After leaving Guyo-Hachiman, our bus went along some very, very windy mountain roads along the sides of a manmade lake. I was very excited to see patches of snow on the ground.
An hour of fighting off windy-mountain-road-induced nausea, we arrived at Shirakawago. It was an outdoor museum where old-style mountain cottages were preserved. Although they were authentic traditional Japanese architecture, they didn't look "typically" Japanese. Made to withstand heavy snow, the cottages had very steep roofs. The roofs were thatched very thickly with reeds, at least two feet deep.
After exiting the stuffy bus, us wide-eyed exchange students were set free to roam among the woods, streams, meadows, and cottages. The autumn foliage on the hills was AMAZING, and there were huge snow-capped mountains in the distance. It reminded me of Switzerland. I took great pictures that day. No, I took freaking awesome pictures that day.
I skipped around remarking how everything looked like "a fairy tale" and how I never wanted to leave. Eventually the coordinators gathered us together in one of the cottages. Two people, a young man and an old woman in traditional Japanese dress, brought out a huge pestle and a steaming bowl of rice. As we gathered around, the old woman put the rice into the pestle and the young man pounded it with a giant wooden poundy thing.
A few exchange students also got to try pounding, and we quickly found out that it's not nearly as easy at it looks. That hammer is heavy. Eventually the rice was pounded into smooth, chewy mochi. We enjoyed it with kinoko topping and green tea while gathered around the fire pit in one of the cottages.
A tire swing and souvenir shops kept us entertained afterwards. Interestingly, in a separate area nearby was a little village where people still lived in very similar houses. I don't know how they can live so far away from any other towns, or why they choose to live in this semi-traditional manner. I heard from one person that the government gives them some sort of stipend to encourage this kind of lifestyle.
We had to leave as the evening began to get dark. Getting back to our university was a three-hour drive, so by the time I got back I was pretty tired, but very happy.
