Takayama and Kanazawa are two cities in the Japanese Alps that we particularly enjoyed.
Takayama
Takayama is located in the heart of the Japanese Alps, in the middle of the mountains. Only a 5 hour bus connects Kawaguchiko to Takayama.
Unfortunately for us, on our first day in Takayama, it was raining cats and dogs. We therefore decided to visit Takayama museum of retro games, where it was possible to test many old video games and to visit Showa era style rooms.
The next day, we were able to visit the old town of Takayama and its many temples.
Finally, on our third day, we visited Hida Folk village, whose 30 buildings bear witness to the life of an typical agricultural village of the region.
Kanazawa
Unlike Takayama, the city of Kanazawa is located near the sea. One of the city’s specialties is the creation of gold leaf objects (Kanazawa accounts for more than 95% of the production of gold leaf in Japan).
Kanazawa also has its old town with its wooden houses, which is much less crowded than Takayama’s and therefore more pleasant to visit.
We were also able to discover Kanazawa Castle, its gardens and its old samurai districts, now residential districts.
To learn more about these two cities, we invite you to watch the following video: