Hida Takayama

Damien’s sister Bec and her husband Tony left this morning from a short visit to Japan. They are currently living in Shanghai so the flight was only a couple of hours. They spent two nights in Nagoya and then we met them at Kani station on Friday morning. It was really great to see them and to show them around our little area. They said that Japan was very different from China, almost opposites. We took them to a couple of our favorite local restaurants and then on Saturday afternoon we took a train up into the mountainous Hida region which is a couple of hours north of here.
The historic town of Takayama has become a real tourist attraction and is often called “Little Kyoto” because of all of its old preserved buildings and its conservative and elegant culture. We stayed in a small minshuku, family run Japanese style inn, near the station, called Sosuke. The building was 170 years old and was moved from the countryside into the city years ago. The inside was renovated but much of the exposed wood inside was beautiful and old. The sitting room was focused around an indoor firepit with a hanging kettle. This is called a irori and is common in areas that get rough winters.
Minshukus almost always include dinner and breakfast. The dinner we had was very nice and consisted of many courses made from local meat, fish and vegetables. Breakfast included a local specialty called hoba miso which is a sweet miso paste grilled over a small flame on a magnolia leaf and then eaten on rice. It was really good. We had some sashimi (raw fish) and when I asked what it was, I was surprised to find out that it was cat fish!!
We all had a good time walking around the old district, having coffee and snacks at small cafes, eating homemade soba noodles from a century old restaurant, and enjoying arguably the world’s best beef, Hida Beef. There were many beautiful shops with locally made artisan crafts and we even drooled over a couple of antique stores. I really wish I had a lot of money to spend of really nice Japanese décor!
The only bad part was that is rained all day on Sunday. It was hard to juggle umbrellas and cameras and backpacks. The most interesting old building we went through was a complex called Takayama jinya. It is the only government office building from the Edo era (the Tokugawa Shogun era 1603-1868). The architecture was astoundingly beautiful inside and out and it was a very rare opportunity to see an old building that was neither religious nor purely residential.
We would really love to go back there when we have more time and it isn’t raining. We actually had the option of living there and turned it down because we thought it would be a podunk country town. We were wrong, but it is too late now.
We were all a little Japanese food-ed out last night so we went to the really tasty Italian place here in Kani and a had a great multi-course dinner of pastas, pizzas, risottos and desserts! It was such a short trip that it went by in a flash. I guess the next time we will see them we will all be in Australia.
Now, we are back to work for a couple of weeks and then Heather and Jeremy come and we have a week off. We are going to Inuyama castle, Osaka, Himeji Castle, Nara, Kyoto (for Japan’s most famous festival), and Hikone castle.

The Power of a Corporate Logo

The other day I was going over some animal flashcards with a class of 6-year olds. I showed them the "duck" card and what do you think one girl yelled out?
"Aflac!"
What has the world come to when a 6-year old Japanese girl looks at a picture of a duck in English class and says the name of a U.S. insurance company?
I have to admit it was very funny and I couldn't help laughing.
Of course I said, "No!! It's a duck."

A Trip to Gifu City

Sorry it has been so long since I wrote anything. Things have been very busy and we haven’t done too much. We went back to Hana Festa park a few weeks ago and saw a Giant Asian Hornet. This is the biggest hornet in the world and kills 40 people a year in central Japan. We have since seen several of them around our apartment, including a dead one floating in a rice paddy. They can be up to three inches long and look like a small hummingbird when they are flying!
We have been watching a family of swallows who live on the floor below us. They have 4 babies and every night papa bird sleeps just inside the main door to the apartment building. The other day I watched the parents bringing food back to the babies. They were shoving giant dragonflies down their gullets!! I couldn’t believe those frail little baby birds could possibly ingest such a large thing, but they got it down. The wings were flapping as it was being swallowed. Damien and I like to check on the family every time we come in or out.
We went to Gifu City yesterday. Gifu is the capital city of Gifu Prefecture and is much bigger than Kani. It seemed kind of run down and depressed in some areas. We walked from the station up to the castle. The castle was an important castle in the days before the shogun took control in the early 1600s. It is a reconstruction though since the original was bombed in the war. The castle is very high up on a hill. We hiked up to it rather than take the ropeway. It was a rugged but enjoyable hike. We had an incredible view from the top. Too bad it wasn’t a clear day. We will have to go back.
Near the castle park there were many old buildings. The architecture was just beautiful. We were in constant awe of the Japanese aesthetic everywhere. From the color of the decades, or in some cases centuries old, wood to the perfectly designed gardens, the bamboo gates to the details on the wooden sliding doors. There were a lot of expensive restaurants in some of the old buildings. We will have to save our yen and go back.
We did go to a really nice café called Natural Café. It was a locally run little place in an old building 113 years old. When we entered I immediately realized that I had just stepped in poop! I said to Damien, “Oh shit! There’s a big pile of dog poo here!” Then Damien said, “That’s not dog poo. That’s a turtle there!” Then I saw what I had thought was a statue right in front of us. It was a giant tortoise that had just pooped on the floor. So the café had a resident tortoise!! It is not everyday that you step in turtle poop as you enter a café. The café was actually on the second floor while the turtle has the run of the first floor and the front porch. The décor in the café was wonderful and we enjoyed a leisurely lunch of kick ass Thai green curry and homemade desserts! It was one of the best places we have been to since we have been back I must say.
Another highlight was coming across a 200 year old golden Buddha made of wood and lacquered paper.
Well, this blog is pretty long. I will try to write little posts more often but we are so busy. I have only had 1 day off in 16 days.
Ciao!