Takayama #4 April 2010

When we arrived in Takayama in the morning, we headed to the town square. This is where the puppets, who are a part of some of this big mikoshi perform. They did some of the announcements in English.
While Hallie and the kids were close to the action, and almost looking straight up at them, I went around with Ian and got some perspective.
This one is about 2.75 feet high.
This guy broke down, and they had to try and fix him. Many of them trundle out to the end of the wood and do something.
The basket in front of this guy exploded, and you got a twirling devil from it. Kind of interesting to watch. I figure if I knew some of the Japanese folklore, I might have appreciated it more.
Yes, folks, they are still promoting smoking here in Japan. You get small gifts when you buy them. They are selling tabacco cartons.
I thought this guy was cute on this fish. I think it was a bronze, not wood sculpture.
Here is the local trout being smoked. My tummy might have liked it today, but I didn't risk it.
So, we ended up at an ice cream store! Can't be too careful. Textiles that are handcrafted are big in Takayama. I thought this cow was pretty cute.
Nothing like indoctrinating a baby with his first taste of ice cream. He LOVED it!!! I guess his 'cow' doesn't give as sweet of milk!
Even if you can't tell, there are plenty of small shops in the old town's streets. Love the rickshaw.
The cedar ball above the door tells you that this is a sake factory. Needing something to appease Tim who had to stay at home and work, I went in.
The green bottle is an award winning sake. And I love the snowman. We already have one, or I would have gotten one from Takayama. Snowmen in Japan are usually 2 balls with a fez hat, like this one has. This one is filled with Sake. No worries about getting cold with this little guy to help you 'warm up!'
It's old, but you can tell it's a working sake making place. They have plenty of small breweries for sake. New is made during the cold time of every year. Kind of like small wineries.

This is the proprietor. He made sure to tell me to 'drink cold!' when I bought the one in the green bottle. Ha! I already went to the sake seminar... I know this!
This was outside of a 7-11, and is a place to smoke. If you double click, you can read the message on the sign that is in English. I thought it was interesting.
There seemed to be parades in every section of town.
And as you know, I love the Japanese and their animals! They just CRACK me up!!!
William and Dougie would run ahead, find a spot to squat, and wait for us to catch up. William was ready to head out of town.
We took a windshield tour of town to see another river and different parts.
Thought this pagoda was cool.
I'm taking this picture out of my window on the way out of town. Cool gold encrusted mikoshi. I tell ya, a parade on every street!
We drove through Nagoya on the way back. We went through one tunnel that was 4 kilometers long. The Japanese don't build passes, they build tunnels. I had the kids start counting when we'd enter a tunnel. I got REALLY tired of counting before we were home.

It was a long drive. The kids were whacked, and fell asleep for the last bit, so we wanted to make it all the way home.

I finally saw a loafing shed for milk cows. First time for that in Japan. We saw wild azaleas on the hills. We had stopped earlier in the day for playtime, feeding baby, and gas. We estimated our tank to be 12 gallons. We estimated mileage to go, and calculated in how many miles we'd been, and how much gas we'd used so far. We put in just enough gas to get home, since Japanese gas is so expensive. Joke's on us. The gas tank is 14 gallons, so our equation was wrong. There were no more rest areas on the toll road when the gas tank went to E. When it made a dinging noise, and the light came on, I was afraid to get off the toll road, and decided to try for base because it was late, and I had no clue where gas would be, especially without reading kanji or knowing which way a gas station would be. I didn't want to run out of gas somewhere where Tim couldn't come find us... 'cause I wouldn't know where to tell him to go! Between this exit and the other on this toll road is at least findable! We made it to base on fumes. We were re-routed twice with detours. We knew we would barely be in time before the on-base gas station shut down, we'd called in advance 'cause we were worried. 13.9 gallons later, I realized how close it had been. And I didn't try to fill it to the top, since the gas nozzles here spew. I knew I'd top it off in the morning before I returned the car.
This is from the last rest stop we stopped at. Should have gotten fuel here, but who knew? But, it shows you which toilets are free by little lights.