it mentally and then went back to the hotel for an hour to get out of the midday heat. In the afternoon, I walked over to the bus station and picked up a combination ticket for Hida Folk Village – 900 yen for a bus each way and an entry fee.

Hida Folk Village basically is a reconstructed village in the forest on the edge of Takayama, to which they have moved threatened ancient buildings from all over the region and rebuilt them where they will be protected for generations to come. So there's a selection of building styles from the same era but different towns, and inside them are people demonstrating some of the traditional skills and crafts from the era. Before I left the hotel I'd changed my shoes for the velcro-strapped ones which are not great on rough ground due to having thin soles, but are perfect for the constant shoes on/shoes off that I had heard was the deal at Hida Folk Village. And indeed that was the case, so I was glad I changed – the interiors of all the houses were either wood or tatami or both.

It was a beautiful setting around a lake, and I spent a good long while there just pottering about and checking everything out. I also kept running into the same youngish Japanese couple who, unlike many, were quite willing to engage with a foreigner socially despite not knowing any English. It started when I was in one of the buildings and I heard this really loud BONGGGGGG which sounded like a bell and echoed for ages. I thought it was one of those sound systems that triggers for tourists to give you a flavour of the era, but when I got outside and moved on, just up the hill was the bell in question with a notice outside explaining how to ring it (signs at this place any many others in Takayama were in both Japanese and English, as it's very tourist-oriented, being on the route of a bullet train). Standing by the bell was a young woman, laughing at her boyfriend/husband, who had just rung it. He looked slightly guilty when he saw me (even though it was clearly meant to be rung) and I pantomimed an amused “IT WAS YOU!!” at him, to which he started laughing as well. Whenever our paths crossed after that he'd pull a face, mime ringing a bell and grin at me saying “bong!”  Heh :) I saw them when I was waiting for the bus to leave, and it turned out they were bikers, so that probably explains it – I usually find bikers to be a friendly and often well-travelled bunch and apparently it crosses borders.

After the folk village I headed back on the bus to Takayama, and this time managed to find the bloody temple I had been looking for – no idea how I missed it since it has an effing big pagoda outside – and then my stomach reminded me that I had not eaten since breakfast. The restaurant – Echiban – that I had spotted earlier opened at 5pm, so I literally fell in the door and took one of the only dozen seats at the counter while the chef cooked me tempura shrimp and vegetables with rice. I also ordered a small bottle of chilled sake because I needed something cold and alcoholic and am not a massive fan of beer (Japanese or otherwise) unless it's part of a social activity. There was no way I was going to finish 330ml at one meal but oh well, I am on holiday.

The meal was lovely, so he completely lived up to his reviews, and even though I was the only person in the place I didn't feel awkward. Luckily he had a little English so no confusion, and I remembered how to say “delicious!” in Japanese, to which he laughed and bowed. The bill was about 2000 yen, which I thought was pretty reasonable since almost half of that was the sake, and as I left he capped the little bottle of sake and told me to take it away with me, bless him. I never did finish it, though I had another couple of swigs back at the hotel. It was good stuff, by the way.

After resting and cleaning up, I started to pack for the following day's move to Kanazawa. When I went downstairs to collect one of my pairs of shoes which I'd left in the foot-locker, one of the English-speaking members of staff cheerfully reminded me that it was 10.30pm and therefore free noodles were go in the restaurant. I almost forgot! Since supplies are limited, I popped the shoes upstairs and then went back down, curious to try out this Takayama Ouan custom.

Basically you go in and get given a tag with a number on, then sit down. The “compere”, for want of a better word, then calls your number when your noodles are ready and you go up and collect them. I got given number 4, and was sitting there suddenly blanking on the Japanese for 4 (it's "yon", by the way) and thinking damn, this was a bad idea as I listened to him doing what sounded like a rapid-fire bingo call routine. Then suddenly among the Japanese he called out “Number Four!” and looked over at me (as did a good proportion of the restaurant haha). Slight embarrassment aside, I was thankful he did it and the noodles were very tasty – meat and veg and broth. I also managed to eat THOSE with chopsticks  and remembered to slurp appreciatively so I reckon I get another level-up for that.

And that was my last night in Takayama – apart from packing I went straight to bed and slept like the dead – until 5.30am anyway, when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Packing all done I decided to hit the baths again and this time took to the public bathing area which was pretty crowded for an early morning. Nevertheless I stripped off and joined in the fray with all the other ladies, and I am glad I did. Sitting naked in a hot, rock spring in the open air of an early morning looking down over Takayama was lovely, and a great start to a travel day. And I managed not to make a hash of the washing beforehand thanks to my practice at using the tiny stools the day before.

Little did I know that when I left Takayama Ouan, after telling the recpetionist that I would love to come back one day and bring my fiance (she smiled and said that yes, I should!) I'd actually also managed to leave my iPhone cable in the room by accident and that was going to cause me a pain when I got to Kanazawa – but more on that later.

• Pictures of my stay in Takayama are as usual are on Flickr here.

Music for this day was Sugizo's Kanon, for the simple fact that it was playing when I rested at the Buddhist Temple before dinner. Also it's lovely