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Japan: Seniors travel at its best |
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By Peter Kilcullen
Do you want to travel to an exciting and fascinating travel destination but are worried you might be "too old", not mobile enough, or frightened of missing out because you can't climb lots of steps to see key attractions? Think again because the tourism people in Gifu and Ishikawa Prefecture have worked hard to make their towns easy for “older” people and those with mobility issues.
No lifetime travel 'portfolio' is complete without a trip to Japan where thousand years of tradition blend with the world's most advanced technological culture.
Japan has to be seen to be believed. Tokyo is a land of technological wonder: billboards are giant TV screens, robots direct the traffic, vending machines cater for all culinary desires, and trains run on time, all the time.
It is also a place where age-old traditions are preserved and honoured as 'living history'. Elders are respected for their wisdom and held in great esteem, elaborately embroidered kimonos are worn by many as every day wear, and young ladies willingly become apprentice geishas and others study for years to master the Japanese tea ceremony.
To the Western mind, Japan can also be the home of the weird and useless like bizarre themed restaurants, unusual festivals, quirky foods, and strange professions like people employed as wavers and screamers at election time.
It all adds up to very interesting and often inspiring travel experiences. Often I would smile to myself and wonder "why?"
Getting there
Travel to Japan is easy - watch for one of the great flight deals and tour packages on offer. For first-time travellers to Japan, I'd recommend joining a tour as the big non-English speaking cities, especially Tokyo, can be overwhelming, and you can lose your sense of direction easily. You don't want to spend your holiday asking for directions or engrossed in detailed planning of your daily sightseeing route.
Japan is exceptionally well connected with transportation links that run like clockwork. Every place is connected to another with modern bus and/or train and plane links. Travelling outside big cities is not difficult like it once was, as now all major streets and directional signs are also in English.
Accommodation
Tokyo is expensive but it is worth the experience to stay at least two nights in an outer area of Tokyo where the accommodation is much cheaper. For those watching their yens, you could stay at a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn, or a minshuku, a family-run guesthouse. Public transport is inexpensive and most regions (Prefectures) have dedicated buses for sightseeing.
Gifu Prefecture
Almost in the geographic centre of Japan, Gifu Prefecture, with its mountains rising 3,000 metres above sea level, is famous for its ski fields that boast falls of light, dry powder snow prized by skiers.
The world famous ski resort Dynaland features 19 ski runs catering to all levels. Hotel Villa Mont-Saint is the foot of Dynaland - the naming of this hotel and the resort should show the international attraction of this region.
The ski season is from December to April. Adjacent is Takasu Snow Park which is also geared to local and international skiers of all proficiency levels.
I didn't visit in the snow season - a blessing in disguise as it is quieter during the off season allowing me to see more of Gifu's natural and man-made attractions, and Japanese traditional culture. At Dynaland in spring, the ski lifts with background classical music that seems to come from the mountains, take people on a bird's eye view of masses of spring lilies.
Living time capsule
The Japanese love to keep the spirit of objects alive and nowhere is the past more enshrined than in Gifu. Here you'll find storybook Japan. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, Shirakawa-go, a mountain village is near the foot of Mt Hakusan. Renown for its Gassho-style houses, it has been preserved as a living history hamlet to show how people lived in rural Japan.
Built between the 17th and 20th century, Gassho-style houses have steeply-sloped thatched gable rooves to allow heavy snow to slip off in winter. Inside there are three or four levels; the ground floor was used as living spaces and the warmer upper floors were for raising silkworms.
Villagers still live in these houses and tend the nearby rice paddies. Tourists are issued with strict instructions "do not peek into residences or open doors of houses".
The largest of the remaining Gassho-style houses at Shirakawa-go village is the 400-year-old Wada (family) House. People still live in this house, which like the rest of the village streets and rice paddies, remains like time stood still.
Sample food making
Most people have seen replica food on display at many Japanese restaurants. In Gifu's Gujo City is an entire village devoted to the craft of recreating items of food from sushi to hamburgers. Originally this was done using wax, but nowadays silicon is used. The Japanese love to preserve the past and are innovative at finding ways to keep alive the flame of dying trades while providing employment to the craftspeople.
The fascinating Sample Village Iwasaki workshop is one such place and no sooner had I walk through the door, I found myself being taught how to make a wax lettuce leaf by one of Japan's most celebrated replica food artists.
Making wax food is quite an art form - my teacher created lettuce that looked like the real thing, my effort was somewhat debateable.
I am not one to bring back souvenirs but I could not resist buying some of these fascinating wax replicas of food.
Hida Takayama
Known colloquially as the “other side of Japan" or "Little Kyoto", Gifu's Takayama is the place to experience traditional Japanese culture. It has also been made very easy to visit with signs in English, Korean and Chinese at key points around the city, most places are wheelchair accessible and there are even special toilets for people with ostomy bags.
The oldest part of Takayama, San-machi Suji, is a living museum where the residents appear to go about life and run their businesses just as their ancestors have done for centuries. The narrow streets with old buildings are lined with craftsmen's workshops, inns, sake brewers and restaurants selling soba noodles, dumplings and a local delicacy that consists of miso (fermented soya bean paste) cooked on a dried magnolia leaf.
There's a lot to see and do in Takayama - many museums such as a Doll Museum and Tea Ceremony Museum; shrines and temples. There are many opportunities for hands on learning experiences like lessons in lacquerware, weaving, woodcarving, confectionary making, sake brewing and noodle making. I think I can safely say that Japan has a "no craft or skill lost policy" - if it was once made in Japan, you can find an expert to teach you how to make it again.
Very popular in Takayama is the Miyagawa morning market, open every morning from 7am. Here farmer's wives from nearby villages sell their produce. Fascinating stuff for the Japanese visitors from big cities like Tokyo who can be heard gasping in wonder at the seasonal nature of fresh vegetables and flowers.
All in all, Gifu offers travellers a host of experiences. It is the perfect destination for the older traveller wanting what travel agents call 'soft adventure'. I forgot to mention the hot springs (there's even a Hot Springs Museum), festivals, castles, stunning old architecture, Shinto ceremonies, colourful gardens with amazing topiary, bonsai, walks in the mountains, and outdoor theatre to add just a few.
Ishikawa Prefecture
From Gifu, I travelled by bus to the coastal city, Wajima in the Ishikawa Prefecture to visit Suzu Salt Farm Village, the only facility in Japan to use the 500-year-old 'Agehama' technique for salt production. Salt in Japan of old was a valuable commodity as the country has no salt mines, and it was all extracted from seawater. To the Japanese, salt is classed a bit like wines or oils.
The Agehama method is considered by salt aficionados to produce the best quality and best tasting salt. Basically this method involves pouring seawater onto a heated rock and waiting for the water to evaporate, then scraping off the salt. Very hot work.
Having never really thought much about salt before, after my visit to this salt farm, I have become a bit of a salt connoisseur and am no longer satisfied with Saxa Iodised salt. The Japanese are right - the type of salt does make a big difference to the taste. I bought some packets of Suzu salt, and it was a very popular gift to friends on my return though I did worry about bringing packets of a white powder like substance through customs.
100-year-old ryokan
Kagaya is the most famous and most exclusive ryokan (Japanese inn) in Japan. It is well worth balancing your travel budget to include one or two nights at Kagaya Ryokan, Nano City, Ishikawa Prefecture. Room rates for two including dinner and breakfast start from Aus$583. Voted the best ryokan in Japan for 28 consecutive years, it is an experience to remember.
Wajima City
Japanese love their festivals and they have a lot of them. In Ishikawa's Wajima City, the annual three-day Wajima Taisai (Great Festival) is held in August. Gigantic paper lanterns (kirikos) with magnificent lacquer coatings are four to 15 metres high. A portable shrine surrounded by about 30 kirikos and smaller lanterns is carried through the streets to the sea. When it arrives at the sea, a bonfire is lit and the sky explodes with goheis (decorative strips of white paper used in Shinto rituals) as they fall from the top of the shrine. To bring themselves good fortune, men wearing only loincloths swim and dive to retrieve the goheis.
Much more
Other Ishikawa attractions include Kenrokuen Garden, one of the tree great gardens of Japan; Nagamachi Bukeyashiki Samurai Residence with irrigation canals to bring fresh water to residences; Omicho Market, 180 shops selling basic and unusual food; 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa where you can escape to a modern artist's view of life; three teahouse (former geisha) districts of which Higashi is the largest; Yunokuni-no-mori, a village of traditional arts and crafts where lessons include pottery, porcelain painting, gold and silver leaf decoration, and lacquerware.
You could easily spend days or even weeks in Ishikawa learning new skills in arts and crafts. There's even lessons in how to play shamisen, a traditional three-stringed musical instrument used by geishas.
Just new is a free English tourism newspaper, available from Kanazawa Station's Tourist Information Centre and Chubu International Airport.
Food
I love my food and for me there's no better way to know a country than to eat it. I am never disappointed in Japanese cuisine as preparation and presentation is very much part of the Japanese culture. In fact in Japan it seems that one half of the population is gathering, preparing and cooking food for the other half.
In Ishikawa , fish is especially tasty during winters and kano crab - male crabs are called "zwaigani" and female crabs "kobako-gani". It is a winter delicacy and once you try it, .you will crave for more.
Buri (yellowtail) is a fish found off Ishikawa's Noto Peninsula. It is eaten raw and finely sliced. Oysters (kaki), known locally as "sea milk", are also popular. Ishikawa has many traditional recipes like "jibuni" - duck meat is dusted with flour and stewed with mushrooms and other vegetables, soy sauce, sugar and wine, then served after mixing wasabi (Japanese horseradish) in the broth. Fermented food is popular and "kabourazushi" is made with turnip, pickled yellowtail and malted rice.
Visit and enjoy
Gifu and Ishikawa are perfect for seniors wanting to experience the real Japan - gardens, warm hospitality, tradition, art, architecture, scenery and traditional cuisine. Attractions are easily accessed with pathways, toilets and accommodation designed for older people and those with restricted mobility or a disability.
Sydneyseniors’ travel writer, Peter Kilcullen travelled to Japan as a guest of the Japan National Tourist Organisation.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Japan National Tourist Organisation (Sydney)
www.jnto.org.au
JNTO Self-service Room:
You can help yourself to brochures displayed in the room.
Level 7, 36-38 Clarence Street,
Sydney NSW 2000
(About a one minute walk from Wynyard station)
Open: 9am – 5pm Mon - Fri)
Cathay Pacific
www.cathaypacific.com
Gifu Prefecture
Tourist Federation:
www.kankou-gifu.jp/en/index.html
Ishikawa Prefecture Tourism League:
www.hot-ishikawa.jp/f-lang/english |
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