Adventures with Jack and Julia

Kanazawa

Following a very fast and exciting ride on the shinkansen, we made our way to our hotel and were greeted with our first snowfall of the winter! Being situated further north and closer to the mountains, it’s a much colder city than Osaka and Kyoto as well. Which is why our first stop was to the local Uniqlo to get another layer to wear. A good thing we did, too, because these three cities all ended up going into the negative degrees over our course of time there.

After settling into our hotel, we headed out to find some food. As luck would have it, our hotel was situated right next to a gluten free creperie so Julia indulged in a delicious chocolate and strawberry one to set the tone for our stay here. Since we only had one full day to explore here, we had a pretty packed time but still managed to take in most of the main sights. The highlights for for us were visiting the Kenrokuen Garden, Kanazawa Castle, Higashi Chaya geisha district and Nagamachi Samurai District. The garden is ranked as one of Japan’s three most beautiful gardens, and even in the winter, we could see why it earned that title. Kanazawa Castle is a partially-restored castle, directly across from Kenrokuen Garden and because of the time of year we were there we were able to gain access to the castle for free. It’s also conveniently located near Japanese curry restaurant that caters to a gluten free diet so we stopped there to warm up and have some delicious food. Lastly, the geisha and samurai districts were incredible to walk through as they’re so well preserved and clean that you really feel like you’ve stepped back in time as you wander through the streets.

We packed a lot into just one day but we felt we were able to see most of the main attractions with our short time there anyways. Next up was a train ride through the Japanese snow-covered mountains to head to Takayama!

Takayama

We didn’t have too many plans while here but because Takayama is such a historically rich city in the Japanese alps, we were really able to slow down and enjoy the beauty throughout the town. While here, we happened upon the loveliest little cafe called The Lighthouse Tea Room which was owned and operated by the sweetest woman. She served fresh gluten free and vegan baking and we enjoyed chatting with her about her life in Japan so much that we ended up back there again for a second time while in Takayama. It’s places like this that make us realize that no matter how much planning and research we do ahead of time, some of the best places can really only be discovered by simply wandering the streets with an open mind and a keen eye.

One plan we did in fact have for our time here in Takayama was to head to the neighbouring town of Gero to experience one of Japan’s premiere hot springs called onsen. We took an hour and a half long train ride to Gero where we had booked a private onsen overlooking the mountains and the setting sun. Especially since we didn’t manage to go skiing on this trip, we were so glad to have experienced the tranquility of an onsen and both left feeling rejuvenated and extremely relaxed.

Other than that, we spend a couple more calm days wandering the streets, eating sushi and recharging before continuing on to Matsumoto.

Matsumoto

Matsumoto was one place that neither of us knew very much about before arriving, so we really had no expectations of what it was like or what we would be doing. We both agreed that it was one of our favourite cities that we visited in Japan, though.

Matsumoto is most well known for its magnificent castle, which just happened to be located right next to our hotel. As we walked through the castle grounds on our first afternoon there, we learned that they were projecting a light show onto the side of the castle over the course of the winter. So, in the evening after dinner we stopped by to check it out, and it was absolutely stunning!

Another highlight was our visit Matsumoto City Museum of Art where we took in the exhibits including the vibrant art created Matsumoto local Yayoi Kusama:

We also wandered down Nakamachi shopping street and Nawate Street, also known as the frog street because it was historically home to many Kajika frogs in the adjacent Metoba River. Matsumoto is on the smaller side when it comes to main attractions, but we were glad to have stopped here on our way to Tokyo.

Even though we didn’t get to go to Nagano and Hakuba as we had originally hoped, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in these three mountain towns. Japan is so rich in history and culture that it seems no matter where you go you’ll find so much to see and do. We know we’ll be back to visit some of the other parts of the country in the future, but for now, stay tuned for our final stretch in Japan where we visited Tokyo!

PS: We hope you’re enjoying reading our blog! If you want to help support us, please consider buying us a coffee 🙂