Takayama | A small mountain town where traditional Japanese features remain vividly

Takayama is a town located in the nothern part of Gifu prefecture. Since it's the mountainous area with limited transportation access, Takayama has been less influenced by outside cultures, especially…

Toyama City | The Future-Oriented Capital of Pharmacy and Glass Art

Toyama city is a capital of Toyama prefecture. In addition to the fact that it is counted as the one of the political and commercial center Hokuriku region, it is…

Inami, Toyama prefecture – How to stroll in Japan’s best wood carving town

Inami, which has flourished as a temple town, is located south of Tonami Plain in Toyama prefecture. The town is at the feet of Mt. Yaotome and has a stone-paved…

Festa Forest in Takayama | the only place to find the new festival floats

Takayama Festival is one of the three popular traditional festivals in Japan. In the festival, you can see a speculous parade with the floats locally called "yatai". It is very…

Hida Folk Village to see how the gassho-zukuri houses transformed

Old houses and everyday utensils are lost with the passage of time. However, Local people are striving to invent various ways to pass on these valuable cultural heritages to future…

Higashiyama Walking Course to know more about Takayama

Higashiyama Yuhodo is a promenade at the foot of the mountain located east of the Takayama city area. If you walk along, you may find many temples and shrines lined…

Kusakabe Traditional House represents indigenous culture of Takayama

Kusakabe Traditional House is one of Japan's national important cultural assets and it represents the wonder of Edo period construction method. Unlike Kanazawa where many samurai cultural assets remain, Takayama…

What to see in Kanazawa 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa

What's maru-bii? As the name suggests, 21st Century Museum is an art museum that collects modern art. Besides, 21st Century Museum is locally called "Marubii". "Maru" translates as circle, and…

Nagamachi Samurai District | Let’s walk on historic quiet passage

Kanazawa did not suffer from the damage caused by WW2. In fact, there still remain many old-fashioned buildings. In the Kaga domain, all samurai were given houses, and Nagamachi was…

What to see in Higashi-chaya District

In the Sengoku (Civil War) period, this area was one of the Buddhist monk quarters in Kanazawa city. The monk quarters functioned as a fort to protect the townspeople and…