Sentos & Sake – Cultural Experiences in Takayama

We arrived in Takayama around midday on Thursday. Our first cultural experience of our two days in Takayama was our AirBnB. We were staying in a traditional Japanese style home with a man named Masa. It was easy to find his home because he had a sign hanging outside the sliding door to his house that said, “Welcome Mr. Chris”. People are so welcoming here! 

We opened the door and took off our shoes, there were slippers waiting for us to use around his home. Masa showed us upstairs where another sliding door opened up to our room. The room was pretty much empty except for two mattresses on the ground with blankets and pillows. This was a typical Japanese style room. There was a large bamboo mat tacked to the floor and the room was divided in two by a sliding door. Masa explained that there was no key for us to use to the house as he never locked the front door. A strange concept to us, but since we didn’t get robbed, it is even more proof that Japan is a safe country.

We were in a hurry to drop off our bags and head over to the bus station to go to Shirakawa-go. Shirakawa-go is a UNESCO World Heritage site and only an hour away by bus from Takayama. It is a scenic village nestled in the mountains with many thatched (grass) roof homes. We originally planned to go here on Day 2, but a tourist brochure I picked up from the train station led me to believe that the Doburoku Festival was on its last day. Shortly after arriving in Shirkawa-go we quickly realized that the festival ended a few days earlier. We were still able to visit the festival museum and learned about the special sake that is dedicated to the god of the shrine. The museum was kind of an obstacle we had to go through in order to try the sake…Challenge accepted. The sacred “cloudy” sake is unrefined sake that is thick and slightly sweet and sour. The Doburoku sake can only be enjoyed at the shrine, naturally we were happy to try some at the museum.

The sun had gone down and it was about 6pm when we got off the bus back in Takayama. It turns out Takayama is a sleepy town and there are few bars and restaraunts open late. We hopped into the Yui Japanese Pub, which has a very friendly owner/bartender. We tried hot sake and sake that was served in a wooden box or “Masu”. The overflowed pour into the Masu represents generosity and success of the shop owner. This tradition dates back to the Edo period of Japan. 

The bar owner showed us the proper technique to drink the sake. Sip from a corner of the wooden box over the plate it is served on. After you finish the sake in the cup, pour the overflowed sake back into the box and drink what’s left. Delicious!

Since we weren’t exceptionally hungry and we seemed to continue to eat meals from 7-11, this was our next stop after the bar. We grabbed something to eat, though nothing topped the Hida Beef Buns that we had for lunch in Shirakawa-go. Hida Beef is a type of meat specific to the Takayama region. It’s extremely tender and tasty. We relaxed for a bit and then decided to use the free sento passes that Masa had given us when we checked in to the AirBnB. Time for a little Japanese culture shock.

A sento is a public bath house and similar to onsens, a staple in Japanese culture. The main difference between the two are that onsens are found in areas with natural hot springs and volcanic activity. A sento does not have naturally heated water, but the effect is the same. Japanese prefer structure and order, so it was a risk to use a local sento without having the knowledge on what to expect when we walked through the doors. Our lack of knowledge made for a few awkward moments, but thankfully the Japanese are friendly and willing to help foreigners. We made it through our sento experience and learned a few things along the way. 

Lessons Learned from a Japanese Sento:

-First ensure you walk through the correct door, men and women have separate areas and probably the biggest error you can make is walking in the wrong side of a sento! 

-Bathing suits are not allowed. This is a bath house not a hot tub. (I may have foolishly packed a suit in my bag). Note: It is fully nude! Yes, you read that correctly, but don’t be quick to dismiss it.

-Bring a shower caddy with your shower supplies, one large towel, and a small towel is also recommended. Chris recommends washing the small towel with cold water and wrapping it around your neck or placing it on your face to keep you from overheating. His face looked like a tomato when he met me back in the lobby. Make sure you’re hydrated!

-You are expected to shower and completely clean yourself before entering one of the tubs. This means no soap or shampoo left on you at all. 

-The shower heads are low and this is not so you awkwardly stand and try to take a limbo style shower, there are plastic seats and buckets stacked in the middle of the room. You are supposed to sit on the seats and use the buckets to pour water on yourself. 

-There are three tubs with different water temperatures; note that hot is exceptionally hot. 

-Apparently, the men’s side had a sauna, which hey why didn’t the women’s side have a sauna? Clearly a double standard. Just saying.

-Once you are done bathing, there are hair dryers and other products that you can use in the locker room before you leave. 

Day 2

With the start of Day 2, we were ready for more Japanese culture. This time in the form of sake and a local farmer’s market, the Miyagawa Market. 

Travel Tip – Go to the market hungry. Almost all of the shops have samples, notably the shop with the vanilla chestnuts. We hadn’t eaten breakfast yet and we left the market pretty full!

Our next stop was Old Town in Takayama. Chris informed me to look out for a large wooden ball hanging above the door. This was a symbol to let you know where the sake breweries are located. 

As we walked through Old Town we found two breweries right across the street from each other. In Sake Brewery #1, we tried about three different sakes. The winner was a lemon-flavored sake that was refreshing like lemonade. Across the street at Sake Brewery #2, there was a refrigerator set up with 12 bottles of sake for sampling. Their tasting involved purchasing a small sake glass for 200 yen and then you could try each sake once. What a deal…even though we had just bought the same sake cups in Kanazawa but hey now we have a full set! Trying all 12 sakes turned out to be quite a feat! I tried 11 sakes and couldn’t muster up the strength to try the last bottle. Suddenly my less than hearty breakfast of samples at the morning market didn’t seem like such a good idea. 

We walked across town to a restaurant that Chris had picked out for lunch that served local specialities like Hida Beef and Takayama craft beer. Chris got the Hida Beef over rice with vegetables and I got buckwheat noodles. 

After eating a delicious lunch, the morning sake was starting to wear off and we were ready to explore more of Takayama. A few more shrines and Torii gates later, somehow we found ourselves at another sake brewery. What a shocker. A pattern was starting to develop for our day. Takayama is a smaller town and we realized that we had walked most of the town several times, this made me feel okay to suggest an afternoon nap. Visiting sake breweries can be exhausting! 

Our final cultural experience in Takayama was waking up to the ‘5pm Chimes’. The chimes are an instrumental version of a popular children’s song. After a quick Google search, I learned that many towns in Japan have a speaker system for safety announcements. Updates regarding weather such as earthquakes and tsunamis are shared using this speaker system. The system sounds the ‘5pm Chime’ daily as a sort of test to make sure it is working and it is a reminder to children that they need to head home before it gets dark. What a great idea, it turns out the chimes also work to wake up travelers that take naps because they can’t handle too many sake breweries! 

We had an awesome two days exploring and experiencing more Japanese culture. We are now on our way to Hiroshima to continue to learn about the history of Japan. We are also preparing for Typhoon Lan that is expected to hit Japan tomorrow. Don’t worry we will put our exploring on hold until the weather is safe to travel again. More updates soon! 

We spent two-weeks traveling across Japan. Check out our blog posts on other stops in our itinerary: Hakone, Nikko, Nara, and Kanazawa.