14 Day Japan Itinerary
Trip Style: Self directed
Transportation: Shinkansen by JR Pass, rental car in Takayama
Average Accommodation Cost: $50 per person, per night, based on 4 person occupancy most of the time.
Travel Dates: March 31 - April 13, 2014
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| The river beside Shirakawa-go village |
Monday, March 31
We arrived around 7pm to Tokyo Narita. From the arrivals terminal, it's easy to find the JR office to exchange our JR order for a train pass. The JR Pass is definitely a worthwhile purchase when travelling on the bullet trains in Japan for 7 or 14 days. It can only be purchased before you depart for Japan, and overall most websites appear to sell it for the similar prices. I used this website to estimate the total cost of the long distance trains I planned to take, and my JR Pass made it a little cheaper. An added bonus is the included NEX Narita Express, which is the most direct train into Tokyo from the airport.
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| Rustic farm tools in Shirakawa-go |
We arrived at our accommodations around 10pm, and this includes some time getting lost in the renovations at Kanda station. We dragged our luggage past the temple at Asakusa on the way to our hostel, and had some ramen across the street in a pinch, to prepare for another big day of travel tomorrow.
Accommodation: K's House Tokyo Oasis. This is probably the best hostel I've ever stayed at, and sadly we only stayed the one night as it was booked out the rest - this place needs to be booked a few months ahead of time. It's clean, with a Japanese-Western toilet (includes a warmed seat and yes, it squirts water at your butt - don't worry it's only on demand), comfortable futon mattresses on the bunk beds, and personal lamps and power plugs, which you won't find everywhere.
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| Walking in the forest just uphill from Kidoya guesthouse, Shirakawa-go |
Tuesday, April 1
We dragged our luggage back to Tokyo Station to embark on our 5 hour train to Takayama. We went to the JR office to reserve our seats and assure ourselves room on the train. The majority of the journey is not by bullet train, but it's a scenic train ride through the mountains and along a rich river to Takayama.
Arriving in Takayama, there is a tourist office right outside the train station, where maps of Takayama are available in a few languages. The town centre is only 5-10 minutes from the station and very easy to find. But we just crossed the road to the Toyota Rent-A-Car. I had tried to book this car online, along with a friend who spoke Japanese, but the online system just ends up telling you to call them. Amber's aunt called them to book the car on our behalf from Japan, and it was a very confusing time trying to arrange the rental details when we arrived because the staff didn't speak any English. We found out when returning the car that there was a 200km limit on it... which we had gone slightly over. I think it was too hard for them to explain to us, because they never charged us for it.
The point being, renting a car was difficult, and we may not have been able to rent it without the help of a local that speaks the language. It did save us a bit of money though, sharing the car with 4 people instead of paying for individual bus fares to Shirakawa-go and Okuhida. There was also the added flexibility that made it worthwhile. The GPS in the car was enough to get us to the general vicinity of these villages, but as the attractions are poorly signed, we had a lot of trouble actually finding them.
The drive to Shirakawa-go was easy along the highway, which is a toll road (I think it was around $10). Once we got off the highway, there were no signs to the village. So we followed the car in front of us, which turned right, and we kept following the road, and this very road led to the old village.
The village is famous for its gassho-zukuri style farmhouses, where the rooftops make the shape of hands held together in prayer. I get the feeling this village is prettiest in either full winter (where they have a festival where the village is lit up at night), or full summer. With the muddy rice fields and stale mounds of dirty ice, April is clearly not peak season for this region.
The town can easily be seen in a day, depending on how much detail you want. We browsed a few of the stores, and Mike had what was apparently one of the best apples in the world from a store on the main street. There are some museums about the UNESCO Heritage town's history.
Accommodation: We stayed at the Kidoya guesthouse, booked through this website. It wasn't my first choice of guesthouses based on reviews, but it was the only one available. As our first Japanese accommodation, the lack of warmth from the hostess wasn't noticed. In retrospect, this was the least friendly of our accommodations, but we weren't really bothered by this. Dinner was included, and the food was great. Mike and I, who rarely eat seafood, both finished the fresh river fish that was prepared for us. Dinner (and breakfast) was an assortment of small dishes, providing tastes of several items, after which we were full. I find people tend to underestimate the portion sizes in Japan. Tourists expect small portions at high prices. I find, most places, it really is the opposite.
There was a Japanese bath at the guesthouse, but I was too cold to even get out of the futon to go enjoy it. It gets really cold here at night. There was a kerosene heater in the room, that smelled awful, and I still needed all the blankets I could get on my futon. After all the travel and the early morning, we didn't have the energy to venture out to see the town at night.
The farmhouse was a nice enough experience, but in retrospect I would just stay in Takayama and go to Shirakawa-go as a day trip. The hostel in Takayama was much cheaper, and there's lots to do and eat in Takayama.
Arriving in Takayama, there is a tourist office right outside the train station, where maps of Takayama are available in a few languages. The town centre is only 5-10 minutes from the station and very easy to find. But we just crossed the road to the Toyota Rent-A-Car. I had tried to book this car online, along with a friend who spoke Japanese, but the online system just ends up telling you to call them. Amber's aunt called them to book the car on our behalf from Japan, and it was a very confusing time trying to arrange the rental details when we arrived because the staff didn't speak any English. We found out when returning the car that there was a 200km limit on it... which we had gone slightly over. I think it was too hard for them to explain to us, because they never charged us for it.
The point being, renting a car was difficult, and we may not have been able to rent it without the help of a local that speaks the language. It did save us a bit of money though, sharing the car with 4 people instead of paying for individual bus fares to Shirakawa-go and Okuhida. There was also the added flexibility that made it worthwhile. The GPS in the car was enough to get us to the general vicinity of these villages, but as the attractions are poorly signed, we had a lot of trouble actually finding them.
The drive to Shirakawa-go was easy along the highway, which is a toll road (I think it was around $10). Once we got off the highway, there were no signs to the village. So we followed the car in front of us, which turned right, and we kept following the road, and this very road led to the old village.
The village is famous for its gassho-zukuri style farmhouses, where the rooftops make the shape of hands held together in prayer. I get the feeling this village is prettiest in either full winter (where they have a festival where the village is lit up at night), or full summer. With the muddy rice fields and stale mounds of dirty ice, April is clearly not peak season for this region.
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| Gassho-zukuri style farmhouse |
The town can easily be seen in a day, depending on how much detail you want. We browsed a few of the stores, and Mike had what was apparently one of the best apples in the world from a store on the main street. There are some museums about the UNESCO Heritage town's history.
There was a Japanese bath at the guesthouse, but I was too cold to even get out of the futon to go enjoy it. It gets really cold here at night. There was a kerosene heater in the room, that smelled awful, and I still needed all the blankets I could get on my futon. After all the travel and the early morning, we didn't have the energy to venture out to see the town at night.
The farmhouse was a nice enough experience, but in retrospect I would just stay in Takayama and go to Shirakawa-go as a day trip. The hostel in Takayama was much cheaper, and there's lots to do and eat in Takayama.
