Earlier in the year we went on a 5-day trip to central Japan. Due to our last-minute decision on the trip with virtually no time for making any sensible planning of the itinerary, we opted to join a guided group tour.
Group tours have their shares of benefits and shortcomings. They can save hours of planning, browsing through guide books and checking for tips on travel blogs, but the freedom to select places of your interest and the liberty of travelling at your own pace are forgone. We had gone on trips with the same tour company to Japan twice before --- again last-minute arrangements like this time. So at least we were sure that all the transport, hotels and meals would be nicely arranged.
It turned out that there were a number of nice surprises in this trip --- places which we would have missed in all likelihood had we traveled on our own. One of such places was Yunokuni No Mori, which is a traditional handicraft themed model village located near Kaga Onsen in the Ishikawa Prefecture (
http://www.yunokuni.jp/mori/en/). The village occupies a tranquil and spacious forest site. It comprises of numerous traditional Japanese houses, each featuring a different traditional art. such as paper-making, glassworks, tea ceremony and pottery. Visitors have the option of
joining a class (of about half an hour to one hour duration) at any of the houses for a hands-on experience. What I found most
interesting was that many local Japanese families with small children or young
couples joint the classes together. This is surely an
excellent way to spend family time.
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| Echizen House --- Hand clay, porcelain panel, and bamboo crafts |
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| Wishes written on bamboo |
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| Family time at the hand clay workshop. |
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| Glassworks House |
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| House for making Japanese paper |
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| Making Japanese washi paper |
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| Fusion of cultures |
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| Traditional Cake House |
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| Tea Ceremony House |
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| Udon Restaurant, "Jindaiko" |
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