Takayama

We are now in the Japanese alps, or near by it right now. This is the region where there was an unexpected volcanic eruption which seems to have killed about 30 hikers, however we can see no ash clouds and no evidence.

After dropping off our stuff at the hotel we went to see the Hida folk village, just outside of town. In this outdoor museum they collected various farm houses from around the region, especially since with the hydroelectric dam building some of these houses would have been under water.

Some of the buildings had really thick straw roofs, sometimes up to a meter or more thick! They would need to be rebuilt every 60 years or so, and all the straw to build them was collectively owned by the villagers. The village would all help to replace the roof (and not charge labour) and it would take about 4 days of work.

In each house they had a small fire smouldering in the firepit, to keep the house a bit smokey for preservation and to keep the humidity down. In each house they also had a fire detection and fighting installation!

The roofs and beams for making the house all had to be strong and thick because up to 2m of snow could sit on the houses during the winter.After taking several hours to wander through the farm houses we caught the bus back into town and went into the old part of town that has been very well preserved.

While going through this area we found a store selling farm equipment which included this poster (tons of cartoon illustrations are used in Japan for everything), and the machine below is what we've seen used to harvest rice. I kept thinking that a combine from Ontario would finish a rice field in two passes!

Back at the hotel we went up and had a private bath, similar to the one in Kii Katsuura without the crashing ocean waves, just a view of the city. We had dinner at the hotel, another buffet dinner. They brought tiny grills to the table for each of us with the nice beef from the region, all very tasty!

The next morning we started our day again in the baths, this time in the public area which was almost empty. You could bathe (separate genders but the same design) on the roof, outside in a rock lined hot pool that overlooked the city and the mountains behind. This place actually had a cool water bath as well, not the European 14C, but a respectable 20C which felt pretty cold after the 40C baths. I never went into the sauna, but it was 95C!