Once again, I am apologising for my overdue post regarding my trip to Japan last December. Hopefully, better late than never right? heh. It was a very memorable and enjoyable trip because not only did we spend the entire trip with our relatives, we explored by ourselves instead of being engaged with tour guides. Fortunately, my dad could speak the amateurish Japanese which was barely understood by the locals. Phew! The only regret for this trip was that my brother could not join us as he was on the other side of world.
DAY 1: FLYING DAY TO OSAKA!
On the flying day itself, both my family and relatives were picked up by the taxi early in the morning. The flight itself was about 6-7 hours, but it was not too bad for me as I pretty much slept through the whole flight.
quick breakfast at Old Town's before departure
during the flight with parents and my brother (ko, we will never leave you out! <3)
We landed on the land of the rising sun during the evening, got onto the train and proceeded to our hotel in Osaka. One thing I dislike most about winter is that you have to keep yourself warm with big bulky coats and once you get on the train, they have heater so you will need to remove your coat and then right before you disembark, its time to get dressed again.
Kansai-Airport station
It took us almost an hour until we finally found our hotel, which was actually very close to the station. I think language barrier is the main challenge for us tourists in Japan, because most of the people there could not understand, let alone speak in English. Fortunately, my dad could help us find our way around with his amateurish Japanese. By the time we checked in, it was about 8pm and all of us were starving. We went down to the Osaka station which was a stone's throw away and settled our dinner there.
some sort of miso ramen, ordered from a menu completely written in Japanese only
the food was pretty good, but the miso soup was slightly too salty for me
DAY 2: TAKAYAMA, GIFU PREFECTURE
The next day, we packed up and travel North to Takayama. I was excited as I got to experience the bullet train in Japan. For the most part of day 2 in Japan, we were in the train. Once we have reached Takayama in the Gifu Perfecture, we were greeted by snow flurries, as the weather was much colder because it is at a higher altitude compared to Osaka. In the mornings, we would be surprised with an all white scenery, where the trees, grounds, buildings would be hidden under a thin layer of snow.
woke up to this spectacular view of the Osaka train station
snapchat game strong, on the bullet train as mentioned in the picture!
first experience on the bullet train
Kokunbuji temple in Takayama
this picture was taken at the Kokunbuji temple, as it was partially covered with snow
and there's me who's happily lying in the snow but! (reality check: my hands suffered from ice burns after this)
I have to dedicate one whole paragraph to talk about our airbnb stay in Takayama. It is my favourite accommodation throughout the whole trip. The house where we stayed is at a pretty strategic location, in the town centre of Takayama, whereby everywhere is of walking distance, be it the tourist attraction sites or restaurants. It is a 2-storey house, ground floor being the place for us to hang out and cook, whereas the 1st floor has 2 bedrooms and a toilet. The living room had a coffee table with a big blanket over a warmer built under the table. Every night, after returning home from our visits, we would gather around the table, talk about the exciting things which happened earlier in the day, share the Instagram worthy photos which we have taken of each other, as well as the picture postcard perfect sceneries and plan out the agenda for the next day. The only drawback of this house is that the bathroom (literally, the room where we shower) is extremely cold. Part of the reason why is that tiles were used for flooring and the heater was not doing its best job because the water was only slightly warm.
We spent 4 days 3 nights in Takayama and every evening before we return home, we would drop by the convenient stores to buy groceries for the next morning. The typical breakfast which my family would prepare is bread with fried eggs, not forgetting a cup of drip coffee from Japan. My cousin and I, on the other hand, would buy onigiri (a food made up with rice, formed in a shape of triangle and wrapped with seaweed) or bento boxes for our breakfast. We also bought yoghurt to ease with digestion since our daily routines have been completely different when travelling, and who would say no to yoghurt, right? heh
DAY 3: TAKAYAMA, GIFU PREFECTURE
On the second day at Takayama, we decided to explore the town itself. We woke up early in the morning, had homemade breakfast, then set off to the Miyagawa morning market. The market is not as busy as we anticipated, nevertheless, worth a trip as you will be able to see vegetables currently in season during winter and enjoy popular snacks in Japan, such as takoyaki. Personally, I am not a big fan of the takoyaki here because it was mushier and less firm as the ones I had back in Malaysia. Walking down the morning market, face caressed by the gentle wind, I would say that the best part of the morning markets here in Japan compared to the ones in Malaysia is that its much quieter without pungent smells, probably due to the chilly weather.
just me getting all excited over how clear the water is in Japan
there are also no rubbish to be found on the streets, all respect goes to the Japanese people
my cousins and I at the morning market
leeks are sold by most of the stalls, probably the vegetable in season during winter
Takoyaki in the making (right), Takoyaki ready to be served (left)
throughout our stay in Takayama, snow flurries occurred everyday
I like how snow can be seen in this picture of me, captured while we were waiting to cross the street
Sarubobo dolls are unique dolls widely seen in the Gifu prefecture. Usually comes in red, with no facial features and their tummy has Japanese words on it, which says 'Hida', the region where it comes from
Sarubobo is translated from Japanese as 'baby monkey'. 'Saru' means monkey in Japanese whereas 'bobo' means baby in the dialect of Takayama. The sarubobo amulet is associated with 3 wishes:-
1. Protection from harm/ bad things (In Japanese, the English word leave translates to 'Saru', so possession of a sarubobo doll means that bad things will 'Saru'
2. A happy home, good match (In Japanese, a happy home is 'Kanai enman' and a good match is 'ryo-en' (another way of saying 'Saru' is 'en', hence the wish of happy home and good match :)
3. Having an easy delivery on birth (Monkey's childbirth is easy, therefore, the name of the doll which is baby monkey indicates the same. On top of that, the face of the sarubobo is traditionally red, as is the face of baby monkeys)
One of Sarubobo's uniqueness is due to its facelessness. The reasons are unclear but some have suggested that it may be due to the dolls being made from left over cloth, thus no need to be completely accurate and perfect. Another suggestion is the absence of face allows the owner to imagine it. When the owner is sad, he can imagine his sarubobo being sad as well. In my opinion, I would believe the latter explanation to be true :)
In modern days, Sarubobo dolls are a very popular souvenir in Takayama and are available in many colours. The differently coloured sarubobos are each associated with different wishes:-
Blue- for luck in study and work
Pink- for luck in love
Green- for luck in health
Yellow- for luck in money
Black- to remove bad luck
the delicate, unique souvenirs made in Japan
We decided to make a pit stop at a convenient store (7-eleven) as we were frozen from the weather and exhausted from walking throughout the whole day. I am most surprised and satisfied with the coffee sold, as the Latte I had was only 100 yen (RM3.60) and tasted pretty decent for its price
quiet streets in Japan during winter
had lunch at a restaurant which incorporates different types of tofu in every single dish on the menu
This marks the first three days of our trip in Osaka and Takayama. We definitely enjoyed every single part of this trip so far, from accommodation to foods and tourist attractions. I think what made us most impressed is the Japanese culture, whereby the people obediently abide by the rules (for instance, cars will stop when the traffic light is red even though there were no cars at all, the same applies for the pedestrians, they will patiently wait for the cue to cross roads, i.e. when the traffic light turns green). On top of that, I would say that Japan deserves to be crowned as the 12th cleanest country in the world, throughout our 10 days in Japan, we barely (or even never) spotted any rubbish being littered. Alright, enough of me expressing how much I love Japan, stay tuned for the spectacular views of mountains and snow during our visit to Shinhotaka Ropeway on the fourth day! I promise that the sceneries will never let you down.
