While I do come from a country where a horseracing and gambling warrant a long weekend in November, it can't really compete much with Japan, which has Vernal Equinox, Greenery Day (May 4), Marine Day (3rd Monday of July), Respect-for-the-Aged Day (3rd Monday of September), Autumnal Equinox, Culture Day (November 3rd) and Sports Day (3rd Monday of October), to name just some of them.
So, not wanting to waste a long weekend at home, we ended up visiting a couple festivals before heading up to Northern Gifu and visiting a friend's part of town. While I've been there a few times before, it's always good to see, especially since it's a village, and feels very villagey, as opposed to my city, which very much feels just like a shopping centre surrounded by rice paddies. While I do have shopping, and the pleasant smell of burning off rice paddies every now and then, my friend's village seems to be more of a cohesive community, where everyone is related, friendly, and everybody knows your name. I guess it's the one of the perks of living in such a remote area of the sticks I guess. I'm sure if I was placed there instead of my area, I'd be complaining about being isolated and wishing I had a coffee place within walking distance, so I should remain content just getting to visit that area every now and then.
The weekend turned out to be awesome as well for another reason - actually, the reason that makes me so motivated to travel in the first place - marimokkori! Even more to add to my collection! I finally got the one for my area, Gifu city. Weirdly enough, it's not for sale in Gifu city itself, but in the northern area of Takayama, which is a couple hours away, which seems stupid, but nonetheless, Yay!
Comorant (Gifu)
Sarubobo (Hida)
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