Day 26 (August 10): Hidafurukawa (飛騨古川） to Shirakawa （白川村） or "Gassho admired in the rain"）

Day 26: Tuesday, August 10, 2010. Hidafurukawa to Shirakawa

4:44 pm: To summarize the day so far: little sleep, flat tire, rear brakes apparently out, second flat tire minutes later, 2 hours of pushing bicycle up to the Amo Pass only to meet a downpour, put on raincoat to fight a surprising chill, arrive in gassho-famous Shirakawa. Panic over finding everything manshitsu ("no vacancy")quickly gives way to shikata-ga-nai ("There's nothing to be done about it.") and hunt for some local specialty begins.


While stuffing myself with a tofu steak and miso-katsu tei-shoku ("meal") it occurred to me that it might be part of the Tourist Information girl's job to guide visitors to certain classes of accommodation. Perhaps there might actually be something available at a small minshiku. Accordingly, I asked the woman at the register (The restaurant was called "Shiraogi".) and, to make a long story short, she dropped me off at a minshiku in Hirase about 15 km south of Shirakawa. She told me to leave the bike in front of her restaurant in the shelter of the place overnight.

It made the flat tires and the trudge up a deja vue filled Route 360 things of the past. Kanazawa tomorrow.

January 16, 2011: This village was filled with gassho, the famous old farmhouses with thatched roofs. I arrived here in a drizzle and sought shelter in a coffee shop. The one street was filled with French and Italian tourists. I decided that I would have a better chance of getting into a restaurant if I changed into dry clothes and, to remain in that condition and give myself a greater air of respectability, I purchased a vinyl umbrella as well. I ate at the restaurant across the car park as related above. I was surprised that nearly all the businesses had closed by 6. The lady who ran the restaurant called the hotel in Hirase and dropped me off at the door. What can I say? How can I repay her kindness? The only way, an indirect way at that, is to extend that same kindness to strangers I encounter.

BTW, the entry for Day 27, August 11 contains a little more about the ride from Hidafurukawa to Shirakawa!