Last week, I went with a couple of friends to the northwest. After almost 6 hours of bus trip, we crossed the impressive Japanese Alps (yes, that’s the official name), which were covered by the snow and the clouds…
and arrived to Takayama, a small boring town in a still traditional japanese area, which helped us to feel some relaxation, especially if you compare it with the always noisy Tokyo.
But it was not just nature. We could also visit traditional japanese houses
… very traditional inhabitants, with their big japanese flags in the door of the shops …
… a nice street reminding the Gion quarter in Kyoto (no geisha, though) …
But that was not enough for us, and we decided to go to Shirakawago, a small town in that area, and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The advantage of going in Winter is the pleasure of seeing all this covered by the snow.
People in Japan love pets. Specially, like in many other countries cats and dogs. They normally have small dogs, as the space is quite limited in the typical japanese home, but they treat those small dogs like kings… You can buy in a normal place everything for them. Like these costumes.
I love the one in the bottom left side of the picture… A dog costume for a dog. Isn’t it original? 😉
One of the characteristics of Japan is the clear differentiated seasons it has. Spring is said to be impressive, but I have experienced the colours of Autumn in a small trip we did a few weeks ago to Takaragawa… Just take a look to the picture, and enjoy…
Tokyo is one of the biggest cities in the world, and therefore it is normal some of the biggest “whatever”… In this case, due to the special importance of fish in this country, it is not strange that we find the biggest fish market in the world.
Its name is Tsukiji, and is also one of the attractions of this incredible city. You should go around 4.00 a.m. to see the fish auction… But I haven’t seen this yet, as we arrived with the first metro after 5.00 and most of the auctions (specially those of big fishes) had finished.
Anyway, it was worth to walk around and see the variety of fishes they had there and how they prepare them to be sold… The most impressive ones are the big tun fishes, lying on “operation tables” like in a hospital…
… being taken care by the specialized surgeons with professional tools …
But it’s not only about tun fishes. There are many other impressive fishes you may be used to see… or not, like eels, or huge octopus, or …
And after this, tasting an excellent fresh sushi for breakfast… Isn’t it a good plan?
