Central Japan Winter Travel Itinerary (Takayama, Kanazawa, Gero and Nagoya)

UNESCO World Heritage - Shirakawago

This is actually my first winter travel in the last 7 years or so since I am back from UK. Most of the time I would avoid winter travel like a plague as I hated the heavy wrapping of layers of clothing and the frozen feeling of my toes and hands. However, this time I took the plunge and went ahead with a winter holiday in central Japan covering mostly Gifu area. We were actually lucky to score a good deal via Thai Airways which we flew to Osaka and back from Nagoya. The air ticket actually cost less than RM 1k (to be exact, its RM 980.90) and we transit for an hour each in Bangkok. We took the overnight flight from KL and reach Osaka the next early morning.

Kanazawa Castle

Day 1 - Kanazawa
We reached Osaka about 6.30 in the morning and we proceed to take the Haruka express to ShinOsaka and then the Thunderbird to Kanazawa. By the time we reached Kanazawa, it's about 12.30pm. As it's yet for us to check in, we decided to get the day bus pass which costs 500 yen and went to our first destination, sushi at Omi-cho market. It was raining the whole day and for the first time, KC actually disagreed with me to share a sushi platter but to have our own platter each instead. Our first sushi costs us about 2200 yen with 10 pieces and the feeling of sushi swimming in my tummy was enough to warm us up for our next stop, Kanazawa castle. We did not entered the castle but instead took some photos outside of the castle compound. Initially we wanted to enter the Kenrouken garden to see the hanging trees with snow but it was raining and no show, hence we decided to save the money instead. We went to Higashi Chaya, the old town of Kanazawa for some nice portrait shots before calling it the day and went back to our hotel for check in. We stayed in Oka Hotel for a night which costs us 5600 yen for one night. The hotel was old but it was comfortable and quite near to the train station. We hoping to catch some snow today but was disappointed that it rained instead.

Takayama

Day 2 - Takayama
When we stepped out from our hotel the next morning, we were greeted with snow and lots of them. It was such a sight to behold as the last time I saw snow dropping down from the sky was 8 years ago in Edinburgh. The whole town was covered with snow but we did not have much time to admire as we rushed to the train station for our train to Takayama, the highlight of the trip. We took the Shinkansen to Toyoma station and changed to Hida train. We actually got the 5 day Takayama-Hokuriku pass which costs us 14,000 yen in Malaysia and the pass basically covers all our intercity train travel and also Nohi bus. We reached Takayama quite early, around 9.30am and it was snowing!! We were so excited but faced some difficulty in dragging our bags through the snow pavement. And since it's not time to check in yet, we dumped our bags at our hostel, J Hoppers and went out to explore the town. The first time we saw the famous red bridge in Takayama, we were totally blown away. Almost every corner was postcard perfect and we can't stop snapping photos. Plus I had my prime lens with me and every photo turn out great. I practically ooh and ahh at every single photo we took! We took a leisure stroll along the old town and ate soba for lunch. As we had an hour to kill before we can view the sake brewery, we went around the town and stopped by a grocery store. Bad decision as I can't stop buying ramen, soba, and all sorts of Japanese noodle to bring home. Meanwhile, KC was down with stomachache and had to rush off to the nearest toilet.
We joined the sake brewery tour with another two young Western guys as the rest of the guide only speaks Japanese. We get to sample some sake and I even bought a sake for myself eventhough I rarely drinks. I swore Japan has its way of making me want to spend all my money there! As KC was not feeling too well, we went back to the hostel to rest and while she slept, I was too hyper to sleep. Must be the side effect from the sake! We had a simple lunch as a nearby restaurant and went to sleep early.

On the way walking up to the observation point

Pretty gassho covered in snow

Stumble upon this while walking around the village

Day 3 - Shirakawago
I could say this was the highlight of the whole trip and we prepared ourselves with ear muffs, lots of heat pad, thick socks and gloves for the day trip to Shirakawa village. We took the earliest Nohi bus from the bus station and the whole journey was filled with heavy snow. I was a bit worried as we might not be able to get to the view point and we reached Shirakawago around 9am. It was still snowing quite heavy and we took some time to eat our breakfast, pile on the heat pad and a quick toilet break before embarking on the journey to walk up the observation point. Initially, we wanted to take the shuttle but after KC bumped into a girl in the hostel, she specifically mentioned that we need to walk up as the scenery is stunning along the way. As we still deciding to walk or sit on the shuttle, the snow began to stop and we just go ahead with walking. The girl was right! The scenery is stunning, so beautiful that every photo was just like a postcard. We can't stopped gushing at every corner and the 20 minutes journey up turned into 30 minutes. It was not a tough walk and fairly doable. Highly recommended to walk up instead of taking the shuttle. Many bus passes us by and I guess they probably felt pity seeing us walking up but we were actually pity them for not able to appreciate the scenery like we do, haha. Once we reach the observation point, it started snowing again and we loitered in the souvenir shop for some time for the snow to stop. The view? If I were to compare photos from summer/autumn with winter, winter wins hands down! Nothing compare to seeing the little gassho houses covered with white snow !

We spent some time exploring the village, taking photos in every nook and crook and not forgetting posing and using my modelling skills. Pity KC for being forced to model and taking photo of this fake model. When I looked back at the photos at home, every single one of them was gorgeous. I felt like a winter wear model, lol. And for the first time, I had so much good photos of myself instead of my travel partner. We took the 3.15pm bus back to Takayama and since we did not reserve the bus, we went to the bus station earlier. Luckily for us, we managed to get into the bus and reached Takayama around 4.30pm.

Day 4 - Gero
The following day we went to check out the market in Takayama and for the first time, I almost could not feel my fingers and toes. Forgot to bring out my gloves and did not check the weather forecast. Later only we found out that it was -5 degress outside. No wonder my toes and fingers were frozen. We did not stay too long outdoors and we took the 11.30am train to Gero. This is the day we will be spending a night in a ryokan and have our Kaiseki dinner and breakfast. I have booked us a cosy family owned ryokan and the owner was kind enough to fetch us from the train station to the ryokan. This time, the ryokan was larger than the one we had in Hakone but we had to eat at the dining hall instead in our room. I told KC that next time, I want to try out the resort style onsen. Gero town is small and we basically covered it in less than 2 hours. With nothing much to do, we went back to the ryokan and went for our onsen. This time we were not culture shock to shower naked in each otehr presence unlike the first time, lol. The onsen was great and it's good to dip our tired bodies into the hot spring water and unwind. It's time for our multiple course dinner and after that we went out to see the fireworks and a free Kabugi at the nearby hotel. Kabugi is basically like a Japanese opera but since it's spoken in Japanese, we can understand only bits and pieces of the play.

Nabana no Sato

Day 5- Nagoya
We set off from Gero station leaving towards Nagoya around 10am after taking a last dip at the onsen and our breakfast. As it stared snowing in Gero, the whole town was covered in snow. Kind of sad to leave the town when it started snowing and once we reached Nagoya, there was no snow, only rain. The main reason for getting to Nagoya is to see the famous winter illumination, Nabana no Sato. It is located a far bit from Nagoya and we got the package comprising of train, bus and entrance ticket amounting to 3,700 yen. At first, when the train ticket counter told us about the price, we were very shocked as we did not know that it comes with the entrance ticket as well. After getting some assistance from a lady who was stationed nearby the counter who can actually speaks English, only then we realised there's a package with train, bus and entrance. We took the Keitetsu line train from Nagoya station to Kintetsu Nagashima station and then the shuttle to the entrance of the illumination. The entrance ticket included 1000 yen voucher which we used for buying food.

Day 6- Flying back
It's the day to fly back to KL but not forgetting stocking up on Japanese snack in the airport.

Total Cost                                        RM 3,901
Flight                                               RM 980.90
Takayama-Hokuriku pass                RM 561.00
Hotel + Transportation + Souvenir  RM 2,360.00 (actual hotel costs are = RM 860)
If you do not buy much souvenir, RM 3,000 should be enough to cover the entire trip.

How to Dress for Winter Travel

With my down jacket, blocktech pants, Ugg style boots and a pop of blue

I recently went for a winter trip to Japan and I realised my previous winter clothing in UK were not able to withstand the harsher environment and snowing situation in Japan. Plus I swore never to buy one of those puffy down jackets that makes me looked like a penguin. But this changes after I saw some photos of Japan covered in snow and makes me overhaul my whole winter travel wardrobe.

So how do I managed to survive and bundle up against the winter? Here's are some of the tips

1. Have a good base layer. For this, I bought the Uniqlo Extra Warm Heattech which is very good in keeping the body warm.

2. Get a good down jacket preferably with down duck feather. Check the label to ensure it's feathers. Best is to get one with detachable hoodie and water resistant as I realised winter weather mostly comes with rain and snow. I got mine from Mango Spain which surprisingly is stylish yet warm.

3. Layer and layer and layer up. The best is to wear a few layers and I usually layer a wool based shirt/top after my heattech.

4. Buy lots (and I mean LOTs) of heat pad. I particularly find this very useful after I almost could not feel my toes while walking around Takayama. For your info, I worn a pair of thick woolen socks with Ugg style boots and still my feet are extremely cold. I put the heat pad on top of my toes and the warm feeling makes the walking much more pleasant. I kept some heat pad in my down jacket pocket so that it can keep my fingers warm.

5. Pack gloves and earmuffs. Personally, my hands are not so cold compare to my feet.

6. Pack some colour popping scarf. Trust me, this could change the outfit in an instant and makes your photos pop.

7. I bought a blocktech pants and a heattech legging pants, both from Uniqlo. I find that both the pants can block the wind better than jeans.

Here's come of my ootd shots from Japan

All wrapped up with beanie and gloves

With my shades as a fashion accessories

With my Uniqlo Heattech Leggings Pants. As you can see here, I took out the hoodie

Different way of styling the scarf

Adding shades and different colour scarf brought a different feel

Koyo (Autumn) in Japan

I think I have mentioned it before, my dslr died when I was in Tokyo last autumn due to water. And I had to rely on my friend's camera and my handphone for most of the photos. Besides sakura, autumn is another season whereby most of the places in Japan is full of tourists. For koyo viewing and it's much longer period than sakura.

I checked that the time I was there (mid Oct) was not the peak season for koyo yet. Leaves are still in green and we only saw full blown autumn in Nikko, which is around 3 hours away from Tokyo city. Yes, we purposely sit 3 hours of train to see the autumn leaves. When we were there, I kind of regret not staying a night so that we can queue for the cable car.

Most the autumn photos are taken using my Samsung S3. Not as nice as dslr but better than nothing.

Floor full of autumn leaves

The famous bridge in Nikko, Shinkyo bridge

Kegon waterfall at Nikko

So nice

What Snacks to Buy in Japan, or At Least What I Bought

my haul from Japan

I kind of compile a list of food stuff that I bought from my two trips to Japan. Can't say I am the expert in this but I kind of observed and see what other tourists bought, haha.

The list goes like this:

Many flavours of Tokyo Banana

1. Tokyo banana
This one I totally went crazy the last time I went to Tokyo. Story goes like this. I first saw someone holding the tokyo banana bag when I was in Kansai airport and almost everyone was holding one. So I came back and googled. The next time I went to Tokyo, I sapu so many boxes but mostly for other people la but I think I bought almost 10 boxes. There is one flavour only available at Tokyo skytree. We walked all the way there. Regretted didn't buy more. And I kept a few in the fridge to extend the shelf life which is usually a week. Both the hot and cold version taste very good.
Verdict: Highly recommend and it comes in many flavours

The many Kit Kat universe
credit to japanverse

2. Kit Kat
I bought three boxes in Osaka with green tea, sakura and hokkaido red bean. Came back to Malaysia and saw these flavours, I can get in Sukiya, sigh..waste my effort in carrying. So I googled other flavours and bought a lot more in Tokyo, this time in smaller packs as I was not planning to give anyone, haha.

photo credit to Cheryltay

3. Potato Farm chips
This by far the best chips I ever tasted. Period. Much much better than Mcd fries, haha

Yatsuhashi
photo credit to Shizuokagourmet

4. Japanese mochi
I prefer the one I got from Kyoto called Yatsuhashi, shaped like a triangle. I got this a lot when I was in Kyoto last time. The normal round balls mochi were kind of too sweet for me.

check out all the flavours
credit to japanstyle.info

5. Pocky
Again, it's available in Malaysia but for the different flavours you can't get here.

6. Royce chocolate and potatochips
I got this again because I saw some air stewardess rushing into the tax free shop in Haneda airport and grabbed so many. I asked one of them, "Is this good (referring to the chocolate)?" She replied, "Royce is the best chocolate in Japan." Needless to say, I was sold and bought one pack home. Had to wrapped it with ice pack to prevent from melting. And not forgetting the very unique potatochips in chocolate. Fattening but so addictive!

Experience in a Public Bath House or Onsen in Japan

I think I kind of wrote about this in a very short version detailing my experience when I went to Tokyo last time. Since I don't have the photos to show how it actually looks like as we are not allowed to bring in cameras into the bath/onsen (duh!), the pictures shown were ripped off from the world wide web.

You see, I kind of prepare myself with the onsen experience by reading all the guides and articles on how to behave or how to bathe in the public bath area. And not forgetting the experience shared by my friend who used to study in Tokyo on how he got a super culture shock when he need to strip and bathe in nude in front of strangers. I was laughing so hard when he recalled the experience to me and never in my life I thought I would experience the same thing.

But, there is always a but, I never knew that the capsule hotel that we booked in Haneda airport will be the first time I bathed in nude in front of strangers. When we reached the capsule hotel, it's called First Cabin, we checked in and brought to our beds. And then we were handed with a flyer on how to behave and use the public bath. I think my friends' face went a little pale seeing that it's a public bath and they insisted not to bathe after sitting through 7 hour of flight! I was shocked as well but I need to clean myself before sleeping and the only way to do it was through the public bath.

The stools that you are suppose to sit on and clean yourself before dipping into the pool next to it
photo credit to itravelstories.blogspot

So I gathered my stuff, the hotel provide a big and hand towel and pajamas for those who stayed there and I went to the outer area of the public bath. Already saw naked woman running around, ok more like they were stripping like it's the most normal thing in the world. I kind of stunned not knowing what to do and stand there like an idiot for like 5 minutes. Then I saw some private showers and thought of waiting for it but it was full. Then I just thought, 'Screw it la, since I am in Japan, must try the public bath'. And off I went and joined those obasan for a very naked and public bath, haha.

Turned out it was not that bad. Shampoo, shower gel, conditioner and facial scrub were all provided and dare say they were all expensive stuff (Shiseido brand, until now I still remember how silky smooth my hair after using them). I sat on the stool and start looking, even brought in my specs, haha, trying to figure out how to behave or more like bathe, haha. After looking and spying, I got the hang of it. You are supposed to bathe and clean yourself before dipping into the pool. And truthfully having nearsightedness really helps as I can't really see those naked obasan except for the outline of their body, haha.

Some do's and dont's in the public bath/onsen
photo credit to rocketnews24

So the next time when I was in a ryokan, I was so prepared to bathe naked in front of obasans but too bad the ryokan onsen is more like a private one where we can locked the door and have the whole bath area and onsen to our self. And that sums up the most daring thing I ever done while travelling, there are a few others but that's for another day.

Here's the onsen at the ryokan that we booked
photo credit to Agoda

Osaka

One last place I kind of forgot to write about is Osaka. I tend to forget that we actually flew into Kansai and went to Kyoto from there back in April. Ya, I know, outdated post again. This will be the last of the Kyoto, Osaka sakura adventure before another adventure coming this April.

I did not planned to spend much time in Osaka as it is a city and like many other cities, it is full of people and tall buildings, not my kind of holiday. I prefer something exotic and different. But, there is always but...I kind of regret not spending more time here. This place is like a shopping heaven, tonnes to stuff and things to see. We actually went to Osaka during the last two days of our trip and only spend a night there. Went to see some night view and the famous Glico man at night and the next day at the Osaka castle. And then back to Dotonbori for more shopping. Regretted that we only discovered GU so late that we had to rush in and shopped until the very last minute before making it to the airport. Luckily our flight was at night.

The famous Glico man in Dotonbori

Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle ground area

Osaka city

And total regret to buy all those skincare and SKII from Japan as it was not that cheap and busted my weight allowance. Only found out the hard way that Japanese follow the rules very much until I had to pay extra to check in another bag. A word of caution though for those flying into Japan, if you bought 20 kilos of weight, make sure that you don't bust the limit or else be prepared to pay for the penalty. I busted about 3 kilos and they even weighed by hand carry. Sadly, hand carry also busted, all busted. No choice but to pay extra RM 100 to check in another bag. Or else, I think I had to start throwing things in the airport and made a big scene.

Ok, enough of sidetrack. A little tip, we bought the day pass for the Osaka travel by train/subway and we got a discount for the castle entrance. There are a few perks for getting the pass, so make sure you read through and ask the counter staff for any discount.

Hirano Shrine, Kyoto

I meant to save the best for the last  write this long time ago and guess what, it's already 8 months since the date I was in Japan for sakura. Very outdated, yes and considered the fact that I went to Japan the second time in October, this seemed very irrelevant anymore. But I wanted to share the photos, more importantly those sakura flakes photos, as well as, the Oukasai Cherry Blossom festival that we coincidentally went to in April.

Oukasai festival is held on April 10th every year (at least it was on the 10th when we were there), is a festival where you can see many Japanese dressing up as Samurai, geisha and many other more parading along the shrine into the roads. And like many other sakura viewing parks and gardens, there are plenty of foodstalls cater for those who had hanami here. We opted to have our lunch at one of the stalls under the pinkish sakura 'snow'.

And of course, not forgetting to snap some photos under the romantic sakura trees. Seriously, my words can't even describe the feeling and the atmosphere there. You just have to be there to experience it yourself. Pink sakura petals falling off the tree and forming a pink blanket below. Surreal! The sound of camera clicking non stop whenever the wind blows (I contribute to some of the clicking, haha), ok that was not so romantic. But you get the picture la.

To make my statement, here's some of the clicking done.

Hanami

the crowd waiting for the parade to start

I quite like this picture as it feels like Inception;
 I am taking photo of a man taking photo of a lady taking photo of the parade

some of the 'geisha'

with the two samurais, the main character for the festival

my favourite photo 

Tokyo and treasure hunt

Came back from Tokyo a week ago and so many things happened during the trip. My dslr was immersed in water after my water bottle cap came off and thank god that it was recovered after I am back but I have to forgo a lot of nice photos in Tokyo.

It rained for 2 consecutive days in Hakone and all we saw was mist, mist and mist. No sight of Mt. Fuji at all. Actually all I wanted to touch and see in Hakone is the famous pregger tree  at the Hakone shrine. Let's see whether all the wishes I made at the shrine and temples in Tokyo come true. So far, one has come true ie my camera recovered. Basically every temple and shrine I went, I prayed for its recovery.

Comparatively I preferred Kyoto more than Tokyo as I was in Kyoto during the best season of the year, sakura season. Feels like wanting to book a trip to Korea next April to see the sakura in Seoul next year. Temples are definitely better in Kyoto than Tokyo. But the experience of ryokan and eating fresh sushi off the famous Tsukuji fish market were awesome. One of the highlight of the trip although the sushi cost a bomb. Nine pieces for 2500 yen but it was so good.

And just last weekend, went for my company'a annual treasure hunt event, this time with new alliance. Managed a 20th placing eventhough we practically answered so many questions wrongly. But nevertheless, it was good as we dressed up as school kids for the event, the theme was back to school. And for the first time, I went to the premium outlet in Johor, nothing compared to the US ones but still managed to get a Coach bag for myself, two shirts from Sacoor Brothers and jeans from Calvin Klein.

The next few weeks will be busy as I will be flying off to Jogja for a week and then continue with my annual leave to accompany my grandma as my parents will be going to Vietnam. Must prepared myself for long nagging sessions.

Heian Shrine @ Kyoto

We saw from the white board in our hostels saying that the sakura flowers will be full bloom in Heian Shrine and this is the best time to view the flowers in their glory state. As we spend almost half a day in Philosopher's Path and Ginkakuji Temple and admiring all the pretty sakura flowers along the path, we barely had an hour in the shrine. It is free to walk around the shrine but we need to pay around 500 yen to enter the garden which was full of tourists. If you ask me, the garden is nice but nothing to shout about comparatively to Philosopher's Path and Hirano Shrine. Maybe because it was full of tourists and we did not take much nice photos in there and there's a cost to get into the garden. But it's worth going in for the willow cherry trees and the almost mirror lake view. And while we were there, there was some event going on for school children.

It's quite easy to get to the shrine from the Philosopher's Path as we just walk along the path until the end and went through some housing area.

Sakura Fever

I just can't get enough of sakura eventhough it has been 2 months since I came back from my epic trip to Japan. First trip to many more to come, hopefully and I am already thinking of going back there again next year during sakura season. It's something to do with the pinkness (and I dont even like pink), flowery and everyone seems to be in happy mood.

I noticed there are actually a few variations of the flowers though so far all I can distinguish are whitish pink, pink pink and reddish pink. Most of the flowers I saw in Nara park in whitish pink while in Kyoto mostly are pink pink and only in Arashiyama I can se reddish pink.

Not going to talk much of the sakura tree species as you can get a good guide at this website.

Here's some of the upclose sakura flowers that I managed to capture.

Along the Philosopher's Path

At Imperial Palace Kyoto

At Heian Shrine, one of the willow tree

At Tenryuji temple

Not sure whether this is sakura or not, oh well, it's quite pretty 

Among the red and white sakura

Hybrid colour of white and red sakura flowers at Tenryuji Temple

At Arashiyama, you can see some buds are still not opened yet