A leisurely breakfast this morning, once we’d packed the overflow luggage made necessary by unexpected shopping in the Osaka region.

We then had a five-hour journey to our next destination, Takayama. One tube train, one bullet train to Nagoya, one normal train to Takayama and a taxi. We are staying at another tradition Ryoken for the next two days, where we have another opportunity to work on our crawling, eating and sleeping on the floor skills. Brigitte is really looking forward to it – not!

I have some work-trousers with integral kneepads at home. I wish I’d brought them.

We arrived mid afternoon and, well, you know the score by now. Bags dumped and off we go.

Takayama nestles in the Japanese alps and is 600 meters above sea level. It’s known for traditional crafts and sake. We like sake.

It’s a strange place. Firstly, we expected it to be cooler than everywhere else as it’s in the alps but it was 30 degrees. Not too bad for a leisurely walk as long as you keep to the shady side of the street, but unexpected.

Secondly we expected a picturesque alpine type village like the ones you find in the Swiss alps but, whoever came up with the term alpine first, neglected to standardise an architecture plan with the other (s).

I know ‘alpine’ just signifies a mountainous area but you get a picture in your head don’t you? We still have a lot to see (full-day tour tomorrow) but it’s not a beautiful town, although there are a few streets in the historic district that retain the original buildings from the Edo period and these are beautiful. This part is exactly how I imagined old Japan to be.

This is a very famous building in Japan…

It’s the headquarters of Japan’s main satellite tv broadcasting company !

After yet more shopping we went back to the Ryoken to rough up our knees.

It’s quite a similar deal to the last Ryoken we stayed at in Hakone except it has a public onsen (spa Bath) rather than a private one so I may give the male-only skinny dipping a miss.

I know some of you said you were missing Dave but fret not, we have ‘Fresh Dave’. She’s just as lovely and equally proficient at bowing.

Unfortunately it seems that we are back to unrecognisable food again.

Yes, the food is beautiful and beautifully served by Fresh Dave but we do struggle with some of it. I recognised the wagyu beef, the giant snail (why?) and the raw prawn’s head (why oh why?) but, after that, it got a little difficult. Raw fish, but not sure what, the usual miso soup which is delicious, two small balls in a bowl (animal or vegetable?) Also, they don’t tell you what order to eat the food in so we thought the hot sweet egg custard must be dessert but, when we started eating it, we discovered the seaweed and vegetables lurking below the surface.

If I didn’t know it was a reputable hotel I’d think they were just having a laugh. I can imagine the conversation:

Fresh Dave: “Boss, what can I give the westerners to eat tonight?”

Boss: Ooh, there were a few giant snails eating my vegetables in the greenhouse earlier, you could get rid of those for me , and I think there’s some raw prawn heads in the bin “

Fresh Dave: How shall I cook them boss?

Boss: Oh don’t bother, just shove ‘em on their plates, they’re westerners, they’ll think it’s sashimi. And make up a fancy name for the menu, they’ll like that. It’ll give ‘em something to blog about!

Fresh Dave : Great idea boss!

There’s no western breakfast option either😫 lets see we what turns up.

It turns out that Fresh Dave is more senior than original Dave was. Fresh Dave, although she serves the food, does not make the beds. She has two helpers who come to do that. They don’t wear Kimonos either, it’s far more industrial and not as charming. Fresh Dave just comes in at the end and takes all the credit like all good bosses. She doesn’t bow as frantically either. We miss original Dave😩.

Also, check out the duvets. Much better idea than ours in Europe. It’s the duvet that has the pattern and the cover is plain pwith a huge hole that makes it really easy to put on and take off for easy washing. OMG I’m discussing the merits of different sheets! when did I get that boring! – Careful!!

After ‘dinner’ we went out to what Google said was the best bar in town. It was closed, so we shall never know.

As we walked down a tiny street we heard strange music coming from behind a closed metal door with only Japanese writing on the wall next to it.

I had to see what was behind it, so I pulled it open and inside was a little bar with two Japanese men sat at it, one singing Karoke in Japanese!

Once he’d stopped singing he insisted on us drinking sake, only like tequila – with salt. Then he started singing again…

He was really good!

Then we started singing, then another song, then he introduced us to ‘sochu’, which is distilled sake quite shtrong shake, then it all got a bit blurry. And more shongs were shung.

Anyhow, I’m sure you’ll all want to see the video of us singing but, what happens in Japan, stays in Japan – we took an oath with our new friends..

Nite nite!

22:27 – 17th May 2023 – Ryokan Tanabe -Takayama