Trip to the "Japanese Alps"

This past weekend we took a trip (an exursion) to Takayama, a small town in the "Japanese Alps," about a 4 hour train ride from Kyoto, in central Honshu that has the largest mountains, aside from Mt. Fuji, in all of Japan. Nagano, the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics, is in these mountains. The trip was beautiful toward the end, as the train wound its way along the Hida River into the mountains. The Hida is white water much of the time and we passed at least 2 large dams that seem to be a huge supply of electricity for this part of Japan. Takayama, surrounded by 10,000 foot mountains, has retained a specific culture
because of centuries of isolation. The rich supply of timber created a tradition of carpentry and woodworking that is centuries old.

Takayama, like so much of Japan, is a zoning board's worst nightmare--a beautifully preserved downtown area of centuries-old one- and two-story homes made of dark wood. All this surrounded by ugly urban development that results in a jumble of ancient and beautiful with blight (not unlike Kyoto). You have to begin to erase the blight parts in order to enjoy Japanese towns and cities.

In the old section, several of the old homes house small sake distilleries and for a few yen you can sample the wares. In one of the places we sampled, the tradition was to drink from a small wooden box that was served with salt that you licked from your hand (a la tequila) after a swallow. Here it is being demonstrated; because the box is filled to overflowing (a sake custom), you have to bend down and slurp from the side.We were quite good at it, having practiced slurping noodles for several weeks now. Many of the other houses were made into small shops--very nice ones, with some beautiful carved wood, lacquered wood bowls and trays, and other local crafts.

We stayed in a minshuku, which is a small version of the traditional Japanese inn, a ryokan. Our room had tatami mats and a single low table with three chairs for sitting on the floor. That's all. In the evening the staff came in and laid out futons and bedding. The room had a sink and toilet, but for bathing, you don a yukada (cotton robe) supplied with the room and use the common hot baths. It's perfectly acceptable to hang out in the yukada and even to go to dinner in it. Which gets me to the Takayama cuisine.

Because of its isolation, Takayama developed a specific local cuisine that uses mountain vegetables (ferns and the like), many of them pickled (there's even a pickling festival in the fall), local river fish and Hida beef. The beef is often served shabu-shabu style. At our first lunch in Takayama, Bill, who ordered beef, was served at a large pot on a burner at the table. The waiter threw in a bunch of vegetables and then brought Bill a plate of thinly sliced raw beef. English was minimal but we figured out that he was to put it into the pot and cook it. So he did. I ordered a "lunch set" of local vegetables, which came with this little fish. For once I did not embrace all things Japanese--I just couldn't bring myself to eat the head, tail, and all! Dinner was at the minshuku, seated on the floor in a large dining room. We were served many, many small dishes, from sashimi to tempura, with more pickles and shabu-shabu, some of which we had no idea what it was. Most of it was quite delicious and probably better not to know too many details.

The best sightseeing of Takayma was a short bus ride to Hida No Sato, a folk village made up of houses of the region that were moved to this one site to preserve the culture. It's big--we went in about 10 different houses. This one picture of an attic shows the unusual construction--no nails, just rope to hold it all together. In some of the houses, people who actually live there were doing traditional crafts--here weaving--in another place making the shingles for many the roofs that have to be changed every 3 years. Some of the houses had the gassho-zukuri roofs (picture), the steeply slanted roofs because of the heavy snow that are said to resemble "praying hands." The grounds also included several rice paddies and a pond.

Bill here: the room at our minshuku was across the street from a temple. At 6AM a monk struck a very large bell and then proceeded to pound away on some loud drum in some apparently significant religious rhythm. A good start to the day?!

So overall--an interesting experience and a fascinating look at old Japan. We were happy, though, to return "home"--our sweet little apartment in Kyoto. Busy, busy week coming up. In Tuesday's class, I finish up the "basics" with a class on Torts; then Wednesday, I'm doing a class on constitutional law and the right to privacy; the students are reading Griswold, Roe, and Lawrence. "Privacy," says one of my slides, "is everywhere and nowhere." I realized that I have to take on levels of scrutiny (or "Tears of Scrutiny" as I like to think about it) for it all to make sense. By the way, movie night last week went great with "Runaway Jury." I started the movie after class, which is 7:45. It's not mandatory but everyone stayed. As preposterous as the plot is, it's filled with "peremptory challenges" and the like so it was fun for the students to see the abstract in action. I think the next movie will be "My Cousin Vinny." Also this week I'm invited to a dinner to meet other women faculty from the University (Tuesday night), Thursday I'm teaching a class on Civil Procedure to an undergraduate law class and having lunch with the professor, and Friday one of my colleagues from the law school (Yoshi Yamada) is taking me and Bill to tour the Imperial Palace and out to lunch.

The bell at Myoshin-ji is tolling--must be time to say Sayonara. Have a great week!