By Bill Mirrielees
I really enjoy visiting and sightseeing in Japan. I speak very little Japanese but I have never had any reservations about striking out on my own to travel this beautiful country. One of my most enjoyable trips was when I visited Matsumoto. Then I went over the Japan Alps via the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpen Route. We saw Kurobe dam, took calbe cars, and crossed over Tateyama by bus. That night, stayed at the hot springs resort of Unazuki. It was in September and there was still snow on Tateyama. At Unazuki, the men's hotspring was outside next to the ryokan. As I was relaxing in the bath, a train passed by overhead. I don't know if anyone could see me, I hope for I must have been a sight.
From there my wife and I went to the town of Takayama where we spent several days enjoying the old town. We really enjoyed the Hida Minzoku Mura. These are old farm houses (gassho). At Takayama we stayed at a nice minshuku. The town with some of the old 81th century merchant houses was a real change from Kyoto or Tokyo. I feel foreign tourist need to get away from Tokyo and see this part of the country.
We finally went to Kanazawa for one day and then headed to Sapporo via sleeper train along the Japan Sea.
Now, I planned this trip on my own through research and learning how to read the Japanese Train Schedules using a bilingual atlas of Japan. Did a lot of research prior to my visit. As I said you don't need to use tours but should make use of such organizations such as Japan-Guide.com and the Japanese National Tourist Organization. Also do a little research on the history of Japan find a couple of good guide books.
The nicest thing about touring in Japan is that the people are really helpful. You really experience that hospitality even more when you visit the more remote areas. On my next visit, I want to visit Matsue, the home of Lafacardio Hearn, the great American writer who tried to write about the Japanese culture and spirit.
