Day 6 — Takayama → Tokyo
Breakfast, morning visit of Tokyo, Takayama, rising in the Japanese Alps, used to be a celebrated carpentry centre. Its carpenters worked on the Imperial Palace in Kyoto and on many of the temples in Kyoto and Nara. Nowadays its main attractions are the old houses of the merchants, all lined up along the alleys; the town’s shrines and temples; and the shops selling local specialities and products: sake, yew and cypress statues, and lacquerware (shunkei-nuri). The morning market by the Miyagawa river, brimming with flowers, fruit and local craft products, is extremely picturesque., the highlights of the visit are the morning market; the vivid floats of the Sanno Matsuri (April 14-15) and Hachiman Matsuri (October 9-10) festivals, on display at the Yatai Kaikan hall; and the charming historic district of Sanno-machi, with its wooden townhouses all lined up along exquisitely neat alleys, and its canals, traditionally used to wash laundry and quench fires, box lunch, walk to the station, at 13.30, express train transfer to Nagoya, accompanied by your guide, train change and departure to Tokyo by bullett train, arrival at 18:15, transfer to the hotel by public transport, free evening and night, accommodation ***OPTIONAL ACTIVITY*** (see extras)
