Gifu-ken Travel and Tourism Guide

In the morning, we had breakfast in our room. It's really nice to be served breakfast and dinner as part of the deal for the ryokan, we got to see how these meals were served and consumed in a home setting instead of in a restaurant. The rain was gone, and the sun was out. We packed our luggage but left them at the guest house and went for another walk around town. We walked toward the river and saw the morning market in front of the Takayama Jinya. To be honest the market wasn't that in...

We arrived at Takayama via a special, "scenic" train that had larger than average windows to aid in enjoying the spectacular views through the hills and canyons. Actually, in all honesty, I was engrossed in a few books that I was reading and didn't really look up too often to admire the scenery, but I could tell from Lisa's "oohs!" and "aahs!" that it was not to be missed ;). When I did look outside, views of steep green cliffs, fading cherry blossoms, and tranquil towns hugging wide rivers f...

One morning in a ryokan guestroom in the Hida region of Gifu prefecture, I opened the windows and saw that powdery flakes of snow—the first signs of winter that year—had begun to fall upon the Miyagawa River, which stretches through the city of Hida Takayama. Inside, the ryokan staff, who just moments ago jolted me awake from my futon with a boisterous “Ohayo gozaimasu!” had prepared a perfect breakfast complete with bubbling hoba soy paste on crispy magnolia leaves, a local recipe. T...

I took a gap year due to my being queen procrastinator about my uni choices. And then I remember thinking, Oooh, I fancy going to Japan!...after many months of earning money and worrying my parents with the vague assurance that I knew exactly what I would do there, I finally arrived. I am now in the final weeks of my stay, completely refreshed and 'ready' to go to university!