Takayama & Kariya

Takayama & Kariya

After waking up the next morning, my sis and I decided to head down to the onsen one last time. The ladies onsen and the mens onsen alternate in the morning, so we managed to try both during our stay. Once we got back to our room, they were starting to put away our futons to set up for breakfast. As with our dinner, breakfast was incredibly extravagant. Everything looked just as good as it tasted. I highly recommend staying at Tanabe for anyone who’s considering a trip to Takayama. =)

Tanabe

Once we finished eating, we had a bit of time before we needed to check out, so we left our bags inside our room and took off for the Miyagawa morning market. It was pretty cold in Takayama that day and it was actually snowing as we headed towards the market. Even though we were bundled up, I don’t think any of us wanted to be outside for long. After making our way up and down the Miyagawa river, we stopped inside Takumikan to warm up. Takayama is famous for its woodwork, and one of the best places to see it is inside Takumikan, which sells everything from handicrafts to furniture inside their gallery. 

Miyagawa morning market

Takumikan

After we left, we continued walking towards the Jinya morning market. The reason why it’s called the Jinya market is because it’s situated right in front of the Takayama Jinya, which used to be an old government outpost. We paid the admission fee up front then started the tour inside. All the rooms inside were quite spacious and it turned out to be a much larger complex than I had initially thought. However, since the rooms were not insulated, it was still cold as we made our way around.

Takayama Jinya

Takayama Jinya

By the time we were done touring, it was almost time for us to head back to Tanabe. We decided to cut through the streets of Sanmachi one last time. Along the way we stopped by a shop which sold Hida beef croquette. I’m not sure if I can taste the difference once the beef is diced up and fried, but the croquette itself was quite delicious. =P

After we grabbed our bags it was time to say goodbye to Takayama. We caught the bus to Nagoya and arrived at the station a little after 1pm. Once we got off the bus, we first had to head back to our hotel. My sister and I needed to drop off our bags, while my uncle, who was actually heading to Osaka on his own, had to pick up his luggage from the concierge. Initially we wanted to grab a late lunch together before we parted ways, but because it was the Saturday of an Arashi concert, all the restaurants inside the station and on the upper levels of Takashimaya were completely full of girls. Since my uncle needed to leave, we hastily bid farewell and went off on our separate ways.

My sister and I had the task of trying to find a place to eat inside Takashimaya. After a lot of searching we finally found a spot inside the food court and we both ordered something from Soup Stock Tokyo. I had the curry and brown stew set with an iced tea. (Side note I don’t think I could ever get sick of eating at Soup Stock. So yummy!)

Soup Stock

Since it was insanely crowded inside the station, we didn’t want to stick around any longer and left right after we finished eating. We first made our way to the Johnny’s Shop at Sakae, then later walked over to Oasis 21 to do a little shopping. Since it was such a nice day out, we also went up to the glass roof.

Oasis 21

After spending an hour at the mall, we had to head back to Nagoya as we were due to meet Megumi at 5pm in front of the gold clock at Nagoya Station. It was so nice to see her again! Even with her busy schedule she still made time to meet us and take us all the way to Kariya. I told Megumi I wanted to go to her favourite restaurant in the city and she brought us to this izakaya close to Kariya Station.

I was really lucky that Mika and Itoh-sensei both had time to come out for dinner as well! I also met Katou-san, who is a government worker with the City of Kariya. I think Megumi must have ordered way too much food for the six of us, but I made the effort to at least finish up the dessert, which came with a sparkler on top and had the message ‘Welcome Jenny and Rebecca’ written on top.

Izakaya Izakaya

After dinner, we all walked back to the station together then parted ways. Even though my time in Kariya was short, it was still great to be back and to see some familiar faces again. Thank you for the hospitality!

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