Today we decided to have a a short trip on the train up the coast and
avoid having to use the car. So after an in room breakfast we took the tram to
the station and purchased two ticket to a place called Himi which required a
train change at Takaoka.
We arrived around 12.30 and walked along the sea front to see if their
were any restaurants that we could use, as all signs were in the local lingo,
but no luck at all.
The town is very quiet, or so we thought, but eventually we found a 24 hour supermarket where we purchased some
salad and sandwiches followed shortly by an ice cream and the lunch went down
quite well. Whilst we were sitting roadside we espied and lady mid twenties
trying to get directions from a local shopkeeper, there was a mixture of
Japanese and English but anyway we said hello and it appeared she was Polish
and travelling in japan and was in in Himi for the festival!!!, what festival
we asked and she said a Hair festival?
It turned out to be the following festival
Marumage Matsuri まるまげ祭り
“(April 17) - A festival
for young unmarried women to pray for a happy marriage. Every April around 40
young women from around Japan gather to dress up in geisha garb with a slight
twist. The marumage coiffure was once a longstanding symbol of the married
woman, and only married women were permitted to coif their hair that way.
Geisha, in the hope they could one day wear it permanently, borrowed it for a
single day to pray for happy marriages at the local shrine, and the tradition
remains to this day. On the day of the festival girls spend hours getting
dressed and primped, then parade through the street on the way to the shrine.”
So we found the festival and took some photos of the young
girls in their kimonos and the the girls hair is like that of a Geisha Girl
which can take hours to prepare.. This added a nice bit to this journey today.
We came across an Italian Restaurant that was closed, but
then most restaurants don’t open here until around six pm unlike Tokyo where
they stay open all day. So later we went back and had a light but enjoyable and
expensive meal but it was worth it for a change.
Just thought I would mention that the driving standard
in this country is extremely high and makes the New Zealanders look like
amateurs. No tailgaitiong or cutting you off , this place drivers have respect
for each
