Japan 2015 - Day 6 - Nagano to Takayama

April 12, 2015: Kawanakajima Battlefield, Daio Wasabi Farm, Takayama Festival Floats, Kami Sannomachi

Departure time wasn't until 8:30 am on this our 6th day of the tour, so me and Sweetie decided to go for a quick morning stroll.  

Right away we saw these cute plant pictures on the ground. This says "hime ringo" . . . princess apple.


This says "katsura".


Prefecture's tree: "Shirakaba" - birch.


"Hana-kaido" - crab apple.  


Too late I realized that the pictures on the ground were describing the actual plant growing on the sidewalk. This is the above-labeled "hana-kaido".  I thought that maybe on our way back I could take pictures of the plants that I missed, but we ended up going around the block instead and never did pass them again.


Which actually was okay because otherwise we would've missed these cute statues of kids waving to a boxcar. We didn't have time to go check out what this was all about, but I thought it was cute anyway.


Our first tour stop of the day was Kawanakajima Ancient Battlefield in Hachimanbara Park, Northern Nagano. It is the site of what is considered to be the most famous of battles in Japan history.


It was hard for me to believe that I was standing on the actual ground where over 4,000 soldiers were killed in a series of battles that happened more than 450 years ago.








"Omikuji": paper fortune.






There was a produce stand adjacent to the battlefield area.


I woulda bought these asparagus if I was back home. They were so fat.


I haven't a clue what these are.


Back on the bus we enjoyed the scenery of the Japan Alps as we made our way to the town of Hotaka near Matsumoto city, home to Japan's largest wasabi farm, Daio Wasabi Farm.


On the farm clear, flowing water comes from Japan's Northern Alps.
















The farm contains multiple large wasabi fields in various stages of growth. 




Torching gets rid of bacteria.  ????  That's what they said anyway.


The plant lover.














Here are Sweetie and Lionel, our tour escort from Kobayashi Travel.


I love Japanese apple juice.


On our way to Takayama, we made a short pitstop here. 


This reminded me of Hokkaido.


Yuki and Sweetie enjoying a foot soak.


After our short break, we headed on. There were quite a few attractions to see in Takayama town.


Like this fire hydrant, for example.


It was a short stroll to our destination, the Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall.


These yatai are several hundred years old!














After visiting the yatai exhibits, our tour leader took us on a walk through the town.












She led us to here, Kami Sannomachi, where we got to spend about an hour to do some shopping. It was a cute district with shops on both sides.




I think this sign says "yaki stand-up rice cakes" or something like that.  Wish I had seen them cooking.








Whoa!  Do you see what I see?


Yee haw!  So funny . . . me and Sweetie had separated because Sweetie wanted to go look for something that she found out was on another street.  When we met up again later on, she said that she had gotten this grilled mochi for herself too.


Our hotel for the night was the Hida Hotel Plaza. This was our view.


Our dinner was again wonderful and deserving of a better photo than this one which I took with my iPad. 


But, my camera's weight and bulk were starting to annoy me, and by the end of this busy day, I longed to be free of it and had left it back in the room.