kanazawa

Like Takayama, Kanazawa is a little off the path of most foreign tourists, but with one of the most famous gardens in Japan, the garden-loving Japanese come here to get a bit of the "old Japan."

Kanazawa Station is currently under construction to welcome the new Shinkansen track, which will be finished next year.

Kanazawa also has a castle adjacent to Kenroku-en, the famous garden.

The grounds were huge...

but idyllic.

 Kanazawa is also famous for its preserved teahouse districts. It was like stepping back in time.

Kanazawa is next to the sea, so of course, we had to sample some seafood!

Next, my favorite: Kyoto! Again!

sakuranbo marathon

I'm running another marathon this weekend, this time in Yamagata! This one should be a better run than the last one since the weather has improved drastically since winter and at the end, we get cherries! Yamagata is famous for cherries. Wish me luck!

shirakawago

After Takayama, we set off to Shirakawago, a traditional Japanese village that has been preserved. It's also a World Heritage Site.

It's extremely difficult to access without a car, but there are buses that go there from Takayama and Kanazawa.

People usually visit in the winter, when the straw huts are covered in snow, but it's also beautiful in the spring with cherry blossoms lining the river.

Again, a little off the beaten path, but well worth a trip if you're interested in seeing a little into Japan's past!

hida takayama

The next stop of our Golden Week vacation was Hida-Takayama in Gifu Prefecture! It's not very popular for foreign tourists, but the Japanese come in droves.

There's a really wonderful old town area with quaint shops and small food stalls.

 Hida-Takayama is famous for beef, so we had some beef sushi!

and beef skewers.

They're also famous for a dango (mochi balls on skewers) called mitarashi dango. It's topped with soy sauce (salty/sweet combo) or kinako (sweet soybean powder) and grilled.

We stayed at a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn) run by this super cute old woman and her older brother. They prepared a scrumptious meal for us featuring Hida-beef!

We had it two ways: in a sukiyaki (a sweet soy sauce broth with veggies)...

and grilled.

In the morning, we had a simple breakfast, but with more grilled beef and then set off to Miyakawa morning market.

Takayama is a nice traditional Japanese town, but it's a bit out of the way, and I do think there is more to see in the bigger cities, like Tokyo or Kyoto. I would skip unless you have time!

yokohama

Yokohama, in addition to being the 3rd largest city in Japan, is also home to the largest Chinatown in Japan. I've been to many Chinatown's, and I have to say, it's the cleanest Chinatown I've ever been to (haha...).

Yokohama Chinatown is also near the beautiful harbor area. There were a lot of people walking around, enjoying the beautiful day and scenery.

We also went to the Minato Mirai area, where there are several high rises.

In the Landmark Tower, there's a special mapo tofu restaurant opened by Chef Kenichi Chen, of Iron Chef fame. (I found this place off Tokyo Eats.) It was pretty good! We all got the mapo tofu set which comes with rice, some pickles, and soup (the soup wasn't very good though). I'm not sure I would recommend it, since there are some pretty good restaurants in the Chinatown area, but Yokohama in general is definitely worth a visit!

tsukiji fish market

Tsukiji is of course a must see if you're in Tokyo. It's one of the best places to get a fresh sushi breakfast!

We wandered into a little alley, where we saw a crowded sushi bar. Figuring that a crowd is always a good sign, we asked for seats, and they led us further into the alley to another sushi bar.

My sister got a nigiri set that included uni (sea urchin roe), three types of maguro (tuna), and ikura (fish roe).

I got a hitsumabushi. Now, I have had hitsumabushi in Nagoya, but it only had eel in it. You eat it three ways. First, plain like you see above.

Next, you mix in a sauce that the sushi chef gives you and eat it like that.

Last, the sushi chef gives you a special broth. It's piping hot, so it slightly cooks the fish, giving it an extra texture and a completely different feel. It's a really interesting concept, so definitely try it if you get the chance!

mt. takao

After a scrumptious breakfast at Gontran Cherrier Bakery, we took a train to the outskirts of Tokyo to climb Mt. Takao. It seemed pretty harmless at first when we saw that it was paved, so we opted out of the cable car that takes you halfway.

 

What a mistake! It started out easy enough, but soon it got really steep. When we finally got to the halfway point, we were exhausted! But the view was beautiful, even only from halfway.

There was a monkey park around the halfway point. If you've been to the monkey park in Arashiyama, Kyoto, you'll be unimpressed, because the monkeys are kept in a pen, unlike in Arashiyama, where they freely roam the mountain.

Mercifully the last half of the hike was not nearly as rigorous as the first half. We got to the top in no time and even got to see Mt. Fuji!

It was hard to take a picture of it, because the snow made it blend into the sky, but if you squint a little at the picture above, maybe you can see it?

On the way down, we decided to do the cable car, to spare our knees. Also, because we were lazy.

If you want to escape the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, Mt. Takao is a great option! It's less than an hour away by train and you get spectacular views of Tokyo and Mt. Fuji.