In this trip I took advantage of a scheduled business trip to Japan and added 4 vacation days to explore another small piece of this intriguing country. After seeing Tokyo and Kyoto before, this time I decided to visit Takayama in the Japanese Alps and the historical city of Nara, not far from Kyoto.
Takayama (24.5. - 26.5.2005)
After finishing business visit at Toshiba Medical Systems in Nasu (150km north of Tokyo), I boarded Shinkansen in direction to Nagoya and from there headed to a little town of Takayama in the Japanese Alps. Takayama has well preserved and maintained old wooden houses in the center of the city giving in a nice charm. There are also multiple temples and shrines surrounding the city and they make for a nice morning walk.
Takayama is great base for trips to Kamikochi, the heart of Japanese Alps. I took a morning bus and set-up for a hike up to the mountains. The snow-covered peaks created excellent scenery, but unfortunately the same snow prevented me from reaching any mountain peak or at least the ridge. The Kamikochi valley is a very touristy place, with trails down in the valley overloaded with people, but there are many routes starting from here and leading deep into the mountains, escaping the crowds. (I was not as lucky, running into about 50 junior-high students on a school-trip, all girls giggling when seeing this 190cm tall foreigner.)
Takayama 
also
has a gem for those interested in architecture or old Japanese culture. When
dams were build in the surrounding mountains flooding some villages, many
traditional Japanese farm houses were transported to an open-air museum in
Takayama and preserved. This folk museum has an incredible collection of farm
houses from 17th to 20th century. One can enter all of the houses and learn
about their design from well written English descriptions. Most designs contain
a fire-place in the middle of the house ( or sometimes in the middle of several
rooms) with a frame and large hook above it. A barn was part of every house. In
the mountains, houses were build with very steep roofs to prevent accumulation
of snow. In the top floors of such houses the farmers grew silk warms. Outside
walls were combination of wooden panels and paper-covered wooden frames, almost
all interior walls were panels made of paper-covered wooden frame. There was an
altar room in every house which was usually the best kept room (painted walls
and wooden floor even in
the simple farm houses). This folk museum is also in a great location,
set on a hill side, above a small lake, with beautiful views of the Japanese
Alps.
I wanted to stay in Takayama one day
longer, but unfortunately all minshuku and ryokan places (Japanese style
guesthouses) I checked closed that day, so I had to leave. From Takayama I went
to Nara.
Nara (27.5. - 28.5.)
Nara 
is
a historical city which was the first permanent capitol of Japan,
between the years 710 and 784. Before that an established headed stated that every
emperor built a new capitol for his rule. During the 8th century the
influence of Buddhism grew and several important temples were built in
Nara. However, the influence of Buddhist clerics grew too much and the
emperor has decided to limit it by moving his capitol to Kyoto, where it
remained for many centuries.
Unlike Takayama, Nara is a mostly modern - concrete filled - city that does not appear very attractive at the first look. However, even apart of several temples that are on the UNESCO list of cultural heritage sites (including temple Todai-ji, the largest wooden building in the world housing one of the largest bronze statues of Buddha), there are many other hidden interesting places.
I stayed in a traditional Japanese inn - Ryokan - which is great cultural experience. The rooms are small with floors covered by tatami mats. One sleeps on the floor. Walls are paper thin with no sound insulation. However, there is always tea available in the room and there is nice veranda. Most ryokans also have a nice Japanese garden. Traditional Japanese bath is part of the stay as well.
I have spent two days in Nara - I visited the famous temples, walked around in the hills, strolled the city and chatted with several pastry vendors about their trades. On the 29th, Sunday morning, I left for Tokyo and Narita airport, to head back home to Minneapolis.