When nine people in the office including this writer managed to get Cebu Pacific tickets to Nagoya, Japan, it was unimaginable. For all of us, this meant that we had to start preparing the paperwork for the visa.
There was one hitch though. The Nagoya trip was supposed to be from April 12 to 20, 2023. However, we got a call that the dates of our trip were moved from April 1 to 8, 2023, which happened to be Holy Week. I had second thoughts of pushing through but after much convincing, I could not let this opportunity go to waste. Another deciding factor was that we would be catching cherry blossoms (or simply sakura in Japan) in full bloom.
Thanks to two of our more seasoned travelers, we were able to get our visas roughly a month before our April 1 departure. The most frequent flyer in our group was the one who booked our accommodation in Nagoya, planned our itinerary, advised us on how much we should be bringing and even arranging our need to be connected while out and about and a one-day tour of Takayama and Shirakawa-go, a world heritage site.
An invaluable assistant to our trip was Klook. Known as Asia’s leading travel and experiences platform, Klook’s mobile app did not just help us book our desired tours, it even provided us with our much needed wi-fi connection.
Super early check in
Since our trip happened at the height of all the offloading controversy by airport immigration officials, we all agreed to be at Terminal 3 as early as 1 am for our 7:30 am trip on April 1. We had all our papers ready and we were ready to answer whatever questions the immigration officers had for us. The immigration was a breeze. We were off to have an early breakfast, get some sleep in the waiting lounge and wait for the Klook booth to open at 6 am to get hold of the wi-fi units.
After a four-hour flight, we arrived in Chubu Airport. We had a quick tour of the airport while lugging around our luggage, had lunch at the airport’s food court and proceeded to take the train to Nagoya proper.
Hotel Prizm, a new hotel, served as our home for the week. Most of the time we were out and about and probably the highlight of our stay was the one-day tour of Takayama and Shirakawa-go which was scheduled on April 3 and arranged through Klook. We left the hotel early as we were not familiar with the location of the bus stop. It was a short taxi ride from the hotel and we all managed to get there before the 8 am departure time.
Klook tour
Since we were a relatively big group, we were seated at the back of the bus.Takayama, which is almost a three-hour bus ride from Nagoya, is a city in the mountainous Hida region of Gifu Prefecture. Takayama gained importance as a source of high-quality timber and highly skilled carpenters during the feudal ages. For those important resources, the city was put under direct control of the shogun and was quite prosperous considering its remote mountain location.
We were told to bundle up because of its cooler weather and we were glad we did. While it is called a city, the designs of the buildings and houses are traditional. It was also recommended that we try the local cuisine. However, we preferred to do that at the morning market located near the riverbank. There were a lot of stalls that sold local produce, cooked food and souvenir items.
After a two-hour stopover, we proceeded to our next destination, Shirakawa-go. Shirakawa-go is one of the areas in Japan that’s known for experiencing particularly heavy snowfall. About two meters of snow can fall during winter. If it was cold in Takayama, it was even colder in Shirakawa-go.
World Heritage Site
Together with Gokayama in Nanto Toyama, it is one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. The area around Shirakawa was part of the traditional Hida Province. During the post-Meiji restoration casdastral reforms, the area was organized into Ono District, Gifu. The area was cut off from the rest of the world for a long period of time and the village learned to be self-sufficient.
It is a village worth visiting. You will see the roofs that are rather steep to allow the snow to fall off. The interior of the houses include a space that is used as a workroom for breeding silkworks. There is also a fireplace to prevent mold from forming on the hatch. There’s a museum made of several houses and also features shops, shrines, restaurants and so much more.
We managed to get back to Nagoya at around 6 pm and we decided to look for a place to have dinner while walking back to the hotel. We did find a nice place that served really good ramen and gyoza. After filling ourselves up, we tiredly walked back to the hotel to call it a night.
Shopping galore
The remainder of our stay was spent shopping and buying pasalubong. The team decided to go to Osaka the following day. I decided to stay behind because of my very poor knee and to meet my deadlines. Due to a miscommunication at the train station, the team decided to make use of their train pass and spend the night in Osaka and return to Nagoya the following day.
I did manage to meet my deadlines, do my laundry, and did a little shopping on my own. The rest arrived a little past midnight the following day and I heard that some of them decided to stay in Osaka and do more sightseeing and shopping while the rest decided to go to Kyoto.
April 6 was spent in Osu Shopping Street, the largest commercial shopping street in Nagoya. All kinds of shops can be found here which sell a products like kimonos, second hand stores, duty free stores for appliances, and trendy stores. Of course, there are also a lot of food stores. We went back to the hotel with many bags in our hands and ready to spend the second to the last day packing.
Outlet shopping
On our second to the last day, those who love to shop in our group went to Mitsui Outlet Park where they snagged great deals at Coach, Nike and Doc Martens. The problem now was how they would fit everything in their luggage. Because of all the walking at Osaka and Kyoto, two of the ladies spent the day resting at the hotel while two of us went to a Don Quijote outlet, the biggest discount store in Japan, near the hotel.
When it was time to go home, we decided to leave the hotel early for our 1:50 pm flight. We enjoyed a last cup of the hotel’s unlimited coffee and our last taste of their daily breakfast fare of sausages, soft bread rolls and croissant. We did some last-minute shopping at the Duty Free outlet. I enjoyed my last bowl of ramen in Japan.
If I had the opportunity again, I would love to go back to Japan. It’s clean, safe and has an efficient transportation system. As I personally experienced, going to Japan as a group makes the trip even doubly happy and worth all the hassle! When and where is our next trip, guys?
Photos by Bim Mauricio/BM
Image credits: Bim Mauricio/BM
