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Big Cities and Little 'uns
I came to this place with one of my worst plans, but it totally worked out! Planning for this Japan trip was very difficult because I was going to many remote towns that a) do not take online booking b) where I stay in small hotels where no one speaks English. This makes getting reservations directly almost impossible! I tried to get reservations via the bilingual concierge at the Ritz-Carlton in Tokyo, and even though he was very resourceful, he said it was 100% booked. But I decided to go anyway and knock on every door of every ryokan until I found a room. I knew it would be hard because nobody speaks English in these places. Anyway, after I knocked on the door of ryokan #4 I finally found a room! Even better, they had private baths fed by all the steaming water from the nearby hot springs. It was incredible to be soaking in steaming hot mineral water while watching snow fall all around me. Read more: https://www.StuckInCustoms.com
On the way up to Shirakawa-go, I stopped for two nights in Takayama. The first night I stayed in a ryokan that was a bit on the outskirts. It was a great time, but I was actually a little tired from all the travel so I just stayed in. The next day I found a normal hotel by the bus station in Takayama so I could spend more time exploring the old town. There are a few of these sorts of places in modern Japan where they have kept one section of the city exactly like it was hundreds of years ago. Read more: https://www.StuckInCustoms.com
