We took a bus round trip from Kanazawa to Shirakawa-go. This little valley hamlet sits high in the mountains and is a Unesco World Heritage site. The uniqueness of this place is the construction of the buildings. Post and beam construction all held together with rope, no nails or metal fasteners. The roofing is 18″ thick straw. The steep angle is for the heavy winter snows. The town turns out for reroofing parties. We toured the inside of one of these houses which was 5 stories high. 

The following two pictures are of reroofing. The first photo is a photo of a photo showing a reroofing in progress. The second photo is a current project underway.

After returning to Kanazawa that afternoon, we had dinner at our favorite little restaurant called “Cottage”. Owned by an Irish expat Tony and his Japanese wife Momo. The bar seats 6 and there are two tables. The menu offers only 4 items. Tony does all the cooking and everything is from scratch. My favorite was the Irish beef stew cooked in Guinness beer. Celeste opted for his hand made pastas. We had three dinners here and closed the place down each night. They were both very entertaining and we learned a great deal about them and Japanese culture. No bowing for Momo, she is a hugger.

On the last night, we were joined by a couple from Quebec City, Canada. The six of us finally called it quits at 11:30. Blurry eyed after all the free Bushmills and Jamesons Irish whiskeys, we sauntered back to our hotel.

Celeste and me with the reverse side of the Jameson coasters.