When I was looking for one last place to put on my trip to Japan, someone in an internet group mentioned Takayama. After about 5 minutes of reading and a few youtube videos later I was convinced this was my kind of place. Thats was pretty much confirmed, shortly after arriving in town as I wandered through the streets of both the newer part of town and the older part of town. The older part is mostly the traditional Japanese wooden buildings which were popular among tourists in Kyoto especially, but also in Kanazawa. However the further off the beaten path you get the less tourists tend to stray. Its not like Takayama is off the tourist trail either, it is well known, but it is hard to do as a day trip from Kyoto or even Kanazawa. So you need to dedicate time to visit the place and most tourists doing the golden triangle of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto typically have less than 2 weeks.
One of the things I wanted to see in Takayama besides the Sake tasting I’d just partaken in was the Retro museum. A small museum, with lots of old things dating back 50+ years. For those old enough its a trip down memory lane, for Gen Z its probably ancient history. They had some old aracde and pinball machines, some retro poker machines, lots of old signs and lots of old toys and items from the olden days as I call them now. Such a nice hidden gem to explore for an hour or so. It wasn’t big but it was packed full with amazing stuff.
Nearby Hide-Furukawa is about 3 stops on the local train line but even quieter than Takayama. Its also a bit of a hidden gem, but renowned for the storm water drains being home to koi fish during the warmer months. They are there next to some beautiful old buildings. The fish have a winter pond they are relocated to but in the warmer months they live along this street and clearly well fed as they follow you up and down, with the heads popping out of the water looking for food. There were no fish food vendors, but I assume the loclas love the fish and hence feed them. These were some big goldfish!
It was a really enjoyable 2 days in the area around Takayama. I know there was another village many people do visit on bus tours from Kyoto and here thats not on the train line that is apparently worth visiting, but I’m not the sort of person to try and see everything. It feels too much of a chore and I’m sure this won’t be my only trip every to Japan!
