My friends and I visited Hida Takayama, which is the neighboring city of Matsumoto and popular sightseeing place for foreigners. There are four buses from Matsumoto to Takayama every day. It took two hours and twenty minutes to Takayama. The mountain roads were very windy and quite snaky, which made me feel sick, but I was impressed because the roads people made exist in such high mountains.
When we got to Takayama, the town was crawling with tourists. The most interesting spot for me was the traditional private houses. The houses didn’t fail to meet my expectations. There were also throngs of people in the street near the houses. They sell lovely items and I bought a bag made with kimono cloth.

Takayama is well-known for good beef. It was tasty. Croquettes which have some beef inside are also popular. The most beautiful one among the traditional private houses was a Japanese restaurant which offers Hida beef with soy bean paste in a course meal.
We visit the Jinja-mae Morning Markets, where I saw unique handmade dolls called sarubobo, 100% apple juice, ornaments made with many red peppers, among other things.
Then we walked to the Takayama Festival Exhibition Hall. The floats at the Festival Float Exhibition Hall are used twice a year to celebrate Takayama Festival. One of the festivals for the Takayama Festival in spring which is the cherry blossom season. The other time is in autumn which is fall foliage season. There are 23 carriages called yatai decorated for Takayama Festival. The streets are lined with the carriages and the carriages parade the streets in the festival. The Hall exhibits four carriages in rotation because they would like to show the carriages all year ’round.
People in the old days had no amusement, so the Takayama festival must have given them great pleasure. I was moved because the festival still exists and attracts many people living in Takayama and also tourists from other prefectures. The Hall made me excited about the festival. I can imagine how beautiful it is. I would like to visit Takayama to the festival next time.