2019 April: Japan: Visit to Takayama and Shirakawa Village

We booked at Klook, but try if you can get it on a lower price at Meitetsu Kanko website.

On the day of your travel, go to Meitetsu Bus Center 4F to get your tour sticker and travel guide documents.  The office opens at 7:10am, stay nearby the door because there area a lot of tourists who will be waiting outside.  The bus was expected to arrive at 8:10am in Gates 27 and 28. But because the earlier bus departures have problems of waiting for their guests, expect that your own departure time will be affected as well.

It will take you 1.5 hrs before heading to the first stop. Where you can get your ice cream as being famous in Gifu area.  (It is also a place to buy your snacks and drinks. For us, were able to get our umbrella from Family Mart as it was raining hard during that day.)

It is also an opportunity to see some parts of Japan alps.  Not really, but there are mountains still covered with snow during end of March. 

On the way to Takayama, a video will be played explaining the transformation of the area between seasons. Also, showing about the festivities and the famous delicacies that you can in the area.

After another hour, we have finally reached Takayama.

Enjoyed some rice balls along the way.  Mitarashi dango is a traditional rice dumpling with sweet soy glaze and is normally skewered on a bamboo stick.

In spite of the heavy rainfall, we were able to walk around Takayama.

We skipped tasting the sake, fruit mochi and Hida sashimi.  Most of the stores selling this product have lots of long queue of tourists.  Instead, we decided to roam around the side streets and finally found the store selling the Hida beef buns.

In less than 90 minutes of allowable time to spend in  Takayama for food and museum tour, we were requested to return to the parking area.

Lunch was served at Takayama Green Hotel on buffet style.  Choices from fried chicken, tenderloin, pork, burger steak, white fish, noodles, pickled vegetables. There is section for bread and pastries, cake and sweets and fruit and vegetable salad.  They also have wide range of drinks from coffee, cold juices, green tea and other flavored teas.

On the way to Shirakawago, they will again play a video explaining the culture of the area.  The guide will hand-out the travel map of the area, plus the ticket that can be used among 3 museums namely

Shirakawa-go is bonded by the people as the villagers help each other replace the roof of one house. No nail is used on the house, but binded by the people as they tighten up each log with ropes.  This is what the video mentions, but when we reached the 3F of Kanda House, my sis ter found some nails, possibly to preserve and

When the place was announced to be a Unesco World Heritage that is when the place become famous to the world.

Summary: Japan: 6 Days Spring Itinerary in Nagoya

Day	Places to see	Food and Restaurants
1	Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology Nabano No Sato	Starbucks 15F Caffeteria Al Porto, Nagoya Station
2	Okazaki Castle and Park Higashiyama Botanical Garden Hoshigaoka Terrace Osu Shopping (optional)	Sakura Festival in Okazaki Higashiyama Soup Stock Tokyo
3	Shinsakai River in Gifu Inuyama Castle Gojo River in Iwakura City	Inuyama Castle Town Showa Alley Sakura Festival in Gojo
4	Takayama Shirakawa-go	Takayama Green Hotel
5	Mikokoro Catholic Church Nagoya Castle Meijo Park (optional) Shonai Ryukuchi Park	Rib & Baguette Cafe Ichiran Ramen
6	Tsuruma Park Yamazakigawa Riverside (optional) Yabacho/Sakae shopping	Sakura Festival in Tsuruma