Takayama

Next it was off to Takayama, a place which has retained some of the more traditional buildings. The countryside on the way there was nice too:

I'd booked a traditional Japanese ryokan (inn) instead of a normal hotel for an experience, and I definitely wasn't disappointed. My hosts were lovely and my room was really pretty, as was the rest of the place.

The lady who was looking after me told me to do lots of walking because she was going to make me a big dinner, and she wasn't kidding!

The food was delicious but it was so nicely presented it almost seemed a shame to eat it.

After dinner it was time for bed, which was pulled out and made up for me:

Breakfast was delicious again, and well and truly filled me up for a good day's walking around the town. It included a sweetish vegetable mix cooked on a large leaf, which was a neat little touch.

Takayama really is a pretty town, with a river running through the center of it.

Here's one for all the cat lovers - there was only of these and no explanation of what it was all about, but it was very cool/cute:

The town has a couple of morning markets, with this one arranged along a narrow street along the riverside. There were tent stalls as well as established shops selling food, souvenirs and crafts of various sorts.

At one point a Japanese lady who turned out to be a tour guide asked me to take her photo for her. She'd just gotten and was wearing her first ever kimono and was excited about it. This was a good chance to get my photo taken as well.

The town has an older and a more modern section, which is near the train station. The old shop fronts and little museums were really something to look at.

There's also a very large park that goes up into the hills, which was nice to walk through:

There was also a small picnic area, complete with this warrior statue:

After that it was quick trip to an area in the old town which has some of the many temples and shrines that are dotted about the town (the first is one from earlier).

Takayama holds a Spring and an Autumn festival, which include some incredibly ornate floats. Seeing these out on the streets'd be really something.

Takayama was a place with real atmosphere, and I'd recommend it to anyone. Next stop, Kanazawa!

Tokyo Pt. 1

First off, an apology to everyone for this being so late in coming. Three separate problems with the tablet I took along to copy across my photos and do my blog meant that I was already halfway through my trip before I managed to get everything sorted out, and then there wasn't much chance to catch up!

Tokyo: rainy with a chance of near-gale force winds

The flight over was uneventful, and I touched down in Tokyo at about 9:30 pm. I always love seeing cities from above in planes at night, and this was definitely no exception: it was very pretty.

As mentioned in the title, the forecast was apparently rainy with a chance of near-gale force winds, because that's what it did for the next two days. (Scratch one umbrella.) This didn't dampen my spirits though, and I got in some good cherry blossom viewing at a couple of parks that still had some trees with plenty of petals, as well as the streets of the Shinjuku district where I was staying.

It's easy to see why the Japanese people go so nuts for cherry blossom season: they really are nice to look at. Here are a few photos out of many!

This is as good a time as any to include a couple pictures of the vending machines that you'll find anywhere and everywhere in Japan, including trains and the temple I stayed overnight at. Wherever and whenever you are, you can always be assured that a drink of some sort won't be far away!

The only food ones I ever saw were for ice creams:

Having now had enough of walking through the rain huddled under my umbrella clutching my camera and trying not to be blown away, I headed off to see some museums, indoors. It was at this point that I discovered I'd somehow managed to crack my camera screen, probably by clutching it up against my umbrella stem too hard at some point near the end. The following photos involved more than a little guesswork, with a screen that was half working at best.

Armour

Armour, complete with shovel

A clearly ornamental helmet

An obviously much more practical one (ouch)

In older times Japanese clothing didn't have pockets, so small toggles called Netsuke were used to attach small containers and tobacco pouches to people's sashes. Once clothing styles changed they were no longer needed, but pressure from Western art aficionados and collectors in the 70s resulted in "contemporary" Netsuke being made. Some of these came out a bit blurry, but they're too cute not to include:

At this point I had to cut the museum viewing a bit short and make an earlier than expected visit to Akihabara, Tokyo's famous electronics district, to do something about my camera. There was lane after lane of little shops and  plenty of high rises too, with each floor devoted to something different. Cameras,  computers,  mobiles,  tablets, lights and bling went on and on, along with toy figures and the occasional hobby shop. I managed to find the same camera model and got to see the district during the day as well as when it got dark. I figure it looks best at night; it's rather cool all lit up:

And finally, for all the people I know who are familiar with the zombie shooting game called House of the Dead, you probably would have been as amused/bemused as I was to see this in a game arcade I went into:

The words just above the screen say "TYPE or DIE !!" and yes, the game characters you can see on the screen are holding keyboards instead of guns.

Instead of using a gun, the zombies came at you with Japanese words written on them (using English letters, or Romaji, if you prefer) and you had to type the words before they got too close. Naturally I had to try it.