One of the largest tour destinations in Japan happens to be in a prefecture very close to Aichi. It is a place called Shirakawa-go in the prefecture of Gifu. It attracts tourist (mostly from Japan) all year round due to its different but equally attractive seasonal beauty. My friend Yukari invited us to go on a tour during the winter season. Gifu is the place where everyone around here goes to ski on the weekends so it is extremely cold and very snowy. I knew I was in for a cold day, but the beauty made it all worth it.
We woke up early to catch the bus at Nagoya station at 8:00 a.m. It took around 3 hours to get to our lunch destination. We were ushered into a giant cafeteria with hundreds of place settings. In the states it is not uncommon to have a big cafeteria however the difference is the number of plates to clean. In Japan it is common to have many little dishes in one single meal. This was the case in our lunch set. Each place setting had around 12 different plates. Multiply that by a hundred or two and I can tell you that I was very glad I was not the dish washer at that venue.
After lunch we hopped back into the bus for another thirty minutes to our first destination. We arrived at a quaint little walking street with many Japanese shops. Yukari knew of a place for us to make rice crackers so she led us there and we each got to make three. We stuck the already formed rice patty into the brick oven and flipped it quickly so as not to burn one side and to be sure to cook it evenly. Once it started to curve in a funky way we quickly took it out and smashed it into a flat circle using a large wooden stamper.
We spent about an hour wondering the walking street then got back on the bus for another hour until we wound up in the town of Shirakawa-go. The snow was piled up at least five feet on each side of the walkway. It was freezing, but it was beautiful. We decided we felt like we were in Narnia. The old fashioned Japanese cabins made it feel as if we were in a real life fairy tale. Our first stop was one of the cabins. We went inside and sat around a hot fire to drink hot tea and mochi soup. When we felt we were warm enough to take on the cold we made our way outside, over a rickety bridge, and into the town. The streets were lined with snow sculptures and old fashioned cabins. Our destination was a thirty minute walk up a hill to overlook the entire town. We made it and the view was gorgeous.
Once we reach the summit we realized we had just twenty minutes to get back down the hill, through the town, over the bridge and back on the bus. We wound up running the last bit but we made it just on time. The bus ride back was warm and cozy and I immediately fell asleep. After a day in the snow I was happy when I woke up in a very snow-less and warm by comparison Nagoya City.
We woke up early to catch the bus at Nagoya station at 8:00 a.m. It took around 3 hours to get to our lunch destination. We were ushered into a giant cafeteria with hundreds of place settings. In the states it is not uncommon to have a big cafeteria however the difference is the number of plates to clean. In Japan it is common to have many little dishes in one single meal. This was the case in our lunch set. Each place setting had around 12 different plates. Multiply that by a hundred or two and I can tell you that I was very glad I was not the dish washer at that venue. 
We spent about an hour wondering the walking street then got back on the bus for another hour until we wound up in the town of Shirakawa-go. The snow was piled up at least five feet on each side of the walkway. It was freezing, but it was beautiful. We decided we felt like we were in Narnia. The old fashioned Japanese cabins made it feel as if we were in a real life fairy tale. Our first stop was one of the cabins. We went inside and sat around a hot fire to drink hot tea and mochi soup. When we felt we were warm enough to take on the cold we made our way outside, over a rickety bridge, and into the town. The streets were lined with snow sculptures and old fashioned cabins. Our destination was a thirty minute walk up a hill to overlook the entire town. We made it and the view was gorgeous.
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