2 June 2016
We arrived at Takayama Bus Terminal after an hour long bus journey from Hirayu-onsen. This would be part 2 (part 1 here) of our stay in Takayama, having spent a day here before making a day trip to Kamikochi. This time round, we would be staying at the Oyado Koto No Yume ryokan (for a change and some pampering!) instead of the Best Western Takayama Hotel.
The ryokan was located on the same street as the Best Western Takayama Hotel and was just a few minutes walk from the bus terminal. It was a chilly morning, despite the clear blue sky and sunny day, and I was regretting my decision to wear shorts. It was too early for check-in but the ryokan was happy to store our backpacks and allowed me to use the bathroom to swap my shorts for long hiking pants. They offered a map and information on the key sights in Takayama but we had already made up our minds what we plan to do.
This was our last chance to eat the premium A5 grade Hida Beef yakiniku. Good quality Hida beef are usually not exported out of Japan. So don’t miss the chance to eat Hida beef while visiting Takayama. Our stay at Oyado Koto No Yume included dinner and breakfast and so it would be a yakiniku lunch at the highly rated Maruaki restaurant later.
To kill some time before lunch, we went to the Miyagawa Morning Market as we did not have time to fully explore the whole market before it closed at noon a few days ago.
The koinobori or carp streamers over the Miyagawa river were in full flight on this sunny but chilly day.
We bought some local packed food stuff to bring home and went to the Maruaki restaurant, located in between the train station and the Miyagawa Morning Market.
Maruaki serves top grade Hida Beef at its restaurant but is also a store selling fresh Hida Beef. Most prized Japanese beef are not for export as there was not enough to cater to the local demand. Maruaki actually have a licence to export Hida Beef to Singapore. The staff told us the packing would keep the frozen meat chilled for up to 5 hours. Too short a time for a Singapore tourist to hand-carry this back home. The best thing to do is to consume Hida Beef to our heart’s content at Maruaki.
We ordered a A5 Premium Beef Cube lunch set that came with 120g of beef cubes, a stick of Mitarashi dango, miso soup, rice and pickles for 2980 Yen and the Best Selected Hida Premium Beef Plate with 300 grams of various cuts plus some vegetables for 5480 Yen.
The beef featured evenly spread fat marbling across the meat. So, a total of 420 gram of beef for two persons to share.
Best quality Japanese Beef with the fantastic and evenly spread fat marbling is best eaten grilled and hot off the stove - Yakiniku style with a dash of sea-salt and nothing else.
A few minutes each side on the grill, with the fat dripping is just the way I like my beef.
The plan was to do a side trip to Hida Furakawa after lunch. Hida Furukawa is a small town just 20 minutes north of Takayama by JR's local train. Hida Furukawa, like Hida Takayama, is situated along the Miya River and are often referred to as “twins,” and both preserve the atmosphere of the Edo Period. However, it is not as well known and touristy as Takayama.
It featured a beautiful section of the old town with colourful carps swimming in the canals along the street. As a Koi enthusiast, this is something I must see since I am in the vicinity.
We took the 1.15 PM Limited Express Hida Wide View train into Hida Furukawa s it was the next scheduled departure. The express train cost slightly more but took only 13 minutes instead of the usual 20 minutes on the local train. The carriage was also newer, spacious and with large windows to enjoy the scenery. This was a preview of the similar train we would be taking to Nagoya the next day.
Leaving the small Hida Furukawa train station, we found the town practically deserted in the afternoon. Am I in a horror movie or something where aliens or some unknown forces had removed all of mankind? A town empty of people and cars.
We made our way to the famed canals which was not far away. Bingo! There were indeed large Koi swimming in the clear and flowing waters of the canal. We also saw a few residents. Mostly elderly folks, with the younger folks mostly working somewhere outside of town.
The Koi were mostly chagoi and ogons. For me, it was quite disappointing not to see varieties like the sanke, showa, kohaku and other nicer varieties since Japan is the originator of fancy Koi varieties.
One of the house had placed a container filled with bread for visitors to feed the Koi with. The Koi were not very eager with the bread. They must be quite well fed.
Koi was introduced into these canals as part of the initiative to maintain a clean canals within the town. It worked. Koi needed fairly clean water to thrive and these canals, with water fed continuously from the nearby river, needed no artificial filtration to remove fish waste. Just pump water in from the river, put up some metal gratins to keep the Koi from escaping into the river and a natural balanced eco-system is created and maintained. Only possible in Japan.
The Koi all swam in a line, naturally against the current, much like the Koinobori I saw at the Miyagawa Morning Market in Takayama.
The old town area has many old buildings, sake stores (which seems to be closed on this day) and temples.
Actually Furukawa is quite attractive but somehow, it seemed to be less popular with visitors than Takayama. I guess the reason could be that Takayama is a transportation hub with good train and bus accesses to Matsumoto, Kamikochi and Shirakawago. Unlike Furukawa, the poor twin.
We walked along the entire canal, looking out for nice Koi.
We went pass the Enkoji temple on one side and storehouses with white earth and mortar on the other side of the canals. A mother, with a kid, enjoying the canal walk like us.
We came to the end of the canals and what seems to be the shopping area in Furukawa. We decided to take the 3 PM train back to Takayama and did not explore Furukawa further.
Furukawa also offered an interesting guided cycling tour by Satoyama Experience. My original plan was to do a half day cycling tour with them but decided to skip this.
The 3 PM train back to Takayama was a local train, slower and making stops at the small stations along the way. Still, it was a scenic and relaxing ride.
Overall Hida Furukawa was worth a half day excursion from Takayama, just to see the big and thriving Koi in the canals. Another reason to visit Hida-Furukawa would be to join a cycling tour for those who have not experienced the rural Japanese countryside with the beautiful rice paddies, mountains, villages and nice local folks.
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