In hindsight, 4 days was probably too long to stay in Kanazawa. We could have stayed only 2 or 3 days. Still, it seems like a beautiful city, and it certainly is a tourist draw. Had the weather been better I think we would have made better use of our time. Today we scheduled a day trip into the mountains of the Hida region to Takayama. It is a city which is immensely photogenic, and extremely popular with visitors for day trips and in particular, ryokan stays,...

We were expecting some rain. No big deal. We planned around it by going to Takada Castle yesterday, and putting off Takayama to tomorrow. Today wasn't just rain however, it was just one torrential, relentless and frustrating downpour, which lasted the entire day, without letting up at all. Looking across the weather radar, it seemed that much of mainland Japan was in the same wet, infuriating boat. It seemed to just be raining everywhere, so daytripping ou...

There are some days when your body tells you that you've tried to fit too much into one day. There are other days when your body, your wife and your children tell you in no uncertain terms that you've tried to cram too much into a single day. Today was well and truly the latter. It all started out innocently enough. We knew we wanted to go and see Takada castle park and the "Sakura for 1 million people" event on a clear day. This event is considered one of ...

Another fairly relaxing day today. This is the second such day on this holiday, and feels quite alien to us. Hopefully we wont be making this a habit. Who the hell wants to relax on a holiday?! That's not how it's done. We were in Gifu for a single night. It wasn't even originally on the itinerary. I didn't even really know there was a Gifu city. I always knew it just as a prefecture, since the only time we've been there is to visit Takayama and Shirakawa-go. ...

Farewell Nagoya. I'd like to say you'll be missed...but I can't...because you won't. There are some places that you realise that you will probably never see again in your lifetime, and Nagoya is one of those places. Not that I completely hated our time in Nagoya. Nabana No Sato illumination was spectacular, and Nagashima Spa Land was a fantastic day. The city itself just isn't a place where you'd go for fun from what I can see. There is Nagoya castle, and a few ...