Taketa city was once a thriving samurai town supporting nearby Oka Castle. When the fortunes of the castle faded at the end of the Edo era, so went the town. But the current residents of Taketa take great pride in their history and have maintained and restored dozens of historic buildings, repurposing them for modern…
Tag: edo
Nagoya Castle
Nagoya city gets a bad rap as just a fly by (or glide by on the Shinkansen) between Tokyo and Kyoto or Osaka, but the truth is Nagoya is quite an interesting city if you take time to explore it. For the most part, tourists are most familiar with Nagoya Castle, an expansive castle of…
Hida Takayama
Hidden away in the mountains of Gifu Prefecture, Hida Takayama is probably most famous for its biannual Takayama Matsuri, which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from across Japan to see one of the most amazing parades of historic floats in the entire country. The next festival takes place in April 2017, giving you some…