On a cliff (or two) by the sea

Panoramic view from a cliff by the sea

 On another cliff by the sea (click on both the two 

photos above to view enlarged versions of them!)

Puppet Ponyo posing -- no lie! -- on a cliff by the same sea :)

 

For those who've been wandering: I'm not yet done documenting the Japan trip I took last month.  But I have been wandering about over the past few days in a different country -- again with Puppet Ponyo in tow but, this time around, with also three other/human companions; hence the recent "blog silence".

 

I wonder whether anyone can correctly guess which picturesque part(s) of the world our recent trip took us.  In any case, all shall be revealed in a week or so -- after I'm done putting up the remaining Japan travel posts that I want to share.  And in the meantime, here's letting people know that I'm back and hoping that this blog's regular visitors -- particularly the Ponyo fans among you -- will enjoy today's blog post's images. :)   

Away from the crowds in Hida-Furukawa (Photo-essay)

I can easily while away whole days wandering about Takayama old town -- and did, in fact, do just that a couple of times on my recent Japan trip.  What with my having budgeted to spend four nights in that mountain town, I could have spared time to do what lots of visitors to the area do and head over to Shirakawa-go and/or Kanazawa -- but eschewed doing so since I had visited there back in 2014.

Instead, the only excursion I ended up taking from Takayama was to the even smaller mountain town of Hida-Furukawa just 20 minutes or so by train to the north.  And while I covered quite a bit of ground in town and took a whole bunch of photos, I ended up only spending half a day there because that town's picturesque old center was actually in a pretty compact space and, if truth be told, I found the town too quiet for my liking on the Sunday that I visited! ;b

By the river's edge in Hida-Furukawa

 

On Imamiya Bridge looking toward Shinshuji, 

one of the town's three main Buddhist temples

 

Puppet Ponyo in front of Honkouji

 

Honkouji's beautifully decorated main building is 

the largest wooden building in the Hida region

 

 It really is something when you turn a corner and are presented 

with the sight of something picturesque like Enkouji :)

 

The Watanabe Sake Brewery, whose sake I decided was my favorite

among those produced in Hida-Furukuwa and also Takayama!

 

The busiest street in town in the (short) time that I was there! ;D

 

Not that I'm complaining but I honestly didn't expect

a town this picturesque (yes, those are carp in the canals!)

to be this bereft of tourists (and people in general)!

Wild game revelation at Takayama's Yamanosachi Uribuoya!

A game meat specialist dining establishment in Takayama!

 From left to right: skewers of regular venison, 

venison sausage and deer steak in a special sauce 

Wild boar bacon wrapped around asparagus -- yum!

Long before I set foot in Takayama, I already knew about its reputation for being a great place to dine on Hida beef.  And even if one didn't know that beforehand, the sheer number of restaurants offering that premium wagyu there makes that fact darn near unescapable once you start wandering around town!  On the other hand, it wasn't until my second evening in the mountain town that I discovered the existence of at least one dining establishment in Takayama that specializes in wild game.

Using what I know about Japanese towns and cities, I figured that the more interesting restaurants in town would not be located on a main street but, rather, in a side street or alley.  And after coming across one of those yokocho filled with tiny bars, eateries and also -- at least in Takayama -- game booths, I got to thinking that it would be worth trying out at least one of these establishments. 

Wild game specialist Yamanosachi Uribouya was supposed to be my first stop of the night.
But after tasting the food served up by hunter-proprietor-cook Masato Wakidani and enjoying the friendly company provided by the folks I was seated closest to in that cosy establishment (which probably could have had 10 people in there at most!), I ended up having my entire dinner there!

While I've had venison a couple of times before, I never was a big fan; finding the meat to be too, well, gamey tasting.  An American friend of mine living in Hong Kong had assured me though that fresh deer meat tastes quite a bit less gamey and really good.  So I figured that it was worth giving it a try again -- specifically by ordering Yamanosachi Uribouya's skewers of venison, venison sausage and deer steak.  

When my platter arrived, I opted to start with the skewer of venison and found it to be interesting and better than I expected.  Prior to biting in the venison sausage, I had expected it to be similar tasting to the "regular" venison.  Instead, it was different and so surprisingly delicious that I was moved to exclaim thus to Wakidani-san, who appeared to be very pleased to hear as well as see my reactions to the food he had served.  And here's the kicker: the skewer of deer steak (lightly basted with a secret sauce) excited my taste buds even more than the venison sausage!  

Deciding there and then that this would be my last as well as first place for dinner that evening, I ordered another glass of draft beer, additional skewers of venison sausage and deer steak, and also some vegetables in the form of a side dish of tsukemono (Japanese pickles) and a Shiitake mushroom skewer (which also proved to be pretty tasty) for variety.  And while I eschewed the chance to try some bear meat (which also was on offer), I plucked up the courage to additional order skewers of wild boar bacon wrapped around asparagus and quail's eggs -- and found them to be the most delicious things I tasted of the night! 

As my previous food posts for this trip have shown, I ate a lot of good stuff on this recent Japan trip.  So I reckon it's saying a lot when I state that I actually think the single best meal of the trip wasn't that of unagi, hitsumabashi style, or Cochin chicken in Nagoya, or even any of the meals in Takayama where Hida beef was the star of the show, but, rather, this revelatory wild game feast at Yamanosachi Uribuoya!  

Some reasons why I loved my time in Takayama so very much! (Photo-essay)

If it's not already obvious: I really loved my time in Takayama.  The other city I spend a significant amount of time in on my Japan visit earlier this month, Nagoya, may have a Funassyiland and great food -- but, in all honesty, I enjoyed my time in Takayama so much more.

An atmospheric mountain town with interesting architecture, it also was there that I met some really amazingly hospitable, friendly and outright kind people and ate my share of good food.  This time around, I spent four nights and good part of five days there, and saw quite a bit of the town and surrounding area.  And yet I would like to go back again before too long.  Hopefully this photo-essay helps explain why...

 No one posed for this photo taken in the old part of Takayama town!

Did I mention that a number of the old wooden buildings

(with sugidama hung above their main entrances) in the 

old part of Takayama town are home to sake breweries? ;b

So much of the town looked like a movie set (except if you peeked into 

the windows, you saw working establishments -- e.g., the building 

with the bicycle in front is home to a working barber shop)!

Wandering about the city after dark, you can come across a place 

where you can shoot arrows, and an ace female archer coolly 

hitting the target time after time while a quiet crowd watches in awe! :O

At a street corner, you'll suddenly come across a row of bibbed 

and headgear-weraing Jizos and an area full of Sarubobo dolls

which Puppet Ponyo feels comfortable around

 In the grounds of Takayama Jinya, Japan's one remaining major Edo-era 

government building, can be found this heartwarming sign

 The trunk of the tree in question -- which I touched

and also proceeded to hug!

The icing on the cake: a handmade note made for me by

a friendly Takayama Jinya ticketing office staffer after she 

ascertained that I was a genuine fellow fan of Funassyi :))))))

Takayama morning river sights

The Miyagawa flows through the center of Takayama

 

Swimming in its clear waters are lots of koi!

On one side of the river early in the day can be found 

the Miyagawa Morning Market

 

Open daily from 7am for most of the year (and an hour earlier in the summer), the Miyagawa Morning Market was where I headed on my very first morning in Takayama.  The first stalls I saw hawked trinkets and tourist-friendly items (like Hello Kitty goods) but as I ventured deeper into the market, food stuffs became the dominant wares being offered up by the vendors at portable stalls on the side closer to the rvier as well as stores on the other side of the narrow path along which shoppers and gawkers alike walked. 

Like at Kyoto's Nishiki Market, there were many different types of tsukemono (pickles) on offer.  There also was quite a number of stores selling miso paste, which is to be expected in view of the area being known for its miso as well as Hida beef.  And while there were stores that sold Hida beef and shika (deer) sausages and jerky, vegetables and fruits predominated rather than meat or -- unlike at Tsukiji -- seafood.   

Some of the vegetables stood out in terms of their unusual appearance (this particularly certain of the mountain vegetables I'm not all that familiar with), others because of their unexpected appearance (like the strings of chili peppers that I don't tend to associate with Japanese cuisine).  Then there were the matsutake mushrooms that stood out because of their prices.  Among the cheaper ones I saw on sale were those going for around the 4700 Yen (~HK$327 or US$42) mark; with the highest priced mushroom I saw being individually priced at a whopping 13,000 Yen (~HK$904 or US$115)!  

In this context, 4300 Yen (~HK$299 or US$38) can seem quite the bargain for a box of 13 or 14 big and beautiful Shinshu apples.  Even so, I did not bite -- though I did succumb and buy one 200 Yen apple to eat on the train journey back to Nagoya a few days later (and, for the record, that was one very juicy and sweet-tasting large apple that I had there)! 

While walking in the market area, I noticed that there were steps leading down to where one could get very close to the Miyagawa and that there were things in the river that were attracting the attention of some people.  Curious to find out what this was, I made my way down to the riverside and saw lots of colorful koi swimming in the splendidly clear waters of the Miyagawa (as well as the occasional ducks paddling about).  

With sunlight glistening on the water's surface and beautiful blue skies up above, it really was quite the scenic sight.  While not as spectacular as the sunset which greeted me the day before, all this did help contribute to my feeling that Takayama was a pretty magical place, one which I never quite lost in all the time that I was in this central Japanese mountain town. :)

Feasting on Hida beef in Hida-Takayama

A slice of Hida beef sushi

 

The portion of pre-cooked Hida-gyu that was part of 

a lunch set I ordered while in Takayama :)

The substantial Hida-gyu course of a multi-course meal

I had at a Takayama ryotei founded in 1794

For my first meal in Takayama (aka Hida-Takayama), I opted to dine at a sushi-ya recommended in my Frommer's Japan guidebook.  For the most part while I was in the mountain town though, I stuck to eating land animals along with vegetables and other plants.  And even at Matsuki Sushi (where I was befriended by an amazingly nice family with roots in Takayama, though three of the four members I met now lived in Nagoya), I got to get my first taste of the famous Hida beef that was one major reason behind my wanting to visit Takayama!

 

Almost needless to say, that first, small taste of Hida beef -- in the form of a seared slice of sushi -- left me hungering me for more of one of the top types of wagyu (Japanese beef).  So, for lunch at Aji no Yohei, a restaurant affliated with the Funasaka Sake Brewery (that's one of a number of local sake breweries located in Takayama), I ordered a set meal whose main component was a beautiful-looking portion of beautifully marbled Hida-gyu lunch that I had to grill on a teppan by myself like with the Omi beef I ate in Hikone and the Yamatogyu I ate in Nara this past January.

 

So delicious was that Hida-gyu I ate that I found myself thinking that I might actually want to eat it every day that I was in Takayama!  And even while that didn't end up being the case, I did go and make a booking that very day to have a kaiseki dinner at a ryotei which would feature a Hida beef steak course on my last night in town!

 

On the day that I was going to dine at Ryotei Susaki, knowing that a kaiseki dinner would involve a whole lot of (good) food, I made sure to get a lot of exercise in earlier in the day by venturing along the 5.5-kilometer-long Higashiyama Walking Course.  Even so, when I saw the generous amount of Hida-gyu that I was serve that evening -- and this after having already eaten a number of courses featuring a whole host of other ingredients -- I found myself gasping in shock as well as awe!

 

I have to be honest: while I thoroughly enjoyed the first three or four chunks of Hida-gyu at dinner that evening, the ultra-fattiness of this super premium wagyu actually make that particular dish feel way too rich and hard to completely devour.  Indeed, so much of a struggle was it to finish up the dish that I actually started sweating and had to ask for ice water and also request that the temperature of the room that I had all to myself at the ryotei be lowered!

 

It took quite a bit of an effort but I did manage to eat every thick chunk of the Hida-gyu I was served that evening, even if I ended up having to cut the last few chunks into two to make the portion more palatable!  I just knew I had to because to not do so would feel like a crime because the beef actually was really delicious, just incredibly fatty and consequently rich tasting.

 

And believe me when I state that that Hida-gyu will live long in my memory.  Actually, because I still can taste that meat some two weeks on from that dinner, I haven't felt able to eat any beef in the time since: with one reason being that I still feel full at the memory of it and another being because I can well imagine that no beef is going to taste good for a time because I'll be mentally comparing it to the Hida-gyu I ate in Takayama!

 

So here's a hopefully not too facetious thought with regards to the suggestions that it would be good for the environment for us to eat less beef: if more fatty beef were served up than the leaner meat that is regularly eaten in the likes of the beef-loving USA, might it encourage people to eat less -- as well as higher quality -- beef?  And this idea doesn't even take into account that famously fatty wagyu -- especially the bona fide produced in Japan variety (for the record: wagyu means Japanese cow/beef in Japanese!) -- is quite a bit more pricey than the leaner meats that is the norm in much of the rest of the world! ;b    

A gorgeous sunset viewed on my first evening in Takayama :)

The sky over Takayama minutes after I got into town

 

Light show at sunset!

 

I can't decide whether I prefer the vertical 

or horizontal shot more, so here's sharing both :)

 

The day that I got on the Hida Limited Express train that would take me from Nagoya to Hida-Takayama, I decided to opt for the one that began its journey at 2.48pm and arrive at my destination at 5.10pm.  This way, I could get in an extra meal in Nagoya (that would consist of hitsumabushi at the branch of Maruya Honten located within Nagoya's JR railway station) before my departure.  In addition, the timing would ensure that I'd be making what I knew would be a scenic train journey in broad daylight and would also be arriving at a town I had hitherto never been to before dark (which is something I think helps me in getting my bearings).

 

What I hadn't actually thought about but turned out to luck upon was my being in Takayama to view an absolutely gorgeous sunset -- one that rivals the memorably beautiful sunsets I've witnessed in places like Matsue (where sunset viewing is a seriously popular activity), Hong Kong and, in my youth, from a beach on Malaysia's Pulau Langkawi!  Shortly after arriving in the Hida mountain town, I noticed a couple of people standing in front of the train station with cameras aimed at the sky.  Upon following their gaze, I let out a gasp and hurried to go check in to my hotel (which was just across the street from the train station) -- and, upon doing so and looking out a window, saw that the sky had become even more beautiful than just a few minutes previously. 

 

Fishing out my camera out of my backpack, I started taking shots of the sky -- and I'm ever so glad that I managed to capture how it looked for just a few minutes on my first evening in Takayama.  Here's what makes it more precious: though I did make a point to look the next few days, nothing approaching the beauty unfolded at sunset because the sky was way too cloudy or for some other weather-related reason!  So am I really glad that I arrived at Takayama on the day as well as the time that I chose to do! :)