We rose reasonably early, as we had arranged a morning tour of the town, but not at silly o’clock.
For the first time in ages, we would be doing a group tour. We like to travel independently and so, to the extent that we take tours, we usually arrange private ones. But our agent Tim recommended this and a few other tours we’ll be doing in Japan to be best taken as group tours and we trusted him. Spoiler alert: Tim was right as usual – we had a great morning.
We had been given just a simple joining instruction in our pack, to be at the Takayama Jinya Main Gate between 9:15 and 9:20. I guessed that this was a place where many tours gathered and wondered whether we’d find it difficult to locate our particular guide. But in truth most of the groups gathering there were Japanese tour groups so I quickly spotted out guide, Momo, with an English couple, Martin and Jane, waiting for the rest of our group.
I soon learnt that Martin and Jane are from Kendal but that they do not like mint cake. Soon another pair joined us; Travis and Keely, from Sacramento, California. Then just one more couple, Peter and Janet from York. We were complete.
Momo took a group picture of us all in front of the Takayama Jinya Main Gate and then continued to take pictures of us throughout the tour which she then sent to us later that same day – such is the modern way with group tours perhaps, or some extra care and attention in Momo’s excellent approach to guiding.
This was basically a food and culture walk, with more food than culture on the itinerary.
To make my life easier, Momo’s covering note with the photographs explains our itinerary…
…we visited today:
・Jinyamae Morning Market(陣屋前朝市)
・Harada sake brewery(原田酒造)
・Miyagawa Morning Market(宮川朝市, everyday around 8am to noon)
・Fukutaro(Café,福太郎)
・Bunrindo（Confectionary,分隣堂）
…except, of course, that the itinerary only tells you what formally happened. Informally, there was a whole load of other stuff going on, not least because we were a very curious group of eight people. I don’t mean weird-curious…
…although some of us, me and Daisy included, might be thus described…
…no, I mean we had eight people all exerting their curiosity and interest in the sights, smells and tastes of Takayama, while wandering around, theoretically in a group.
At one point, Keely described looking after our group as an exercise in cat-herding and I thought that was a pretty spot-on description. Yet somehow Momo managed to keep a watchful eye on all of us and gently cajole us in top following the route she had planned and sort-of doing and seeing the things she had chosen for us.
Lots of photos – some of which are peppered in this Ogblog piece, tell the tale better than words. Some of the photos were taken by Momo, others by me and Janie. If Janie and I are both in the photo, then you know it was Momo – we’re not selfie stick types…yet.
Everyone in the group was really good company – we found out a lot about each other and our various journeys through the culinary elements of life. Some had been fussy eaters when younger but had relented over the years; one or two of us were still quite set in our ways with regards to food and were finding that aspect of Japan quite challenging. Janie and I were probably the most familiar with Japanese cuisine before the visit to Japan.
The conviviality was, of course, assisted by the visit to the sake shop to sample several sakes at around 10:00. That must be the earliest in the day that Janie and I have taken alcohol in living memory. Writing this up early (6:30ish) the next morning, I wonder whether I will get a “it’s sake o’clock” feeling when we are on the train to Kyoto at 10:00. (Editor’s subsequent note: no I didn’t).
The town is geared up to people going around and sampling food and drink, it seems. For example, we made an impromptu stop at a miso shop that wasn’t on our itinerary and sampled their miso.
We tried some street food along the way – no I don’t mean the above children or dogs.
I was the only person in our group who braved the takoyaki – octopus dumplings. Very hot temperature-wise but rather interesting in taste and wonderful textures – the goo of the dumpling then the chew of the octopus.
Soon after that, Daisy and I got chatting to an antipodean mother and daughter combination; Marianne (I think) and Sophie. But where were they from? The mother’s accent was French but I’m sure one of them said they were from Perth. Daisy came away from the conversation convinced that they had said that they were from New Zealand…quite a difference.
A whole-hearted debate about the origins of this unusual antipodeans ensued – Travis even opened a betting-book on the question and Daisy chased after the pair to interrogate them further. Daisy eventually returned, having heard the mother’s entire life story, claiming that both of us were right, as although the pair were sort-of from Perth, they had also lived in New Zealand. So all the bets were off.
Meanwhile the tour was coming to a conclusion. We all took tea/coffee and some mostly savory nibbles in a tea house at the end of the food stall market…
…and then strolled back to the centre of town via a confectionery store.
There the tour ended, so Daisy and I presented Momo with a gift of some English nibbles (Harrods I think they were, or perhaps Fortnum’s) before saying goodbye to the delightful group who had helped make our morning very special.
We strolled a little on our own, not least stopping at an interesting furniture-oriented department store (Takayami is renowned for its carpentry)…
…but only really to kill a little time before getting the bus to the Hide Folk Village.
The folk village is a falsey in a way, as the medieval houses have been transported from various other parts of the country.
But the houses have been placed artfully around a rather beautiful artificial lake and the interesting displays that have been placed inside them – authentic from the point of view that the relics relate to the houses (or at least the villages from which the houses) that have been transplanted to the Hide Folk Village.
In short, it made for a very charming and informative stroll. Hardly a Western tourist to be seen at that site – quite a lot of Japanese tourists and school groups though.
We returned briefly to our hotel just to wash and change in preparation for an early evening visit to Ajikura Tengoku, the restaurant we couldn’t get into yesterday, to ensure we got a table.
Ahead of our meal, though, we encountered a rare example of poor service in Japan as my laundry at the Best Western Hotel Takayama came back with a significantly higher price than expected. The laundry decided that my casual cotton shirts should be priced as overcoats and that my simple cotton trousers required a premium of a few quid over the (already very high) rate on the card, all for no apparent reason.
Daisy got quite incensed by all of this as a matter of principle, not least because the hotel functionary insisted that I bring the laundry back down for him to examine and then only tried to put matters right with a derisory couple of small coins, rather than the actual amount I had been overcharged.
Irritated but determined not to let such a small matter (a few quid, albeit a matter of principle) ruin such a lovely day, I simply resolved to get Audley to complain on our behalf and to report in detail on Trip Advisor a warning about how laundry happened for us at the Best Western Hotel Takayama.
Far more importantly, we had a date (but not a booking) at Ajikura Tengoku, so off we set to ensure we got there about 17:30, within half an hour of the place opening. There we found a tiny queue (we were second in line) and were in business within five minutes of our arrival – success.
Note for anyone who thinks that 17:30 is ridiculously early…when we left the place just after 19:00 there was a great long queue and the staff were already putting out the “full for the evening” signs.
Anyway, we got to try the wonderful local Hide beef and pork on a yakiniku grill. So once again we ended up cooking our own dinner and paying for the privilege of doing so!
No seriously, that restaurant is a very good place and although the meal was quite pricey, it was nowhere near the £100 plus per head prices in some of the more high-falutin’ looking places in town where the reviews are lower-falutin’ that the Ajikura Tengoku reviews.
So we had a very special meal to round off a very special day.
All the pictures from Day Six (ours and Momos) can be seen by clicking the Flickr link here or below:
