Another restless nights sleep, not from the jet lag this time, as our bodies finally seem to have joined us in the right time zone (yay) but from sleeping on the floor in the ryokan. We did, of course, have mattresses and so weren't literally on the floor. The mattresses were a tad on the thin side but were surprisingly comfy. I just think that the change of location, and the different level of ‘comfy’ made for broken sleep.

‘Shared facilities’ takes on a whole new meaning in a ryokan with communal showering and naked bathing in the onsen (hot spring)….garments of any kind are not allowed….it’s one way to get to know your travel companions better! Mark has a bit of a head cold and a chest infection and so is making the most of the onsen….although he currently can't decide if it’s sake or the scolding hot spring water that’s making him feel better! Luckily Mark was allowed in the onsen, as it was private, but if we'd gone to a public one he wouldn't have been allowed in as tattoos are a no go as they're associated with the Japanese mafia. What with Mark’s kimono, dark hair, brown eyes and fluent use of the Japanese dialects….he'd never have passed for a foreigner….not to mention that he looks too much like a ninja anyway.

We had a traditional breakfast which included miso soup, rice, fried egg, fish sprinkles for the rice, pickled cucumber, honeyed new potatoes, tofu in soy sauce, preserved fish, Yakut and green tea….to name but a few of the things that appeared on the tray…. Not a selection that we'd necessarily throw together ourselves…but it strangely works.

Today was a free day to explore Takayama. Straight after breakfast we headed out for coffee, green tea just doesn't cut it for us in the morning. Bought coffees from a friendly lady who talked us through a photo book of the best sights to see in Takayama while waiting for the coffee to brew, and then knocked 200 yen off the bill as we wanted a take out.

Took the bus to the Hida Folk Village, an area where traditional houses from around the Hida region have been moved to preserve the heritage. Spent a few hours wandering about the different types of houses and learning about the different trades (wood cutting/fabric and silk production). The roofs on the houses were built at quite a steep incline (a bit like Austrian alps houses) to withstand the weight of 2m of snow. Great selection of sledges used to retrieve wood from the Japanese alps. One of the hand pulled sleighs weighed 50kg and the loggers had to carry one up into the alps at the start of the season on their backs….and I thought my hand bag was a bit heavy! The worst time for the Hida people was 1959 – 1960 when the introduction of the TV, fridge and washing machine ended their traditional way of life. No one wanted to wash thick cotton clothes any more, they didn't need to travel to towns to trade and catch up on the news and food could be preserved for longer. What would have happened if they were still about when e-mail and Wikipedia arrived?

Bought a sword at the local gift shop. A wooden sword, about a a foot and a half long, to finish off Mark's samurai ensemble for dinner. Everyone was jealous.

From Hida back to town, where the mission was on to buy local sake. Wandered about and took in a number of torii and temples before deciding to go to the local karakuri museum – a museum housing mechanised puppets and the largest selection of Japanese masks in the country or dare I say it, the world.

Museum visit included a puppet show. Two person set up with a chap operating the puppets and a lady doing the introductions in Japanese and occasionally ending a 3 minute Japanese dialog by looking directly at us and saying “it's a puppet” or “it's quite difficult” to which we would nod knowingly given we were clearly very famous English puppeteers on a world tour of all things puppetry. Puppet show turned out to be interactive and as we were the only westerners we ended up being presented with a ‘happy’ sign written by a puppet and taking part in a tea ceremony with another puppet….not your average afternoon.

Still chuckling from the puppet show experience we headed back to the ryokan to partake in an onsen before dinner. Jackie (Rob & Jackie are from Ashby and like M&S gluten free bread. Rob also likes cooking sashimi but doesn't like miso soup) tried to crash the men's bath. 2nd time in as many days. Kimonos on for dinner….although not everyone from the group put theirs on….spoil sports. Dinner conversation revolved around there being no variation in Japanese eye colour (everyone has brown eyes), the differences between a samurai and a ninja, inspirations for Japanese horror and the the exact methods used to commit hari kari….Ironic given that Mark had to perform seppuko (hari kari) for wearing his slippers into the dining room….seems extreme following Nick’s faux pas with the toilet slippers in the bar the night before…

After dinner, kimonos off, normal clothes on, and we headed out for a night cap at the Red Hill Pub. Mark sampled a Japanese whisky, pretty good apparently, I went for a G&T and this time it came with tonic (makes a change from the lemonade or soda water of previous evenings).

Wifi crashed so couldn't watch scary Japanese movie………….

Watching the news we saw that an earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.2, struck near Hiroshima today….we were only there two days ago....