This is Nanachan, one of the first people I met in Nagoya.  She's busy advertising something so didn't have time to chew the fat with me.  Usually when I get to a new place I try to find my way around it a little on the first day but for reasons to do with the validity of my railpass in the case of Nagoya I'm leaving that till Thursday and am starting with excursions out of town.

Yesterday I went to Takayama.  I had it in mind when planning this trip to do the route laid out in this map from the Pacific to the Sea of Japan and back again but time was the problem and it should really be done in winter.

 

The section called Alpine Route is the jewel of the trip and indeed Keita my AirB&B man volunteered to take me in April at least to see the ice walls that form part of it but I didn't do that either.

Some other time.

Meantime Takayama is a pleasant spot.  They've tried hard to keep their old town in something like its original state.  That's pretty hard when most of the buildings are turned over to selling stuff to tourists.  Modern bits and pieces get in the way and indeed the towns and countryside of Japan may well be clear of litter but are blighted by modern infrastructure.  Poles and cables everywhere in town and pylons and cables all over the countryside. 

I know wonderful things can be done digitally these days but filming a historical drama on location must be a laborious and expensive business having to eliminate or disguise all that stuff.  I find it hard enough trying to frame a snapshot.

Here are a few of my efforts

See what you are up against

I found myself at what the town map descibes as a park but which turned out more to be a mountain covered in trees.  Admittedly at the entry point there was some open space with an imposing statue, a cafe and a small kiddies' playpark.

But then the path led upwards and believe me it was hard work.

But I hoped that when I got to the top, to the site of the castle that had stood there in the 17th century there would be a glorious aspect over the town.  There wasn't. There was a clearing surrounded by trees and in the clearing a plaque explaining how the castle had been laid out but there wasn't even a brick to justify this claim of a castle.

You could just see the mountains over the valley through gaps in the trees.

Oh and did I mention this?

There was a more explicit notice at the foot of the path I started up.  From it with Google's help I learnt that a bear had been spotted in the park in August 2020.  Initially that may seem comforting but what's to stop him or her or their whole tribe from having a September 2023 outing?

I ran through in my mind what I think I've heard about handling bears in the wild.  Don't some advise you to stand stockstill and glare at the animal till it's forced to drop its gaze in submission to the master.  Others perhaps suggest withdrawing slowly backwards whilst communicating apologies with lots of bowing and scraping for having intruded.  There's also the doggie move, lying down on your back exposing your belly and wagging your tail to indicate you'd just love a good tickle.

Why was I not equipped with a bell I wondered as I decided to chance my arm and the rest of me by heading on up.

Coming down was a dawdle and there were some pretty things to see

Today instead of the mountains I went to the seaside

I took a train or rather a couple of trains to a place called Shimizu which is at the seaside though it's an industrial seaside because it's a major port.  But it has its hidden gem.  You get on a bus for twenty minutes or so, head down an unprepossessing road till you get to the Miho Shrine where things start to get more jolly.

The shrine itself is pretty.  Then you walk through it to a magnificent corridor of pines that leads down to the sea

Just before the sea the path enters a pine forest that stretches along the coast for several miles.  I know, I walked it.  Thankfully my walking today was mostly in the shade.

This is the beach.  Nothing as fine as the white sands of the Western Isles or even the golden sands of Portobello.  Even so hardly anybody was making use of it.  A few people were walking but as far as I could see no-one was swimming or even paddling.

Here's one punter doing his thing.  Maybe it's one of those places where there's a summer season, and despite the heat summer is technically over, and when the season ends the toys go back in the box till next year.

But this is what we've all come to see.  The beach is famous as a place for views of Mount Fuji.  I took several pictures.  Here are two more that I like.

And there was a lighthouse.

I walked quite a way over the course of the afternoon.  Most places I passed were closed or deserted.  I heard one man grunting away as he slammed tennis balls towards a non-existent opponent.  I saw some pretty butterflies.  I heard very few birds.  I met even fewer tourists.  I got back to Nagoya and got fed and soon I will go to bed.