Takayama - My Home Away From Home

Last weekend I went to Oslo to attend a Rotary orientation meeting. It was long, but really informative and fun! Everyone involved with Rotary were super nice; other exchange students, parents, Rotary members/correspondents etc. I´m really glad that I´m going with Rotary, because I feel like they genuinely care about their exchange students, and want them to have the best time ever. I´m going to make Norwegian Rotary proud and become fluent in Japanese! (Well, as fluent as I can  in one year). School is officially out, and I won´t be going to Japan before late August, so I´ll have loads of time to study!

がんばります！(I´ll do my best!)

  Anyway, I thought that I would talk a little about my host town. It´s a smaller, rural town called Takayama, which literally means "tall mountain".  It is located almost exactly in the centre of Japan, in a region that os known as "the Japanese Alps, and is surrounded by many of Japan´s biggest cities. The seasons are very distinct, which also means that there is a lot of snowfall in the winter. I´m no stranger to snow, being from Northern Norway and all! Takayama is a very traditional town, and is the home of many historical cites. Its spring and fall festivals are considered to be among the best in Japan.

   

Takayama Spring Festival floats

The old town

I was originally hoping to stay in a bigger city, because I live in such a small town already. But I think that Takayama is a beautiful city, and that staying in a place with such historic roots will teach me so much more about traditional Japanese culture. Plus the community is really active, and the town itself is apparently a major tourist attraction as well! I think Takayama and I will be a perfect match <3 (Besides, if I want to experience city life I can just hop on a train and be in Nagoya, Osaka, or Tokyo in no time!)

I could tell you about other things I´ve read in tourist guides, but I think I´d rather tell you more about Takayama when I´ve seen it for myself ^_^

Stay tuned for more posts about my exchange!