This morning we had a traditional japanese breakfast in the guest house.this comprised a variety of small portions of salad,fish,rice,miso soup,egg and bacon served with green tea. It was a feast. More tasty titbits were had as we visited the morning market where local delicacies can be sampled:pickled radish,ginger,wasabi,dried blueberries and soya tea. We took the opportunity to buy a fridge magnet and paper lantern! We took a local bus up to the folk village which is a collection of traditional houses moved from the surrounding area to form a museum. We couldn't do it justice as the thick snow lying on the paths made it impossible to enter some of the wooden houses. We still learnt about the silkworm cottage industries and the local passion for doll collecting. For lunch we went to a local noodle bar to fortify us for a walk around the upper part of town which houses many temples and shrines. We had a special local green tea with soya foam in a tea room in an old traditional shop accessed via a sliding door that we would never have known existed but for our tour leader's local knowledge. To finish our sightseeing we went to the old government building from the 17th century that is the only one existing in japan now from that era which also has one of the largest rice stores in the country. A low level building with hundreds of sliding panel doors.
For our evening meal we went to a Japanese bar-b-q restaurant where we ate the local Hida beef cooked at our table . It is similar to Kobe beef, it has a very marbled look and tastes divine. As we left it had started raining and it is set to last until tomorrow but we have another train journey down to the coastal region so not really a problem.