Shirakawa-go World Heritage Site

We hit the road first thing after breakfast this morning to make our way to our final destination - Komatsu City.

Our first stop on the way was an Ogimachi gassho style village which is the Shirakawa-go World Heritage Cultural site.  This site is know for its traditional thatched houses which were built without nails or pins.  Everything is held together with rope made from a local tree and is stronger enough to withstand the elements.  The village had beautiful flowers and small farms with streams and lots of lily pads and koi.  We spent time walking around the village taking in the sites.  What also makes this site interesting is that people still live in the houses and you could walk into their homes with permission.  Can you imagine actually being a part of a site like this.

From there we made our way to lunch at a local area and then headed to a Shogunate castle, Kanazawa Castle, from the feudal lord period.  This castle does not look like the typical European castle that we are used to seeing; however, it did have moat.  Many of the stones in the castle's outside wall had cravings of the lord's family seal so the family felt they were part of the castle and contributing to its success.  After walking around the castle grounds, we made our way to Kanazawa city and walked around the streets of the historic downtown area.  This area is famous for its gold leaf and pottery.


We then hit the road toward Komatsu City.  The scenery was gorgeous as usual. After getting settled into our rooms, we had a short orientation meeting to the facility and its rules.  We were amused by the bathing rules of no swimming or diving in the bathtub..after sitting in the bus so long, it was difficult to keep a straight face when hearing this.  There are also a lot of young Japanese children from a local sports association staying here as well and our kids are having a blast playing with them, even though they are much younger (probably 6 or 7 year olds).

It is now getting late and we are trying to settle the kids into bed.  We meet our "home stay" families tomorrow and spend the day with them, but we will be back here at night.   Special thanks to Katie for the videos!!