07 September, 2006

Japan Countryside Guide

Ladies and gentlemen, we are back to my special Japan Countryside Guide. I didn’t really mean to make it a “countryside” guide, but since I mentioned the word “hinabita” last time I guess I’ll stick with that.

But come to think of it, many of you reading this aren’t likely to be Japanese or fond of Japanese language and customs. So even if I did introduce you guys my favorite rustic areas you’ll have a bit of a hard time in that sense. Some of you might be like “so who cares!? Rustic rules!” but many of the others probably want to have a small peek into the tasteful and traditionally culture-rich “hinabita” places safely and comfortably.

In that sense, my top recommendation would be Shirakawago which is one of the World Heritages we have in Japan. This place is pretty famous so some of you may have gone already. I’m not good at explaining the beauty of it so this’ll sound something like an extract from a leaflet, but anyway the gassho-style houses with thick thatched-roofs are just amazing. It’s a small village surrounded by mountains but the landscape is awesome. See here for some pics (page bottom).

That was super short, but I’ll go into it deeper tomorrow.
...And maybe come up with some remoter places.

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