The best destinations for snow hunters in Japan

Winter in Japan is also a wonderful opportunity to venture out beyond the urban sprawl and experience the country, its customs, and cuisine like a local. Below are the best destinations for who want to explore Japan in winter, especially, for the snow hunters.

Abashiri Drift Ice, Hokkaido

Head right up north to the Sea of Okhotsk along the coast of Hokkaido, and you would be forgiven for thinking that you are in fact in the middle of the Antarctic. Here massive plates of drift ice known as ryuhyo float atop the ocean surface.

Drift ice season may not be Japan’s most well-known winter vacation opportunity, but it is definitely one of the country’s more unique experiences. Emerging in around mid-January and gone by March, there is a little time to check it out if you do want to see it in action. Occasionally from land you can spot drift ice floating along the coast, but to really explore the area at its peak, it is recommended you hop aboard one of the Aurora Sightseeing Boats. The tour boats depart from Abashiri Port in Hokkaido’s northeastern corner a couple of times daily, and a tour costs around 3,000 yen (£20) per person.

Otaru, Hokkaido

When it comes to winter in Japan, the heaviest snow falls in Hokkaido, where you can enjoy the annual Sapporo Snow Festival. But, take a 45 minute train ride, and you will be whisked away to the port city of Otaru, a city pivotal to the development of Japan’s northernmost island. Brick warehouses and Victorian style street lamps line Otaru Canal, giving it a distinctly European feel. Visit at night and be charmed by Otaru’s Snow Light Path, an event held in February where the streets of Otaru are decorated with snowmen and candlelight.

Shirakawa-go, Gifu

Looking like an idyllic painting come to life, Shirakawa-go is a small traditional village in the heart of Gifu that is stunning year-round. Nonetheless, winter is when it is at its most beautiful. The area is best known for being the home of Japan’s unique ‘gasshou’ houses, a style of old-world traditional Japanese architecture.

Some of the houses here are over 250 years old. The name ‘gasshou’ translates to ‘praying hands’ in English. It was so named because their sharply steep roofs clasped together resemble the two hands of the Buddha in prayer.

See more: 10 best places to go skiing in Japan

Zao Snow Monsters

The best place to see snow monsters is at Zao Onsen, a well-known hot spring and ski resort in the mountains of Yamagata Prefecture. These "monsters" are formed by heavy snow deposited on trees and frozen into shape by chilling winds. The Snow Monsters form around the peak of the Zao Ski Resort and are usually most spectacular around mid-February.

Ouchi Juku, Fukushima

Walk in the footsteps of samurai in the village of Ouchi Juku, a former post town on Aizu-Nishi Kaido that which connected Aizu, Fukushima with Nikko, Tochigi during the Edo Period. Ouchi-juku feels like a living museum, as the town has been restored to its former glory. Traditional thatched buildings, a trademark of post towns, line the unpaved main street, where you will find plenty of quaint shops, restaurants, and Japanese inns.

Warm up with a local specialty - fish grilled at an iriori, or sunken hearth - then head to Ouchi-juku Town Pavilion to explore more of this historic village.

Source Internet

Best specialities you have to try when visiting Beijing

Beijing has so many exceptional dishes and snacks that first-time travelers may not know where to start. To cut through the confusion, we present the must-try local favourites.

Peking Roast Duck at Quanjude

The three things that everyone who comes to Beijing must do: Eat Peking roast duck; climb the Great Wall; and visit the Panjiayuan Antique Market.

Check out Quanjude. Founded in 1864, the restaurant inherited its representational “roast duck in stove” from the imperial court, priced from 238 RMB yuan (36 USD), according to the duck’s quality. Quanjude has nearly 20 locations all over Beijing.

Stewed Liver at the Tianxing Restaurant

Beijingers have a thing for dishes made from intestines. Their famous dishes of pig intestines include luzhu huoshao, baodu and stewed liver. Stewed Pig Liver and Fried Pig Lungs have been around since the Song Dynasty. The stewed pig livers were served in soup thickened with starch afterwards. You can still get the original Huixian taste at the Tianxing Restaurant,.

Xiao Diao Li Tang (Old Beijing Pear Drink)

After having greasy roast duck, how about a refreshing Old Beijing drink? This drink boiled from sweet pears and added edible white fungus, crystal rock sugar, green plums and Chinese Wolfberries is a nutritious drink that is supposed to be good for your throat and lungs. You can try the drink at most of the Beijing cuisine restaurants like Juqi and Xiaodiaolitang, where the drink is served in vintage-style thermos flasks, mostly used in the 1960s.

Qianlong Cabbage

Here’s a must-try dish for veggies. Named after the Qianlong Emperor in the Qing Dynasty, legend has it that the dish was ordered by the emperor at a small, nondescript restaurant during his tour outside of the imperial palaces in disguise and was spoken highly of by him. Though made of cabbage leaves with sesame sauce, vinegar, and honey (and sometimes with black sesame seeds atop the dish), it has been one of the most famous traditional dishes of Beijing and can be found in most of the Beijing cuisine restaurants today.

Zhajiangmian at Hai Wan Ju

Beijing is known for its fried sauce noodles, also known as noodles with soybean paste. It is a dish of thick wheat noodles mixed with sauce made by simmering stir-fried ground pork or beef with salty soybean paste. All locals know Hai Wan Ju has the best fried sauce noodles — you will not only eat the noodles but experience the ritual. It is served in a giant bowl with sauce and garnish, like shredded cucumbers and soya beans, each put in a small plate and laid around the bowl. Compared with this, the DIY burgers they offer are nothing.

The Beijing Mutton Hotpot at Jubaoyuan

If you have taken a stroll in the hutongs in winter, you may have noticed the copper giving off steam in front of some restaurants. Those are the pots that the traditional Beijing Mutton Hotpot uses. If there’s one mutton hotpot restaurant you should go, it must be the Jubaoyuan Restaurant on Niujie. Apart from the top-quality mutton slices, it also offers a limited supply of sesame seed buns. The two Jubaoyuan restaurants on Niujie always have a long queue during rush hour, so you have to make reservations in advance.

See more: Best dimsum restaurants in Beijing

Source: Internet

Top things to do in Takayama, Japan

Takayama is is filled with interesting sights. It is also the gateway to the hiking paradise of the Japan Alps and Shirakawa-go, a Unesco-listed thatch-roof village. Here is the list of attractions in and around Takayama.

Sanmachi Street

Sanmachi Street is where you will probably head first. This is the Takayama Old Town and definitely the most popular place to visit in Takayama thanks to the street being lined with Traditional Wooden Buildings that have been very well-preserved.

The best time to visit Sanmachi Street is in the morning when it is quieter, in the morning you can really take in the beauty of the buildings. With that being said, many of the shops and cafes are closed early in the morning not seeming to open until about 10:00 am and seeing these open, tasting the food they have to offer and seeing the buzz of Sanmachi Street, later on, is also very good. If you want to do some shopping in Takayama for local and traditional Japanese products, this is where to go.

Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall

Held annually in the spring on April 14 and 15 and in the autumn on October 9 and 10, the Takayama Matsuri festival is one of the great festivals of Japan. During the festival, 11 lavishly decorated floats are pulled through the town. Some of the floats have small stages on which intricate marionettes are made to dance by incredibly complicated arrangements of strings manipulated by expert puppeteers.

Of course, most people are not lucky enough to visit when the festival is being held. But, do not despair, you can check out some of the floats and see videos of the festival at the fine Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition hall. This attraction is easily paired with the nearby Sakayama Hachimangu Shrine.

Shiroyama Park

If you want to get into nature within a 5-minute walk from the busy street of Sanmachi head into Shiroyama Park.

This was perhaps my favourite part of the city. There are many Temples in the park and many footpaths to take. It was also so quiet up here in the park even on a busy Saturday in town so you can walk and hike here.

Hida no Sato (Hida Minzoku Mura Folk Village)

About 2km west of Takayama Station is Hida no Sato, a collection of traditional thatch-roof houses taken from around central Japan and carefully reconstructed here. The houses are spread around park with a central pond. You can enter many of the houses and marvel at the beams and construction techniques. Hida no Sato is too far from the station to walk. A taxi from the station will cost around ¥1,100. Or, you can take the “Sarubobo” bus that leaves from in front of the station.

Street Food

The street food of Takayama is mainly along Sanmachi Street and there are quite a few things on offer from Ice Cream, Mochi, Dango, Rice Crackers to Buns, Sushi, Sushi with Hida Beef.

If you do want to go for a good meal in Takayama, Sanmachi Street is a great place to eat in Takayama as not only does it have Street Food it also has some nice Cafes and Restaurants too.

See more: Top 5 popular Christmas dishes in Japan

Source Internet