Takayama and Toyama were two of the many cities I picked randomly. And I suppose, by accident, I picked one of the most touristic towns possible. Which certainly did not sit well with me, because I sincerely dislike big crowds of tourists. The hotel I was at… I heard more Spanish than I did Japanese!
I decided I would pick a really nice hotel in Takayama – essentially a ryokan. A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn. I arrived in Takayama fairly late. After exiting the train station, I only had a 5 minute walk to the hotel. And finding the hotel was an easy task, because its entrance was really unique. Inside of the hotel felt really grand, like a proper ryokan. I even had to remove my shoes at the entrance. The entire hotel was covered with tatami (straw) mat. This meant no shoes were allowed in the entire hotel, just slippers or socks. I received my room key and then proceeded towards my room. I was lucky to have gotten a room on the 9th floor, which allowed me to have great views of the city. The ryokan also had a sento/onsen (public bath) on the 13th floor, with an open-air bath and view of the city. This was deffinitely a highlight of this city for me!
As for what else I visited in Takayama (and Toyama for that matter)… Not much 😂. The hotel was so comfy that I spent a lot of the day just soaking in the onsen, watching some videos, and simply walking around the city with no destination in mind. I did feel the time might have been wasted a bit not doing anything… Bu tin the end, I was having fun, and that matters most! In the evening I also visited to smaller izakayas and chatted with the owners the entire evening. Sparking conversations with the locals has always been my favorite thing.
But there was one thing that almost slipped my mind, had I not seen the news about it just the night before. Blood moon – technical term being lunar eclipse. It occurred on 8th of September, and reached its peak at 3 AM. Thus I woke up at 2 AM, headed outside and found a decent spot to take some pictures. Viewing a lunar eclipse from the city certainly isn’t optimal due to the light pollution, nor is taking pictures with a phone. However, I still managed to take some decent pictures!
The experience in Toyama was similar – a bunch of walking around the city, grabbing some food, going to 7-11 and eating at an izakaya. Once again, the owner of the izakaya was really friendly, and even gave me some gifts to take with me. Besides that, I also visited a museum, the Toyama castle and also crossed path with a Japanese rat snake!
