Story of the Japan Adventure

Takayama's Hida-no-Sato (Hida historic house museum) did not have any of the living history volunteers we read about in guide books, but it did have several beautiful historic houses. The museum appears to mostly have foreign visitors though, which is a bit sad. After Hida-no-Sato, we walked around Takayama and shopped some more and saw more of the Sanno Matsuri events and parades. We had Hida beef again for lunch, this time in Karakuri (near the station) where we exchanged cards with Toru Khishita-san whom we had a remarkable conversation with. Turns out he learned English from singing karaoke to Western tunes!

Once back in Hida-Furukawa we purchased our limited express and Nozomi tickets for Nagoya and Tokyo to beat the lines tomorrow and walked around the town a little before returning to Yatsusan for our last night at the lovely ryokan. Once again they overwhelmed us with a warm welcome, giving us tea and mochi in a neo-Victorian drawing room. The ryokan is bustling with activity as it's weekend guests show up in much larger numbers.