More sleeping in! It snowed pretty heavily through the night in Takayama. The plan was to visit Hida Folk Village today as well as just hang around Takayama without a set agenda for the rest of the day.

By the time we woke up, I was craving some Japanese breakfast. I found a place called Kajibashi Shokudo on an old forum post and its listing showed that it was still open. Cherry needed no persuasion and we set off with our winter gear.

The streets were even quieter today, the first sign that most tourists have left the city.

Turns out Kajibashi Shokudo is actually located on the main Miyagawa Market Street by the river. We found the sign but wasn’t sure whether it was upstairs or on ground level. Given that the ground level door was shut, we proceeded upstairs to find… an old school Japanese cafe serving English breakfast. A brief conversation with the owner told us that we were in the wrong spot and he was kind enough to redirect us back downstairs.

Bowing as we entered, we were promptly seated. An older Japanese guy was reading the day’s newspaper over his soba noodles. Another Japanese couple was engaged in a riveting conversation with the elderly owner about the program being played on their TV. The older guy quietly passed us the menu once we settled down. It was like being in someone’s living room and having breakfast!

Cherry ordered the grilled fish teishoku (900yen or $10AUD) while I opted for the Hida beef miso special (1,700yen or $18AUD).

Once our orders were made, the owner and her daughter promptly got up from their seats and got to work in the kitchen.

It didn’t take long before the food arrive. The Hida beef special was very interesting — served on a candle lit grill with a large Hooba leaf (magnolia), the beef is placed together with Hooba miso made locally. YUM!

Very satisfied with our breakfast. It seems to be a place that is hiding in plain sight — none of the tourists outside seem to realize the place exists. Highly recommended if you’re after a traditional home-style Japanese breakfast. And affordable too.

Kajibashi Shokudo

1-1 Shimosannomachi, Takayama, Gifu 506-0841

Our next stop was the Takayama Post Office. Having written up some postcards as we travelled, it was time to send them off. Postage for all post cards from Japan, internationally, only costs 100yen ($1.50AUD). There were also some special New Year Ink Stamps for customers to stamp their letters or postcards. We sat here for about 20minutes organizing it all and inking our notebooks with the stamps.

Leaving the post office, we searched up the next bus to Hida Folk Village, which wouldn’t depart for another hour. About a 3km and 45 minute walk away from where we were, we opted to walk to Hida Folk Village rather than wait around.

Much of the walk was very quiet, with the only sound coming from vehicles. At one point, we passed a major intersection that led to Gero or back up north towards Kanazawa.

*The turn off, after walking about 30 minutes*

The sun was starting to come out and coupled with our walk, it was starting to warm up and we were able to ditch our scarves and beanies. Once we passed the large sign and turned towards Hida Folk Village, the incline of the road started increasing in steepness.

Arriving at Hida Folk Village carpark, we spotted the craft experience centre. I had read about this place prior to our trip. They offer different craft experiences for visitors to make little trinkets and dolls rather than outright purchase them. Having seen Sarubobo dolls featuring everywhere in Takayama and also being sold in souvenir shops, we thought it’ll be more meaningful if we could make our own!

Sarubobo dolls, while faceless, are very much the face of Takayama. They are widely believed to be amulets traditionally made by grandmothers for their grandchildren as a charm for a good marriage. Saru translates literally to monkey, while bobo translates to doll.

It costs 2,500 yen ($27AUD) and would take 30 minutes for us to make our dolls, guided of course.

Our instructor was an older Japanese woman who didn’t speak any English. She didn’t let that deter her though! Like a well oiled machine, she busted out her phone for Google Translate along with all the necessary materials we need to make our own little Sarubobos.

*on the left, the doll has the character “laughter” and on the right “prosperity”*

It was a great experience and wasn’t too hard. When we were struggling, the staff would offer to take over or give us little tips. 30 minutes later, we had our own Sarubobos to take with us, complete with a soft plastic bag to encase it in and tie to our bags. Highly recommend this option if you have the time, rather than paying similar prices to buy one from the shops.

As we wrapped up, the older woman remarked that having being born and lived in Takayama her whole life, her biggest regret is not travelling. She wished us well on our travels and we made sure to express our gratitude for the experience.

Hida Takayama Craft Experience Centre

1 Chome-436 Kamiokamotomachi, Takayama, Gifu 506-0055

From the car park, it is a short 5 minute uphill walk to the entrance of Hida Folk Village. The “village” is in actual fact, an open air museum with a collection of thirty gassho houses that have been donated from various nearby prefectures. There were a few other groups of tourists but no crowds — I surmise that most prioritise visiting the famous Gassho houses in the world heritage Shirakawa-go instead.

Hida Folk Village is more of a museum area where Gassho houses have been donated from across prefectures to create the “village”.

As we found out, it was nonetheless, very gorgeous.

*Portrait of the gassho house owner who produced sashiko weaved fabrics in her house until she was 90+*

*Jizo statues that are placed to ward off evil on the streets at night*

Bonus: many of the houses on display had stamps for us to collect.

We love how quaint the experience was and it certainly whet our appetite for our visit to Shirakawa-go tomorrow!

Hifa Folk Village (Hida no Sato)

1 Chome-590 Kamiokamotomachi, Takayama, Gifu 506-005

It was time to head back towards Takayama. In our time at Hida Folk Village and its surrounds, we had yet to spot any public buses come past and we decided to walk the journey back.

On the way down, we spotted a little cosy house playing some lovely music and found out that it was actually a… cat cafe! The cafe, Nyan Living, provides a safe home for lost and abandoned cats while they await adoption. The cost was 600 yen (about $7 AUD) for 30 minutes. There are gachapon machines that dispenses treats for 200yen ($2.50 AUD) that are optional.

The cats were soooooooo cute and chilled. Most of them were lazing around the space, with most of them resting on the heated mats.

Alas, the 30 minutes passed too quickly.

The entire cafe was super clean and the cats all look very well fed and looked after. A quick read of their website shows that the owner believes that there just isn’t enough capacity in the Hida Takayama area for abandoned cats and decided to start Nyan Living. You can check out their website here: https://nyan-living.com

Their space is located on the right side as you walk up towards Hida Folk Village or on the left if you’re heading down. Listen out for the music and/or cute cat signs!

Mindful that the sun was about to set soon, we decided to journey back down rather than extend our kitty play time. On the walk back down, we were treated to some gorgeous views through other people’s car ports. I decided to sneak in a photo while it was quiet during the golden hour.

Stopping by one of the larger 7-Elevens on the way back, we decided to ease the food budget after the last two nights of Hida Beef, by buying some bentos for dinner.

Satisfied with the day, we kicked back and relaxed in the onsen on our final night at Takayama Ouan.

Tomorrow, we check out nice and early to catch the 8.30am bus to the historic Shirakawa-go — I can’t wait!

Day 11: Hida Folk Village + CATS

Day 12: Shirakawa-go and Ainu Village

Day 10: Takayama