My biggest disappointment in Japan : Takayama

Posted by Vivi on 2011/09/17 · Leave a Comment

Takayama is probably fantastic if you don’t go during the high season, and while we wandered in the streets, we really enjoyed the traditional houses. Takayama is like stepping in the past, if you forget the cars and wires, and because of this, it attracts a LOT of tourists.

I think I already said that I dislike Kyoto, the old capital of Japan, mainly because I feel like I am back home, seeing foreigners everywhere, and having to deal with loud and obnoxious tourists (the kind that would throw a soda can on the floor inside a zen garden… I bet you all saw someone like that once).

Takayama is prettier than Kyoto ; its History is less interesting, though. Sadly, the masses of tourists make it look like Disneyland.

Takayama was also the only place in Japan where Japanese people have been rude to me, and I had a really bad experience in a restaurant where the cute waiter forgot my food and we got kicked out because we had stayed too long waiting for the food he forgot. I was so pissed off at that point that I didn’t even try to say “where is my food, then ?” (throwing people out is normal in Japan, I know that, but there is a polite way to do it, and that’s not what happened there).

I caught the travel fatigue in Takayama (when you just want to lay down and relax and NOT visit anything for a few days), probably increased by all this.

But… would I go back ?

Yes. I would go in the middle of January, probably alone or with someone who knows the region. I would enjoy the scenery a lot more, I know it !