Takayama, Japan – Day 2(b)

The adventures in Takayama continued, 1 part of the town was mainly old buildings mainly sake museums, shops selling handicrafts and snacks shops.

Most of the local handicrafts found at Takayama, mainly sarubobo (さるぼぼ?) which is a Japanese amulet, particularly associated with the town of Takayama in Gifu Prefecture. Sarubobos are red human-shaped dolls, with no facial features, made in a variety of sizes. Traditionally, sarubobos are made by grandmothers for their grandchildren as dolls, and for their daughters as a charm for good marriage, good children and to ensure a well-rounded couple.

A river runs across the town and on both sides of the river were old style buildings too.

Other than local handicrafts, the stores were mostly selling Tsukemono(漬物) Japanese pickles which are also famous in Takayama.

Finally, the stomachs were complaining and so we settled into a cosy restaurant that was almost closing for the afternoon at 230pm. The restaurant’s name is Kisaku （き作）(and I totally forgot to get the address for the place, but this place is about 5 min walk away from the Takayama station. Just walk towards the left side of the main road once you walk out of the station. Once you pass by the Family Mart Cobini, you would arrive at this small place in a few minutes)

The starters

Japanese Salad. Really refreshing to munch into fresh vegetable. Japanese food though healthy but some times is sore lacking in crisp fresh vegetables. A salad is a great change from the endless raw fish, rice and udons at times 😛

Hoba Miso (朴葉味噌), a local delicacy, mainly different type of local miso grilled on magnolia leaf. A popular side dish in this part of the town.　1 of the reason where miso is popular is due to the Hida region is far from the ocean in mountain country, and with transportation difficult in earlier times, obtaining goods from the ocean, in particular, was difficult. On top of that, because of the severity of the hard conditions of the long winter, the eating habits of the people of Hida were ‘Miso with nothing, only pickled vegetables.’ Therefore, housewives became especially skilled in making miso. Hida miso, developed under these circumstances is not only used as a condiment, but also as a side dish as an important source of protein; it is food with the unique flavor of Hida. This time the dark miso was tried.

Usually, I am not a udon fan but splurging a small bowl of hot udon in the cold warms the tummy and hands up.

Maybe I was hungry, I thought the deep fried chicken was juicy and crispy and unexceptionally tasty.

The other main was the Tonkatsu but it was a little dry.

Coffee in a unique cup. I still think Japanese coffee is diluted.

Sometimes, I think the Japanese are really thoughtful. Besides the spaces beneath the tables for your bags or what nots. Blankets were also provided for the cold winter.あ、お腹いっぱいよ！