Ready to fly

At gate for flight Tokyo to Seattle as the sun sets

Great day to fly

Sky deck at Nagoya airport

Yummy lunch

Oishii lunch at my favorite cafe at Nagoya airport WA no MA

To Centrair Airport

On the train to the airport in Nagoya

Tsumago

柿と菊...きれいです!
Kaki to kiku...kirei desu!
Persimmon and Chrysanthemum...beautiful!

Mountain view on the Nakasendo Way

The view of peaks from Magome serves as a reminder that Japan is 70 percent mountainous.

Big city sights in Nagoya

Roof top garden 14 stories above the street and a spiraling skyscraper dazzle the eyes in Nagoya

Morning at traditional inn

At breakfast at a traditional inn in Ogimachi village, Shirakawa-go. Ogimachi is the largest of the Shirakawa-go villages.

Entrance to Shinto Shrine

At Shirakawa-go.

Thatched roof house with harvested rice

A typical scene on a beautiful, blue-sky day at Shirakawa-go. The Shirakawa-go area has been inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List at the "Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama" World Heritage Site. The houses you see are known as "gassho-zukuri" houses. The name refers to the similarity of the shape of the steeply-pitched roofs to the shape of hands folded in prayer ("gassho"). Here, in the village of Ogimachi, silkworms were once raised under the rafters.

Music in the mountains

Shamisen concert at breakfast by our hostess at Yoshiro House, Shirakawa-go.

Shirakawa no asa-gohan

Asa-gohan (breakfast) in Shirakawa-go.

Rice Field, Shirakawago

Rice field and thatched farm building in the village.

Flower fest

Kiku or Chrysanthemum display

Sarubobo Amy in Japan

Amy as a sarubobo. Sarubobo ("baby monkey") is a Japanese amulet associated with the town of Takayama. The sarubobo protects its possessor from harm and insures a good marriage and good children. Traditionally made out of red cloth, sarubobos today come in many colors with each color signifying something different: green for good health, yellow for luck with money, blue for luck with work and study...

Glory of the Morning

Asagao, or morning glory, in Takayama.
朝顔に
釣瓶とられて
もらいみず

Snow in Takayama

It is snowing in Takayama! 雪が降っている!

And more...

Sukiyaki cooked and ready to eat, and sushi too!

Next...

Now sukiyaki...

Feast, Third Round

Third course: Hida beef cooked ourselves on a personal grill.

The Feast Continues...

Second course: beef and catfish carpaccio.

Hida Feast

First course: duck egg, cod roe, fiddle head fern, and clam. Yum!

Hida Puzzle

Puzzle of Chidorigoushi at the Hida Folk Museum.

Master Candle Maker

Mishima-san is a seventh generation candle maker in Hida Furukawa in Gifu Prefecture.

Mountain-bound by Train

On the train to Takayama in the foothills of the Japan Alps in Hida.

Breakfast

Asa-gohan ("morning rice" or "breakfast" in Japanese)! Superb breakfast buffet at hotel in Nara Egg, orange, pineapple, fish, spinach, rice gruel (0-kai) and coffee.

Beautiful Calligraphy

Temple book being inscribed at building dedicated to Prince Shotoku at Horyuji.