Road Trip 2008 - Intro

Right. so. We didn't make it back to Europe for holidays this Christmas because;
1. When we were planning the winter holidays back in Sept, the plane ticket prices were a little too high for my liking,
2. We thought that we had better make the best use of our time in Japan by seeing a bit of the country while we were here,
3. We also thought we could do our bit in boosting the Japanese economy.

So, we've ended up spending what we would have spent on just an air ticket to Paris or London on a 10day road trip around Nagano [長野県] and Gifu [岐阜県] Prefectures (which are North and North-Westy of Tokyo).

As Greg has a French driving licence - he could do a direct transfer to a Japanese drivers licence (unlike my British one which involves another test...hmmm...no thanks) so we rented a car from Nissan via ToCoo!.

The plan was too drive along the Chuo Highway [中央道] out of Tokyo towards Tsumago [妻籠] and Magome [馬籠], stop there in a minshuku [民宿] for a night and do a bit of sightseeing before heading off to Shirakawago [白川郷].

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Tsumago [妻籠] and Magome [馬籠] - Designated a site of National Architectural Preservation where you can still find an Edo-style post town in its entirety.


Minshuku [民宿] - A guest house run by the family which live inside the house itself, usually offering dinner and breakfast.

Shirakawago [白川郷] - A village in Gifu Prefecture famous for it's traditional farm houses with steep-sided thatched roofs.

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After Shirakawago [白川郷] we would head up to Kanazawa [金沢] and try to see a bit of the Noto-Peninsula [能登半島]. Then we head East wards and then South towards Hakuba [白馬] in Nagano [長野] for a bit of snowboarding.