Takayama

As you may or may not have noticed, I got lazy and never finished off the last few days in Japan, once I got back home.

Anyway, I'm back again and a couple of people asked if I was going to do another travel blog. (Lord knows why, I didn't finish the last one, but people seem to like them. So here we are)

I figured there was a couple of ways to handle it.

I could pretend I'd been in Japan the entire time, and this was a continuation of the last entry...

I could burn the blog to the ground and start a fresh one, although that would mean thinking up a new name...

I was really shying away from finishing off the old trip, as that smacked of effort.

Then I realised, I still had a draft page from the old trip where I'd uploaded the various photos I intended to talk about, but done nothing else.

So, without further ado, I present (with minimal additional commentary) photos of Takayama...

A train ticket

the view out of the train window

more view

a hotel

more wacky toilet controls

Okay, this probably warrants additional comment.

There had been a lot of rain, and mudslides at the time:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Hiroshima_landslides

Takayama had some sections of footpath that had been eroded by the rain.

And all the water running through town was currently this color.

It's very Japanese ye olde...

A shrine inside some wealthy dudes house that is now a museum.

They have an annual cart festival, stemming from a time when wealthy merchants
 would try and out cart each other by pimping out their carts with so much gold and
demon puppets that it would take a dozen men just to move them.

Part of a scale model of nikko toshogu 

Even the 7-elevens are Ye Olde here

A photo of a bus, that I'm sure I had a good reason for including

Thatched roof cottages

Overlook of the village of Shirakawa-go

Red dragonfly

Yellow Dragonfly

Blue Dragonfly

Shirakawa-go has chosen to remain a traditional village.

Yo frawg

Frogception

Silkworm prison.

Another day, another hotel.

Kanazawa

Gardens. Zoom in on the sign if you want to know more. It might tell you.
Learn to read Japanese. Then it definitely will.

Garden.

tortoise? turtle? you be the judge!

They clean this stream bed weekly.

I have a postcard of this bridge. Off to the right there is a queue of about 50 people
waiting to take a photo of someone on the bridge.

Some famous castle, next to the garden.
It's been so long I can't remember it's name.
It's in Kanazawa, so I'll just call it Kanazawa castle.

It has a moat.

the Japanese version of Pottery Barn.
Which is to say, pottery, made in a barn.

Sake cups.

Another house turned museum thing.

Armor

private garden

Swords

There you go.

I'll have a look and see if I can be bothered sifting through the remaining photos, or if I just skip to the new trip. If nothing else I will probably do a stuff I ate for the regional tour.