TAKAYAMA, HIDA, TAKAOKA, NANAO AND NANTO… we made our way on our journey through central Japan to find the Hietsuno UNESCO 5 huge festivals here in Japan!

Today is our 5th and I have brought you back here to Toyama to finish our journey.

The city of Nanto is actually known for its silk weaving, and I’m checking out a spot where you can browse, learn and try a hands on work shop to experience it for yourself.

Here’s something you unique, a streetscape with different storehouses preserved with this old style construction of stone and wood. The mixture of these two construction elements is really fascinating. They even have traditional roof tiling on the different parts as well. This is such an interesting street!

So this street is really wide, a lot wider than most streets I’ve seen in Japan. This is actually where the hikiyama floats will come as they make their way to the temple. They line up, make a big U-turn and parade around the city …

…no, that was not the hikiyama! That was not the festival float, that was a city bus. This is a usual, pretty busy city street, but during the festival time you can imagine it would be filled with people coming to see the festival!

I got it down this far!

One of the really fun things about sake is not just tasting it, but tasting the different ways the flavor changes based on the heat, or what you’re drinking out of.

For example with these two, they’re both chilled but one is in a glass and one is in the cypress cup I just made myself. Ooo this fresh, wood, earthy smell hits your nose first.. and its floral, too! This is dangerous! They’re both delicious but drinking it out of the guinomi cup makes it even easier to drink because the contrast of the fragrance makes the taste more mellow. Its smooth!

So this temple is called Zuisenji. As you can see on the very prominently displayed English description, which I really appreciate, it tells a story of how this temple was first built in 1390, and then the main hall through the gate here is the 4th biggest wooden building in Japan. About 400 years later the building burnt down so they had different wood craftsmen come and rebuild it, and add a lot more of the wood carving elements that make it so iconic and beautiful. It really speaks to the history of Inami town and the entire reason of why the area is so bent on beautiful carvings and sculptures that you can see throughout the streets and shops as well.

Alright, welcome to our last and final stop! One of the most picturesques spots… that you may actually recognize!

Alright it is time for a feast! I am at Matsuya getting ready to eat everything my heart ever desired. We have soba, which can be hot or chilled. IM having chilled because it’s a little hot today but we also have tempura, local ingredients, some simmered foods, pickled foods, tofu… Fresh fruit as a dessert! OK, lets eat!

SO a pro tip for all you veggie lovers out there. If you’re vegetarian or even vegan specifically you can eat here at Matsuya. If you’re vegan, call ahead and let them know you’re vegan so they don’t use katsuo, bonito flakes, in the soba broth. They’ll switch it to kombu, to kelp only. Then everything else is vegetables and nothing is sneaking in the broth! They’ve got you cheers! So this warabi here is a mountain vegetable you can get righttt there. Americans will know warabi from bibimbap, but right now its pickled and tastes like a vlassic dill pickle. So if you have a big craving for pickles… this is it!!

Everything tastes really healthy! But not the kind of healthy where you still want to sneak a burger later. This is so satisfingly good. The pickles taste really crisp and fresh like they were just made an hour ago. Its perfect! Get in here! Have a bite! AHhh!

So before I get back in there let me share a couple tips to help make your visit a easier if you‘re following my route. In my case I paid to get into each of the 5 festival halls at each city to learn more about the city, get a guide, and more. You can get a huge discount if you get the discounted ticket that lets you see all 5 festival halls in a single package. This will take you through Gifu, Toyama and Ishikawa Prefectures giving you access to a lot of known destinations and also historic, hidden gems you wont want to miss.

I picked up this flyer but you probably can’t read it so I’ll leave a link with all the information if you want to get the ticket and travel even smarter than I do! I hope to visit again soon when the festivals are back up and running. Let’s hope! Cross your fingers!

AND if you don’t have a car, there is a bus! I heard there is a bus that will take you around. I’ll leave the link below so you can easily follow my journey. So thank you to everyone who commented below with answers to my quiz questions along the way and a shoutout to everyone online who decided to come along with me, commenting which mask I should buy, what things to buy and souvenirs.. and more! So I am going to hit the road and I’ll see you in my next video! Bye!!!