The teddy bear eco village. I went there on the second morning of the Takayama festival. Decided to explore Takayama a bit and ended up here to spend the next 2 hours before I headed out to the old town for some festival fare cuz in contrast to the day before, it's sunny! So the Gods will definitely wanna be out.
Love this GIANT teddy ...
... and the family of teddies ...
... ninja teddies. Takayama is all about ninjas ...
... boulangerie teddies ...
... grandpa teddy ...
... baby teddies ...
... "Dreamworks" Hida Takayama teddy ... one of my favourite shots in this museum ...
... and I gatecrashed a teddy wedding!
... the gracious couple.
The festival was in full swing when I got to the old town.
A little boy helped to pull a huge shrine.
Another lucky shot. One of the boys who accompanied the shrine. The troop was taking a break.
Beautiful Takayama old town.
... and the ya-tais are out! Truly beautiful. Amazing craftsmanship. The carpentry works of Takayama are tops in Japan.
Little girl was all dressed up for the festival. And she's a really brave girl too. She was chasing pigeons and I was trying to capture the moment when she suddenly tripped and fell. I was in shock but she just got up without a tear. I asked if she was OK (not that she understood). She just smiled and posed for this picture (^__^*)v
Takayama was like a ghost town after the festival ended at around 5 pm on 15 April.
Fellow surfers! Orian (not sure about the spelling but that's how it's pronounced) from France and Helen from Israel. Two of many French and Israeli travellers in Japan whom I met on this trip! Helen was staying with another JET teacher living in the same block, an American named Kyle.
My gracious host Martin (in white). He and Orian in the end shared a room so the lady could have her privacy. Martin had forewarned me that I'd be sharing a room with Orian who had already confirmed his stay much earlier (I only emailed about 2 weeks before I left for Japan) but was very generous to give up his own private space to accommodate this last minute female surfer.
View of Mt. Fuji from Shinkansen Hikari 462 bound for Tokyo from Nagoya. I was on high alert all the time, afraid I would actually miss it. But exactly an hour into the trip, when I wasn't even expecting it, it just appeared and there's no mistake it's Fuji-san. The view lasted about 10 mins or so, from full view to partial (the bullet train was too fast). TIP: If you're reserving a seat, ask for "E" seats (which is the row of window seats facing the Fuji-san view). If they're aready full (which was my case), queue at the non-reserved cars and gun for the "E" seats when the doors open. Very worth it.
