Immerse yourself in old town charm - Gujo Hachiman: a true traditional Japanese town (part 2)

This is part 2 of a recent trip I took to Gujo Hachiman.  You can find part 1 here.

Gujo Hachiman castle is not a particularly old castle (relative to other Japanese castles), however it is quite unique.  It was built in 1559 and for over 300 years it was home to various feudal lords.  Its position high on the hill overlooking the valley was perfect as the rivers around the castle created a natural moat protecting the castle from potential aggressors.  Prior to the Meiji period, which began in 1868, Japanese castles were important symbols of power for the local Daimyo.  When the Meiji period began, power was returned to the Emperor and a centralised government was formed.   Castles were viewed as a symbol of the previous feudal rule system and the Castle Abolishment Law was written which dictated that these "undesirable relics of feudalism" were to be demolished (luckily not all were torn down).  Fortunately in the 1930's Japan realised her mistake and started rebuilding these treasures one by one beginning with Osaka castle in 1931 followed by Gujo Hachiman in 1933.  Most of the castles were rebuilt using more modern materials such as concrete.  Now, what makes Gujo Hachiman castle unique is that it was rebuilt using wood, the original material making it one of the few rebuilt wood castles.  Enough of the history lesson, I know!

Japanese castles generally come in two different colours, white and black.  I recently asked a regular student of mine, Aya, what feelings she gets when she sees a white or a black castle and her feelings were exactly the same as mine.  She said that when she sees a white castle it projects a majestic, dignified image while a black castle (such as Matsumoto castle) gives off a distinct formidable military, aggressive image.  I often enjoy conversations with Aya as she knows a lot about Japanese history and is very interesting to listen to.

As we approached the castle, the grandness and majesty of the structure only stepped up even more.

Before heading into the castle itself I stopped to survey the town from above.  It was a pretty impressive view!

Pausing to buy a ticket (310 yen) we headed into the castle grounds.

I knew where I wanted to be and that was right at the top so I started my way up the stairs straight away.  Now I should point out that the stairs are quite steep, a cross between a staircase and a ladder, true mountain goat terrain, so please take care climbing.

As expected, the view from the top was incredibly spectacular!

Imagine being the daimyo of Gujo Hachiman and having to wake up to this view each morning!!

Stunning.  As I have said previously, I come from a very flat place and I am always in awe of the beauty of mountains!

I suddenly became aware of a group of schoolgirls standing a few metres away from me.  Still taking photos I started listening in to their conversation as they were trying to figure out how to say something to me in English!  "Should we photo take with us?..........Can you photo camera us?......."  They were trying to figure out how to say "Can you take a photo with us?"  Suddenly one of them said "May we take photo together?"  That was good enough for me.  "Sure!" I said.  They were so happy.  They started asking me questions, where I was from, what did I do, how long I was staying in Gujo Hachiman etc.  For me, as an English teacher, I was so happy to hear them so excited to be speaking English.  The average Japanese person is not confident to speak English as they are worried about making mistakes.  I always say to my students, "never be worried about making mistakes, I make mistakes with English every day!"

What a wonderful moment it was!

Saying goodbye to the girls we decided to head back down to the town again for a well earned beer before checking in to the ryokan.  Walking through the town, what stood out for me most was that there was a total lack of pretence to the town.  Yes, there were some beautiful old buildings,

but right next to the old buildings were sometimes more modern ones.

Gujo Hachiman was not trying to be anything except.........well, except Gujo Hachiman, and I was loving it!

We sat down, enjoyed our beer 

and just watched the town go about its life in front of us.  

And what a blessing that was.

I'm going to finish this post here.  Wow, two posts in one night!  Thanks for reading these first two posts about Gujo Hachiman.  I will keep working on the next one and hopefully have that ready soon.  Please leave a comment below and don't forget to share the blog with someone you know who may be interested.

See you next time.

Immerse yourself in old town charm - Gujo Hachiman: a true traditional Japanese town (part 1)

I have a folder in my bookmarks on my computer titled "blog places".  Whenever I stumble across something that looks interesting and looks worth a visit I save it there.  I often forget that the folder is there and other options come up for places to visit.  A couple of months ago I remembered it was there and couldn't remember what I had saved there so I went in to check it out, and I am thankful I did.  I discovered a website that I had saved for a place called Gujo Hachiman.  Not remembering the name I went to the website and was greeted by a picture of a castle in the clouds and my next trip was immediately decided!

Located almost exactly in the centre of Japan, in Gifu prefecture, Gujo is a small town (by Japan's standards) of about 43,000 people.  It is a castle town and is located at the junction of three rivers, the Yoshida, Kodara and Nagara rivers.  Gujo is fiercely proud of its water and it is considered the essence of the town.

Good friend Tetsuya was again joining me on the trip and this time we decided to catch the bus from Tokyo to Nagoya and then decide from there whether to catch another bus or the train the rest of the way.  We decided to use a bus company called Willer Express (they have a completely English website here which also has an online booking system) as they have a number of different buses with different styles of seats from your basic through to "cocoon" seats with your own monitor with movies, music and TV programs!  This is the one that we decided to go with.

We got on the overnight bus at the Shinjuku bus terminal and immediately were impressed by the futuristic looking seats

which reclined a lot further than regular seats!

Which is great if you can sleep on your back.  I, however, cannot so I was resigned to six hours of movie watching (there are worse ways to spend six hours I guess).

The bus stopped twice at roadside service areas for breaks of fifteen and thirty minutes and it was during the second, longer break that I decided that some 4:30am miso ramen was in order.

It was a lot better than I was expecting!

The bus dropped us off not to far away from Nagoya station and we stored our bags in a train station coin locker and made our way off to find coffee.  Before leaving Tokyo I had bought myself a selfie stick.  I personally hate the things but I had bought one as I have a plan to start making videos on my travels, for Youtube, when I can build up the courage to put myself out there in public!  It's very easy doing this, hiding behind a computer, but putting myself in front of the camera is something else entirely (Okay, I have made it public so there is now more pressure on myself to do it!  Watch this space....)  However, I broke it trying to put my phone into it before leaving Tokyo and despite all of our efforts we couldn't find a shop selling them in Nagoya before our next bus departure time at 9:30 am.  Settling into the bus seat for the 90 minute ride to Gujo Hachiman I suddenly realised how tired I was dozed off into a restful sleep only to wake up (what seemed like only a few minutes later) to the bus driver announcing we had arrived in Gujo Hachiman.  Having departed Shinjuku at night and travelled in the dark through to Nagoya (big city to big city) we were suddenly deposited in the middle of sleepy rural tranquillity.

Deciding to walk into town to our ryokan (Japanese style hotel) we set off and before long had entered the town.  The buildings were beautiful and old and the streets narrow.  You can see in the photo below that some of the houses have little partitions on the second floor.  These are designed to provide some privacy from your neighbour.

Dodging oncoming cars we finished off the two kilometre walk and found ourselves at our ryokan in about 30 minutes.  There are buses that swing past where you get off the highway bus but we decided against the wait (they come only every 30 minutes or so).  you can also call for a taxi if your Japanese is up to it.  It is worth mentioning here that there is not a lot of English spoken in Gujo Hachiman so come prepared with your Japanese phrase book and a mutual willingness to work together with the locals to understand each other!  Of course, if you are Japanese or speak some Japanese, you will not need the phrase book...).

We had arrived at the ryokan about 3 hours prior to check-in (which is at 3pm) so we left our bags with the friendly owners of Miharaya ryokan and decided that we would check out the castle before coming back to check into our rooms.  We dropped in at the local tourist information office 

and armed ourselves with a couple of brochures with English information and maps.  Stepping back outside, into what was a beautiful day, we peered skywards to where the castle was.

Don't let the photos deceive you, it is only another 30 minute walk to get there.  Yes, an uphill walk, but taken at a comfortable pace it should not be a problem for anyone.  Alternatively you can catch a taxi most of the way to the top.  Tetsuya and I decided to make the most of the sunshine and walk up.  Walking up, you share the road with any cars that come along, but as with anywhere in Japan, drivers are extremely careful and respectful toward pedestrians so this is not a problem.

There are also some step that work their way up the side of the hill for a quicker and more strenuous ascent.

Most people (except for the overly energetic school kids) were enjoying the walk up along the road.

There is a rest stop a little over halfway if you need to take a break and enjoy the view.

The season was early autumn and there was some colour creeping into the leaves of the maple trees that surround the castle.

I think that if we had made the trip a week later, the trees would have been stunning.  In fact, the town has an autumn leaf festival that runs from early to mid November.

Suddenly, before we realised, the castle appeared.

I think I will finish this particular post here, it is getting a little long, but I will start working on part 2 straight away so that should be done in the next couple of days.

Thanks for reading this first part of the trip, I hope you enjoyed it.  Please leave a comment below, I would love to hear from you.  Also, please share the blog if you know someone who would enjoy it.

See you soon for part 2.

Gyoza Stadium - Sunshine City, Ikebukuro

I have mentioned numerous times here that the Japanese love their food, adore it and even build food themed attractions to celebrate their food.  I have written about one such "food theme park", the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum.  There is another food that is celebrated in a similar way.  A food that was imported from China and changed to suit Japanese taste, Gyoza, (also referred to as dumplings or pot-stickers).  The main difference between the Chinese and Japanese version is that the Japanese gyoza generally have a thinner wrapper and more of a garlic taste.

Located in Sunshine City in Ikebukuro is Gyoza Stadium, and indoor food theme park set up to showcase gyoza.  I had been to Gyoza Stadium once before, but maybe 13 years ago and had been wanting to go again to check it out once more.  Talking to my friend Rieko, we decided that a visit was definitely in order.  We met up at Ikebukuro station and made our way over to Sunshine City, less than a 15 minute walk from the station, depending on foot traffic.  Gyoza Stadium is located within Namja Town, on the 2F of the World Import Building in Sunshine City (just head all the way to the back Of World Import Building).

We both paid the 500 yen entry (300 yen for children between 4 - 12)

 and made our way in.  To get into Gyoza Stadium, after entering, take a right turn and you will see this.

Look over to the right and you will see a red tori (shrine gate) marking the entrance to Gyoza Stadium with another tori just inside.

You'll also see this guy, but don't worry, he's just there to collect customer satisfaction surveys.

We moved beyond him and into the area where all of the gyoza gather together awaiting their inevitable fate.....

In all, there are 8 different shops here, each one representing a different style, region or taste.  Tough choice, right?  I recommend doing what Rieko and I did.  Wander around all of them, check them all out and then make an educated decision.  Don't worry, at the start of Namja Town there is English information so you can check a little more about them.  Having decided on our first and second stops we put in our orders and waited (they get cooked fresh).  The good thing is that you can order from a couple of different places and eat them both at the one stand.

First up was a selection of three different gyoza from Japan's three major China towns, in Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki.

The ones in the middle were the unanimous winners of these three.  They had a lovely ginger taste that cut through the rich meat flavour.

Next up was gyoza from 2 different towns that are well known for their gyoza, Utsunomiya (north of Tokyo in Tochigi prefecture) and Hamamatsu (west of Tokyo located in Shizuoka prefecture).

Thee was nothing between these two, both were as juicy and delicious as the other.  A good matching.

Speaking of matching, there's nothing that matches better with gyoza than beer!

We sat for a little to let the first and second round of gyoza to settle then got up and set off in search of round three and four!

The next selection was another set of two different types of gyoza.  One made of beef (quite unusual as gyoza are primarily made of pork),

and the other made of a high quality pork (kuro buta)from Kagoshima, on Fukuoka.

Both were incredible juicy, but for me, the pork came out slightly ahead.

The final selection was another set of 2, both deep fried, one topped with melted cheese

and the other topped with (a very mildly) spicy miso sauce.

The clear winner here was the miso topped gyoza.

Finishing up we had a wander around the rest of Namja Town.  It is quite interesting as it is set up in a post war 1950's Tokyo streetscape style, similar to the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum,

complete with a 1950's era living room

and local watering hole!

Once you have finished your gyoza you can head over to another part of Namja Town, where they have an ice cream shop, for desert.  The ice cream shop has over 50 flavours, from the standard to the more unusual (horse meat, miso ramen, squid, octopus and beef tongue) if you are feeling adventurous.

By now we were feeling stuffed so we made our way out and into the night.  If you are a foodie, I thoroughly recommend gyoza stadium to sample a selection of different styles located in one place.

Thanks, as always, for reading.  The blog recently reached a milestone.  We had our 100,000th page view over the course of the previous week.  While that number pales compared to other more successful blogs, I am over the moon.  It means a lot to me that you enjoy reading about my Japan.  We are far from over though, as there is years worth of places I have yet to visit and plan on doing so in the future.  Thanks for joining me on this journey so far, and I hope you stay with me into the future.

As always, please leave a message below and share the blog with someone you know who would be interested in reading.  See you next time.