Yudanaka-Shibu Onsen Street
Shibu Onsen is a historic and attractive hot spring town. Located in a small valley, Shibu Onsen is spread out on a gentle slope beside the Yokoyugawa River, with Yudanaka Onsen located below and the Jigokudani Monkey Park above. There are many ryokan (Japanese-style inn) and many souvenir shops along the narrow streets. In this nice and quaint atmosphere, you can also enjoy a footbath too.
Jigokudani’s Snow Monkeys in Onsen
Do you know “Snow Monkeys?”
They live in Jigokudani (Hell Valley monkey park) located in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture, which was host to the 1998 Winter Olympics, are very famous for monkeys soaking in onsen (hot spring). You are surprised they are used to being around human visitors and they act just like us. Though you need to walk on a snow-covered road for about 30 minutes, it is worth seeing lovely monkeys.
Jigokudani Yaen-koen (Monkey Park)
Jigokudani Yaen-koen has kept its popularity since 1964 for snow monkeys. It is located in the valley of the Yokoyu-River, in the northern part of Nagano Prefecture. The name Jigokudani, meaning Hell’s Valley, is due to the steam and boiling water that spurts out of crevices in the ground, surrounded by steep cliffs, severe cold, and dark forests. The heavy snowfalls, an elevation of 850 meters, and being only accessible via a narrow two-kilometer (30-minute walk) footpath through the forest, keep it uncrowded despite its popularity. Snow monkeys, wild Japanese Macaques, go to the valley during the winter and soak in natural hot spring, outside onsen.
This floral parterre left me simply amazed. It’s like a treasure chest. The brightness rivals the paintings of Matisse or van Gough. Even for people not particularly focused on issues related to the global environment, this is an opportunity for each and everyone to begin to proclaim their love of nearby nature.
Almost everybody in Japan likes to eat ramen. It’s a pity that the English translation, “soup noodle,” doesn’t fully convey the “warmth” of the Japanese word. Rather than become a chef of French cuisine, the number of young cooks determined to become experts at preparing ramen are on the increase. It’s become the focus of nationwide competition, ranging from ultra-deluxe ramen that go for $100 a bowl in restaurants to the noodles in a can shown here for less than $3, sold out of a vending machine. Anyway, there’s a lot to the subject.
Okonomiyaki
Its Roots Are in Sen no Rikyu’s Tea Ceremony?
The details about the roots of okonomiyaki (made by mixing flour and water with vegetables, meat or seafood and cooking the mixture in a round shape on an iron plate) are not known. However, one explanation says that if you trace back to the origin of okonomiyaki you will arrive at Sen no Rikyu, the great tea master of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568 to 1603).
Having said this, however, it does not mean that Sen no Rikyu invented okonomiyaki. Strictly speaking, the explanation says that okonomiyaki has its roots in the confectionary that Sen no Rikyu often served at his tea ceremonies.
According to the book “Rikyu Hyakkaiki” that recorded Rikyu’s tea ceremonies, Rikyu served the confectionary called “funoyaki” in 68 tea ceremonies out of the 88 tea ceremonies he held.
During a tea ceremony, two or three types of confectionary are served. But still, it can be said that being served 68 times out of a total of 88 times is a fairly high percentage.
This funoyaki is the confectionary that is said to be the roots of okonomiyaki.
Funoyaki consisted of flour dissolved in water that was spread out into a circle about 10 centimeters in diameter on a hot plate and cooked. In present day terms, it was like a thin crepe. After being cooked, miso was then spread on the funoyaki.
This was finally rolled up into a cylinder or folded into a fan shape and presented to the guests. Since chopped walnuts, sugar, poppy seeds, and other such items were mixed into the miso that was spread on the funoyaki, the taste was fairly rich. At tea ceremonies, this funoyaki appears to have been presented between the meal and the tea. The recipe of cooking flour dissolved in water is also similar to that of monjiyaki during the Edo period. Moreover, this monjiyaki is considered to have developed into monjayaki and okonomiyaki.
It cannot be said conclusively that monjiyaki originated from funoyaki. However, it would be amazing if the roots of okonomiyaki that everyone cooks and eats with a lot of fuss were really in the tea ceremony which embodies the idea of wabi (an aesthetic principle originating in the lifestyle and thoughts of hermits in medieval times) and sabi (another moral and aesthetic principle).
The village of Shirakawa-go is nestled in an isolated valley near the foot of sacred Mt. Hakusan. Original culture sprung up there and people continue to live traditionally even today.
It is famous as one of the UNESCO world heritage sites, and is a very popular tourist spot. You can see more than 80 houses of Gassho-zukuri (a wooden house with a steep rafter roof). A visit to Shirakawa-go is to encounter an old Japan that vanished long ago. There are no railroads and you can feel how remote and peaceful life is there.
Hida-Takayama is located in Gifu Prefecture, almost in the center of Japan’s archipelago. It has preserved the feeling of a castle town and has been dubbed “Little Kyoto.” Old parts of the town have been preserved, and offer a special fusion of Kyoto and Edo cultures.
With the latticed bay windows and linked eaves of merchants’ houses in Sanmachi Suji, the enduring historical temples and shrines of Higashiyama, and the reproduction of Hida’s traditional farming villages of sloped-roof houses at Hida Folk Village, the town itself is a sightseeing spot. Hida-Takayama is located in a neighborhood of the Northern Japanese Alps called “the roof of Japan.” The Japanese Alps encompass the Hida Mountains, the Kiso Mountains, and the Akaishi Mountains. These towering ranges include several peaks exceeding 3,000 m in height. Each of the four seasons brings a different scenic beauty.
Kanazawa is located in central Japan, not in the mountains but in the vast flat area called the Kanazawa Plains which face the Sea of Japan. Kanazawa’s nickname (kaga hyakuman goku) means “the town with 1 million koku of rice.” A koku was the unit of income for samurai (Japanese warriors) in the feudal period, and is about 150 kg of rice. Kanazawa has been developed as a castle town since the 17th century when the Maeda clan started to control the area.
Since the Maeda clan used to be on the opposing side from the Tokugawa, they were always watched by
the Tokugawa Shogunate. So the Maeda were careful not to do anything that would attract the suspicion of the Tokugawa Shogunate. What the Maeda did was to encourage people in Kanazawa to excel in the arts and culture.
Some good examples, which we can still appreciate today, are production of gold-leaf, porcelain, lacquer ware, tea ceremony utensils and Japanese sweets. Kanazawa also shows us samurai culture and geisha (professional female entertainers) culture. You can still see the original geisha house.
Along with Kairaku-en and Koraku-en, Kenroku-en in Kanazawa is one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan. It is open year-round during daylight hours and is famous for its beauty in all seasons. It is one of the things the Maeda clan left for the benefit of the people in Kanazawa and tourists throughout the world. It shows a different beauty each season. In winter, the park is notable for its yukitsuri — ropes attached in a conical array to carefully support tree branches in the desired arrangements, thereby protecting the trees from damage caused by heavy snows.
This famous tunnel in Tokyo’s Minato Ward is often used as a location for film scenes. The ceiling height is just 150 centimeters, and it extends for 200 meters. Japanese used to be quite a bit shorter in stature but the average height of adult males has increased to more than 170 centimeters. So when adults transit this tunnel many develop stiff backs from having to walk stooped over. If a kid were being pursued by a tall grownup, he’d have a definite advantage in here though.
Shirakawa-go is a famous place for Gassho-style houses. It is especially famous in winter, where houses buried in snow are lit up and you can enjoy fantastic scenery. Let’s compare the scenery in winter with that in summer.
The village of Shirakawa-go is nestled in an isolated valley near the foot of sacred Mt. Hakusan. Original culture sprung up there and people continue to live traditionally even today. It is famous as one of the UNESCO world heritage sites, and is a very popular tourist spot. You can see more than 80 houses of Gassho-zukuri (a wooden house with a steep rafter roof). A visit to Shirakawa-go is to encounter an old Japan that vanished long ago. There are no railroads and you can feel how remote and peaceful life is there.
Gassho-zukuri is a house composed of two parts, a square part for the first floor, which is used for the residence, and a triangular part for the second and third floors, which were used for growing silkworms to produce silk. You will be surprised at ancient people’s cleverness when you enter Gassho-zukuri house to see the inventive structure. And you can also see why the house has a steep thatched roof — to help snow slide off it easily. There are many museums to visit and many ways to experience traditional industrial arts like dying and weaving amidst the scene of rich seasonal colors.