Experience Shirakawa-go 白川郷

Shirakawa-go's Ogimachi village from the observation deck

Every year, the snow-covered picture of this village appears on my social media feed. Something about the photo has me drawn to the place and wishes that I could someday go there and see the snow-covered village myself. Many years later, while brainstorming our next annual trip, an idea for a trip to Japan came up. After experiencing Kansai area during late spring many years ago, we have always wanted to go back and explore other parts of Japan. We've decided on Tokyo and the area around it (of course Mt. Fuji was on the list). The date have been fixed for winter, around January. Yes, it's one of the coldest time of the year but with the cold means possibly less tourist. Winter...cold...snow?! Hey, it's the perfect time to see Shirakawa-go covered in feets of snow! I must somehow include that in the trip!

After wrestling with our schedule and itinerary, a short trip to Shirakawa-go was squeezed in to our 12 days itinerary. Shirakawa-go stands in a remote area in the Gifu and Toyama Prefecture on the western coast of Japan (Tokyo in the east). Making it harder, the village can only be access by buses from a small number of small cities. With the limited number of buses going to the village per day and the trains getting to the small cities to board the bus, it is impossible to get there in one day.

We naturally had to pick one of the cities to stay the night and board the Shirakawa-go bus the next day. Kanazawa was then chosen as our stopover since its a direct Shinkanzen train ride from Tokyo and one of the major cities of that area.

Plane tickets booked, hotels booked, JR Rail Pass bought, Shirakawa-go tickets booked we are ready for the trip!

From Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go is about a hour and a half by bus. The bus tickets can be purchased one month in advance of the departure date. And since winter is a popular time for people to visit the village because of the "light up event" I heard that bus tickets can be sold out. We picked a weekday so we could avoid the crowd of tourist who flocks to see the light up event.

Unfortunately, when we arrived in Kanazawa we learnt through our guest house owner that there has been no snowfall this year yet, not even in Shirakawa-go. It's an unusual situation, but we all know what is to blame. My heart dropped for a moment when I realized that I will never get to see the snow-covered village of Shirakawa-go that I've been dying and came all the way over to see. But the trip must go on. Although there won't be snow, the village of Shirakawa-go still stands as one of the world's UNESCO World Heritage site.

We departed Kanazawa early morning on the first bus and headed towards the mountains. The weather that day was forecasted to have thick fog, so driving into the foggy mountain adds the suspense feeling to the excitement. The bus passes through many tunnels that cuts through mountains and hills. The fog was so thick that the only thing we could see was a few feet of empty road in front of us.

After a short nap, I woke up to the bus exiting to what looks like a small highway. The bus starts descending into the valley, and there my first glimpse of what looks like a village appeared among the fog.

Original Gasscho-style farmhouse

Newly replaced Gassho Roof

We arrived at Ogimachi, the largest of the three villages that makes up shirakawa-go. Tucked away in a river valley surrounded by endless mountain peaks and lush green forest, people here having been living their lives in harmony with nature that surrounds them. The village's unique farm house's Gassho-style roof was built to withstand the environment that surrounds the village, especially the heavy snowfall during the winter.

Walking around the village takes you back in time before technology took over our lives.  Life in the village during the 11th century revolved around forging from what the surrounding has to offer and farming crops off the land. As the day goes by, the quiet main street gets filled with tourist who were brought here buses after buses. The main street of the village started coming alive as local started setting up their businesses for the day. Some of these tradition farm houses are open to the public so you can get a glimpse of what life was like living inside one of these houses. 

On the main street, there is also a bus that takes you up to the observation deck where you can see the entire area of the village and see how remotely isolated the village really is. 

After half a day of exploring every possible little area of the village and filling our stomach with snacks and homemade soba from the local restaurant, it was time for us to depart and head back to Tokyo. As the bus departs the valley, the village fades away into the mountains and awaits for the next group of explorer to come experience it....