Today I made the journey from Hiroshima to Takayama, a small town up in the mountains. To get there involved taking a shinkansen from Hiroshima to Shin-Osaka, then catching another shinkansen from Shin-Osaka to Nagoya, then catching a 2hr 20 minute JR express train from Nagoya to Takayama. There are other ways to go but for JR rail pass holders this is the free way.
For most JR routes I’ve taken you can just flash your pass and hop on since there are no reserved cars. Technically you can do the same for the shinkansen, but since you get free reservations with the Rail Pass I’ve always hit the ticket office first and used the reserved cars. This time around I noticed the ticket machines were a bit different than normal so I hit the manned ticket office just in case to verify my train pass was OK for this line. There are a handful of lines where the JR trains go onto tracks owned by another company and you have to pay a surcharge. Turns out this line has reserved cars like the shinkansen so I was able to reserve a seat. The ride up was extremely scenic, probably the nicest views from any of the train rides I’ve taken so far. You climb up into the mountains following this beatiful green river with scenery that reminded me somwhat of going across one of the scenic passes back home in Washington.
I rolled into Takayama about 4:30 and headed for my hotel The Hida Takayama Washington Hotel Plaza. Actually, first I stopped by the helpful information desk right in front of the train station which was able to give me an english map and let me know that my was just across the street. For as many words as it has in its title the Washington Plaza is actually a pretty small business hotel. As a business hotel like the JAL City Hiroshima that means I got a little cube of a room for cheap, except this time around it actually comes with either a Japanese or American breakfast. The minibar isn’t even stocked, instead they refer you to the vending machines on the next floor - which is as bad as it sounds since I checked them out and they don’t actually gouge you like the normal minibar would.
On my trip I’ve seen probably 1000’s of drink machines, 100’s of cigarette machines, and maybe 5 beer machines and probably about the same number of ice cream machines. Here in Takayama I did run into battery vending machines for the first time, but I have to say I’m a little disappointed, I thought there was a wider variety of things they put in vending machines from what I had heard.
Anyway, back to Takayama. After dropping my stuff off I decided to wander around town for bit. Takayama has this small tourist town feeling, although its not really that small. At 5:30 most of the shops where already closed or closing up already so the streets were a bit empty but there still a number of tourists like myself out and about. Takayama has preserved or rebuilt a number of the old style wood buildings giving some of the sidestreets a delightful ambiance.
For dinner, I decided to try a place in the guidebook that was supposed to be a small family run establishment where you could savor some of the local fare. I went in to Suzuya a little weary but it turned out great. I had the sansai miso nabe, a hotpot dish they cook at your table filled with chicken, several kinds of mushrooms and local vegetables, a couple of rice balls, and these really long strands of konnyaku. On the side (besides rice) they served some of the best japanese pickles I’ve had, they tasted like they must make them there they were so fresh, crisp, and only slightly salty. To wash it down I had a korikori, a local beer that isn’t quite up to the microbrew level but slightly better than your average nama biiru.
On the way home it was dusk. When I crossed the river heading back to my hotel I noticed the sky with filled with little bats feasting on the evening’s insects. Bats are on the rare side back home so it was a treat to watch them swoop to and fro for a while.