Thursday, November 30, 2006
28 November, 2006
We had 12 hours of sleep and I think even that wasn’t enough. We walked around the morning market and it wasn’t very busy. There were a few stalls with fresh veg and pickles and the best of all was fresh marshmallows. We made our way to the Hida Folk Village, only ten minutes away from the town and it was very interesting. There were many farmhouses from the 1700’s resembling the typical way of life and traditional crafts. We walked around the village inspecting every house and we made our way to the teddy bear shop. This is where we found a delicious pizza for lunch and we continued on our journey through the path of Literature. It was very beautiful walking through the fields with views of the Japanese Alps and we arrived at the Mountain view Museum. After meandering through the village we arrived back in the town and found our way to the museum for the floats. This exhibition hall houses the four floats that are used in the festival time (Matsuri festival) twice a year. This festival is regarded as one of the three most beautiful festivals in Japan. The floats are changed in the exhibition hall 3 times a year. They are pulled through the streets and are lit up at night. This festival began three hundred years ago as a village ceremony. Four of the floats have marionettes representing G-ds. They are manipulated by puppeteers. The floats are gorgeous with intricate designs of gold and lacquer. After the exhibition hall we passed through the shrine where the festival begins and then we visited the Nikko Kan, a miniature of the real Nikko – Toshugu near Tokyo. It had beautiful structures, pagodas and shrines and the light is simulated to create dawn and dusk. We got back to our ‘Rickshaw Inn’ and I gave Rich his Vietnam haircut. We tried to find an ATM that worked since we had no Japanese money left and we didn’t want to be left with the Yen. We didn’t draw any money and had sushi for dinner- the only restaurant that accepted our credit card!
We had 12 hours of sleep and I think even that wasn’t enough. We walked around the morning market and it wasn’t very busy. There were a few stalls with fresh veg and pickles and the best of all was fresh marshmallows. We made our way to the Hida Folk Village, only ten minutes away from the town and it was very interesting. There were many farmhouses from the 1700’s resembling the typical way of life and traditional crafts. We walked around the village inspecting every house and we made our way to the teddy bear shop. This is where we found a delicious pizza for lunch and we continued on our journey through the path of Literature. It was very beautiful walking through the fields with views of the Japanese Alps and we arrived at the Mountain view Museum. After meandering through the village we arrived back in the town and found our way to the museum for the floats. This exhibition hall houses the four floats that are used in the festival time (Matsuri festival) twice a year. This festival is regarded as one of the three most beautiful festivals in Japan. The floats are changed in the exhibition hall 3 times a year. They are pulled through the streets and are lit up at night. This festival began three hundred years ago as a village ceremony. Four of the floats have marionettes representing G-ds. They are manipulated by puppeteers. The floats are gorgeous with intricate designs of gold and lacquer. After the exhibition hall we passed through the shrine where the festival begins and then we visited the Nikko Kan, a miniature of the real Nikko – Toshugu near Tokyo. It had beautiful structures, pagodas and shrines and the light is simulated to create dawn and dusk. We got back to our ‘Rickshaw Inn’ and I gave Rich his Vietnam haircut. We tried to find an ATM that worked since we had no Japanese money left and we didn’t want to be left with the Yen. We didn’t draw any money and had sushi for dinner- the only restaurant that accepted our credit card!
# posted by Heidi & Richard's travels @ 9:13 AM 
