Japan 7: A little bit of shopping, traveling, and the outside of a castle

I spent this morning browsing the little shops in old town Takayama.  It rained this morning and it continued throughout the day.  I've been lucky enough not to experience much rain so far on this trip, but the next few days all seem to be rainy according to the predictions.  Anyhow, by the time I was done looking in old town, I had to wait for the next bus, which wouldn't arrive until 12:50 pm.  While walking around, I saw some street barriers with the anime One Piece on the ends.  Since Miles has watched this show on occasion, I took a picture.



The bus ride was a little over two hours.  There was a British fellow and a Canadian girl on the bus.  The bus was mostly empty, which was great.  I spoke with the guy about the BBC, politics, and a bit of Phish.  Then, I listened to a podcast about Japanese history while watching the view of the mountains with fog dispersed throughout.



When I arrived in Matsumoto, the next train to my final destination, Narai, was in a little under an hour.  After that, the next train wouldn't be for another two hours.  I put my bags in a coin locker.  Matsumoto is a very modern city, albeit one with a castle in the middle of it.  I speed walked over to the castle, took a few photos, ran into a dead end over a bridge that Google Maps led me to, and then speed walked back to the station.



I hadn't eaten since around breakfast time, and wanted to grab a snack.  Any food in the food court at the station would have taken at least 15 minutes, and I did not have the time to spare.  I grabbed a box of cookies, even though there was not much of an indication of what kind of cookie it was.  I am finding this to be the case with a lot of the foods in the little kiosks.  Each single cookie was individually wrapped.  For a country that seems so interested in keeping pollution and waste to a minimum, I do not understand this practice.



When I arrived in Narai, it was a little past 5:30.  Nearly every shop was closed.  I walked to the ryokan, taking pictures along the way.



This ryokan is a lot bigger than the previous ones.  Two separate areas, with two floors each, separated by a garden and walkway.  Food was served at tables.  There were English speakers but I was put with one woman who spoke no English.  We communicated mostly with google translate.  The room requires me to pull out the mattresses myself and had no air conditioning again.  I'm used to the food that tastes either decent or neutral, but I am tiring of it to be honest.  I much rather be able to choose when, where, and what I eat.  In these small towns, however, there are no hotels.