Takayama

Takayama was our last stop in Japan.  Mom wanted to look at textiles, and I wanted to get a look at both the local torture chamber and the teddy bear museum, which to my surprise turned out to be different places. The weather turned rainy and bitter cold up in the mountains, but that was all part of the Japan winter experience -- up to that point we had been blessed by an unusually late fall season, so we were due a little rain (and snow). Takayama is off of the well-beaten gaijin tourist route that the Shinkansen provides, and there was correspondingly less English spoken (although more French, for some reason).  This wasn't a problem in any case;  After a few weeks of travel in Japan, we had the whole hotel-restaurant-tourist trinity down to a pantomime performance. One last note:  Hida (the name for the region around Takayama) is well known for its beef.  In Japan it is considered a challenger to Kobe beef in terms of quality and tastiness.  If you're heading for Takayama, make sure to have at least one steak while you're there -- you won't regret it.

We reached Takayama via a railroad that follows a mountain gorge northwest up from Nagoya.  The river was a beautiful emerald (turquoise when the sun shined) all the way up.

I hadn't realized when we were coming that Takayama was in snow country.  This track plow drove the point home.

This big bell was at one of the local temples.  I was really really tempted to get up on that bus top and go for it, but I managed to resist.

I never did find out what this was.  I call it "The Big Bannana Temple". It was actually quite a beautiful golden roof when the sun was shining.

Perhaps they have these in the United States, but I've never seen one.  The thing on the right is a countdown timer that tells you how long it will be until the "walk" signal flashes.  It cut down on my jaywalking tremendously.

This is actually down in Gero, a short trip from Takayama.  The patterns repeated -- fish, rabbit, teddy bear whale -- for a half a mile or so.

A different fence, but painted with a goose in exactly the same manner as the fence above.

This is actually a merry-go-round.  I don't remember seeing any like this in the United States, even back in the days before they made all of the playground equipment "safe". I could have had a lot of fun on that thing as a kid.  If it hadn't been raining, I would have had a lot of fun on it as an adult.

These were in the same park as the merry-go-round.

"Unexpected Rhinoceri" is becoming a theme on this trip.

Don't ask me, I just take the pictures.

These are the traditional dolls that seamstresses in the area make. Personally, when faceless red demons with pointy hands and feet start showing up, I usually check to make sure of what I'm drinking.  Here, they're souvenirs.

These three were sold as a set at one of the local statue shops.  Frankly, I can't think of a single place I've seen that really calls out for a statue that includes two crying children.  Maybe that's why they're on display outside the shop.

A closer shot of one of the crying children.  I'm guessing a Western artist would have left the snot out. On the other hand, maybe the child is crying because a brass earthworm is crawling out of his nose.  You never know.

A twenty-four hour flower bouquet vending machine. This by itself would obliviate the need for half of the 24-hour markets in the United States. (a diaper vending machine would take care of the rest.)

Believe it or not, this is actually an advertisement for a brand of cigarettes.  Truth in advertising at last!

Alas, even for Japanese smokers, the world is their ashtray. It's got to say something about smoking that literally the only form of loose trash to be found in Japan is cigarette butts.

I snuck this picture by pretending to take a shot of a building just to the right of these guys. The reason I took it is that the Japanese never eat on the street.  Or at least, so I believed until I saw it for myself and documented it.  And to be fair, it was under fairly limited conditions. The custom of not eating while walking or sitting on a public bench was sheer torture for my mother.  We would go to these extraordinary bakery and pastry counters, but they wouldn't have seating, nor napkins or plastic forks for taking away.  It's simply not done in Japan -- items bought at these counters were meant to be taken home before they were eaten.  Likewise there are vending machines on every corner, but they only sell drinks, because nobody eats on the go. Fortunately I knew that the Japanese consider eating in public to just be weird, not offensive, so I indulged whenever I felt like it.  My mother, ever socially sensitive, sometimes managed to last over a half hour before she gave in and did the same.

This was a basket used for carrying prisoners to and from jail in 1700s Japan.

Prisoners were forced to kneel on this row of narrow slats while they were interrogated.  This would cause severe pain in their knees and lower legs, but if they got up they were beaten.

A couple of more forms of torture -- heavy weight placed on the folded legs, and hanging by arms bound behind the back. I have to admit I was disappointed by 1700s Japanese torture techniques.  After all, over in the West the Inquisition had produced some amazingly complicated machines...

Okay, picture one of two that my mother demanded I put up.  This is the control panel for a plug-in toilet -- there are "shower" and "bidet" functions (differing by aim, I believe), both with options to oscillate, and the big knob on the right controls the water pressure.

Picture two of two for Mom, instructions on how to use the toilet.

The day before we left Takayama, we woke up to find it snowing outside. Considering that we had decided to travel in Japan in the winter, we did extremely well overall.  A bit of snow was an excellent way to end the trip.