A Small Japanese Alps Town (Denver`s Sister City)

After a long journey from Hakone I finally arrived in Takayama. Being 10pm it was the last train of the night to pull into Takayama station. I had called ahead from my last train switch, at Nagoya, to tell the lady at my `Ryokan` that I would not arrive until just after 10pm. She spoke very little English but I seemed to get the point across, after many `I'll be there just after 10` - `I see you at 10, at my house`...

The weather was, for the first time on my trip, cold and rainy. Takayama, meaning `high mountain`, is a popular name in Japan, so, this town is known as Hida Takayama. It is a very old town which is rich in history. It contains many of the original buildings and artifacts that it has been home to for hundreds of years. This includes entire areas of historical buildings. Once known for its woodwork it has an entire area sectioned off that still has an entire township of buildings where this woodworking was done.

A Ryokan is a kind of ancient foreigners house. Here a foreigner is treated with the utmost respect and courtesy at all times. When I arrived on the night of the 4th I was greeted at the Murasaki Ryokan by an older woman who was on her knees bowing to me...I barely knew what to do. I took off my shoes and put on the slippers(which has been the custom at every place I have stayed), and finally she stood and showed me to my room. Upon entering the room she then knelt down again and bowed to me saying `goodnight`. And the room, it was fantastic. A traditional style, it had bamboo floors, a futon, and tea set out for me. In the morning I was served one of my most memorable meals to date. It was an assortment of food with rice. The main course was cooked on a large leaf over a burner in the center of the table. Wow. One of the dishes even had these little fishes about the size of sardines or anchovies, with eyeballs and all. After gobbling all of this wonderful breakfast up I hit the streets.

I cruised the city checking out all the ancient buildings and in the afternoon the sun came out and many of the clouds dissipated. Thus revealing the surrounding mountains which had a fresh dusting of snow. Another beautiful day for me in Japan. I could not have been luckier, as far as weather is concerned, so far on my trip.

On the morning of the 5th I have now had a second breakfast similar to the previous morning. Although, this was in a different room which had unique charm all its own. Now, I am off to Hiroshima. If all works out I will stop on the way and visit the most famous castle in all of Japan in Himeji...