10 Best Tourist Spots to Visit and See in Takayama, Hida Region

The northern part of Gifu prefecture is called Hida region composed of Takayama, Shirakawago and Gero Hot Spring. In the idyllic Hida region surrounded by the nature of the Japan’s Northern Alps, you can not only travel around classic sightseeing spots such as Takayama’s old townscape and Shirakawago, but visit the real-life locations of the movie, “Your Name”. I will introduce 10 tourist attractions in Hida region on this post. Old townscape in Takayama (Sanmachi Street) “Sanmachi Street”, which can be said to be the most popular sightseeing spot in Hida Takayama and it is a general term for the townscape in the center of Takayama city. About 12 minutes’ walk […]

Great Vacation Rental for Foreigners in Takayama

I had a hard insect bite on the top of foot and it was terrible. Maze is cooler than Tokyo a little so I don’t feel like actual summer: August. 『IORI SHIROYAMA』 8 minutes’ walk from the center of Takayama This July, I stayed at a vacation rental lodge in Takayama, which is an old folk house. As you may know about Takayama, it’s now famous even for foreigners. After 8 minutes’ walk from the main street, you can find a Japanese old house like below. The name is 『IORI SHIROYAMA』and it’s located on the top of hill. It used to be a vacation home of private company and now […]

Cooking Class for Foreign Tourists in Hida-Furukawa

I’ve joined in a cooking class for foreign tourists in Hida-Furukawa on this weekend. I’ll share the experience with you. Hida city is one of the stage of 『Your Name』 Hida-Furukawa is well known for where 『Your Name』 took place, which was a big hit in Japan. This is the first visit for me. It took about 90 minutes from Maze (15 minutes from Takayama by train). I really enjoyed the drive to Hida-Furukawa since it was far from traffic jam. It seems so retro-inspired and there is the city office nearby the station. Hida city is as large as Gero city (my current place) but the population is 24,000, […]

E-Bike Tour with Super Friendly UK Guests and Happy Coincidence!

This time, E-bike tour with UK guests. I would like to share not only the tour but the amazing coincidence happening afterwards. They are from Southampton but the big sister living in Japan as a TV caster booked our bike tour since her brother wants to see more rural area with his girlfriend. They stayed at Takayama and took train for 40 minutes to join in the tour fortunately. From the first sight at the station, I guessed they would be so friendly and humorous guys. Actually, that was true!  See it? As if they are not from UK! Maybe from US? haha. After some instructions, we started the tour as […]

Bike around with US Family to See the Life in Rural Japan

Today, I gonna share another memory with you. A customized e-bike tour with US family. They are from San Francisco and it is the first time for sons to come to Japan. That is why dad want them to see various parts of Japan, then picked Maze as the rural part. They stayed at Maruhachi Ryokan for 2 nights and joined in the e-bike tour on the 2nd day. Basically, our e-bike tour starts from the station but this time from the ryokan. It was the first trial tour actually. It took 4.5 hours and what we did is like below. Cycle around the rural village Visit a small shrine […]