I arrived in Toyama at 6h50, and looked for a toilet. Have I already writen that Japan provides a lot of public toilets? I just had to walk a little bit around the station. I deposed my backpack at the hotel, walked back to the train station and discovered that I missed the train to Toyama at 8:15am. The next would go at 10:32am.
In the meantime I had breakfast at a noodle restaurant and ate udon noodle soup with some mountain plants - if I understood correctly the lady who helped me with the vending machine. At some Japanese restaurants the customer needs to buy a ticket with his meal choice. Afterwards I charged my mobile phone at Starbucks.
I had to change train once in Inotani and arrived in Takayama at 12:28am. A shuttle bus gave me a ride to the festival cite for 100 yen. I talked with a Japanese man in his 70s or 80s. He spoke some words English. He came from a 100km far away city with his wife and grandchildren to see the festival.
The citizens of Takayama had put up the festival float on the way to the shrine. Red and gold dominated the scene. Some floats had puppets mounted on the second level. And lots of people walked by, stopping to take pictures.
A loudspeaker announced something, but I didn’t understand it, so I went towards the crowd at the shrine. Police officers blocked the stairs. As I couldn’t see much, it took me a while to understand where everyone stared at. Finally I saw it, a puppet looking like a Buddhist monk directing a smaller puppet along a ladder. After every step of the smaller puppet the monk turned around, nodding his head and smiling at the audience.
The snack bars along the canal offered various types of food: grilled meat on sticks, fried noodles, octopus, but also European snacks: French fries, crêpes and kebab. I chose fried sweet potatoes.
I walked through the city which had old style houses and lanterns everywhere. I heard some flutes and saw people in traditional clothes walking along the canal. I went to the head of the parade. People wore Asian hats, kimonos, and other things whose names I don’t know. A group of children hit metal sticks on bells and made a weird sound. When the end of the parade arrived in front of me, everyone moved to the side, sat down, and made a pause.
I continued my walk to the shrine, which I had not yet seen. I bought a Japanese sweet which had bean cream inside. I made some nice pictures of the shrine. Then I wondered what to do, and had a look at the information stand. At 2:50pm a woman gave me the hint that they would repeat the puppet play at 3pm at a different place. My feet hurt already from all the walking, but the view compensated for my pain. I saw the puppet play from the front without obstacles. Afterwards I even saw a part of the disassembling, and how they moved the float to the next street to its storage location. The floats seem to stay in special buildings during the year.
I wandered back to the place where they had exhibited the parade floats at the beginning. But apparently they put them away. So I decided to go home, but on the way I heard the parade, and decided to see it once again.
On the way to the train station I bought a okonomiyaki (a pancake with cabbage, egg, some other things. I took the train at 17:50 and arrived on time at 19:48. I went to the hotel, which seemed quite luxorious for my standards.