Stoat - Where?

Magome is a small town in the mountains on the border of Gifu and Nagano prefectures that sits on the old Tokaido route which was heavily used in the Edo period. It was originally built as one of a number of rest posts for weary travellers making the long and dangerous journey from Kyoto to Tokyo. It is one of those rare places in Japan that has managed to preserve its old-world feel and nowadays gives a glimpse into what Japan looked like at the time of the samurai and shoguns. It’s described by those who’ve been as having the feel of Takayama but without the crowds, so when I was offered the chance to stay there for free with a friend, I jumped at it.
(more…)

Despite my best intentions, I was worried that I wouldn’t get round to seeing much of the country in the last few weeks before I left because I’d been in kind of a rut lately, doing not much other than working and sleeping. Luckily, there’s nothing like leaving a country to create a list of tedious jobs to escape from and so for the last few days, instead of cancelling electricity and sending stuff home, I’ve been trekking around parts of Gifu seeing some of the places that were always in reach, but that I never found time to see. And sightseeing feels so much better when I know I should be doing something else - kind of like taking a sickie, but even better because I know I don’t have to go back to work the next day.
(more…)