An early start for our next stop Takayama - the gateway to the Japanese Alps, a five hour journey from Tokyo. Whizzing through crowded Tokyo station ( with all our luggage) we manage to collect our Japanese rail passes and jump on our Shinkasen (bullet train) with seconds to spare. We begin to accelerate away before we have found our seats and settled into the one and a half hour journey to Nagoya where we change trains. The railway staff are so smart and unbelievably polite; the trolley hostess on finishing her rounds turns to face the carriage and bows. Once again the staff bow to you on the platform as you disembark. Virgin trains could learn a few tips here!

Mid - journey we happen to look out of the train window and lo and behold, Mt Fuji in all it's glory. Majestic - Fuji dominates the skyline, an almost perfect volcanic cone topped with snow. It has really hit home that we are in Japan. Also, we realise how lucky we are to see Fuji as most of the year it is covered in cloud.

At 10am we arrive at Nagoya for our onward journey to Takayama. The journey takes us through mountainous valleys with steep gorges and jade green rivers cascading below and we can see there is snow on the mountains. The architecture in the valley towns is pretty boring though. We arrive at Takayama and check into our accommodation a traditional guest house (Ryokan) with private hot spring baths - called Onsens in Japanese. The elderly couple that greet us speak no English but are so welcoming we immediately feel at ease. There are many rituals we begin to learn when staying in a Ryokan; firstly to remove ones shoes in the entrance hall, the old girl then begins to clean the wheels of your luggage before her husband begins carrying into the main part of the house. Similarly, never wearing footwear in doors unless using the toilet when a pair of slip on shoes is provided! This Ryokan is spotless, so much so that we are very careful to keep things just so. Our room is lovely with tatami (rice straw) mats covering the floor, futons, a low table with Japanese teapot and cups and beautiful laid out kimono for us both. There is a moment of panic when we are unable to open our door - not wanting to break the lock, unable to speak to our hosts we finally manage to work the mechanism phew!

Heading into town we visit the Sanmachi-juji area where traditional wooden merchant houses are located for which Takayama is famous. We sample some Sake (rice wine), eat Sansai Ryori - dishes of local Hida beef roasted on a magnolia leaf above charcoal brazier with local mountain vegetables, ferns and wild herbs in an old merchant house. When I say eat I mean with difficulty as we did not know what went with what (it was hard to tell what was being served) so were given some instructions by our waitress. We are almost certain we ate the desert of ginger egg custard with the main course.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing in the Onsen.


We made sure we were up and ready for our breakfast at 7.30am as our hosts could not express strongly enough how important it was that we were on time. Ushered into a private dining room with a low Japanese table and cushions we are presented with an array of breakfast delights - cold salmon with a sweet sauce and vegetables, various pickles and tofu, sizzling Hida beef, miso soup, rice, a plate of omelette smothered in tomato ketchup with salad and a banana?? This was topped off with Japanese tea and then coffee. The presentation and service was excellent, and if I had been given this at 7.30pm rather than 7.30am I am sure I would have been able to eat the lot. David on the other hand ate his fill enough to politely say "goshiso-usama des***a" which means it was a real feast, which put the biggest of smiles on our hosts face.

Off to the Hida village to see old traditional Japanese houses and way of life. Although it was only ten minutes by bus we were amazed at how much snow there was - it was a few feet deep in places and some of the houses were cordoned off for safety. Their life seemed very tough.