A waiting game

 26 - 29 August

 (Uji to) Hikone, Nagoya, Tajimi (to Shiojiri)

 Weather: still hot, rain on 29th, no sign of typhoon winds

 I left Uji the morning of the 26th and heading up to Hikone, Shiga. The train took ~1hr 40min and went through urban areas interspersed with rice fields and glimpses of lake Biwa. Once at Hikone, I dropped my bags and made my way towards Hikone Castle.

 Hikone Castle, museum and Genkyuen Garden - Hikone keep and some buildings are originals and is one of 5 castles in Japan designated as a national treasure. Unfortunately the keep was closed for maintance but guard houses, stables and grounds could still be accessed. The garden is beautiful and the museum informative, containing weapons, armour, room reconstructions, noh and tea ceremony items.

 The next day I headed to Nogoya, Gifu by train, with a brief stop at Ogaki. As I have previously been to Nagoya and seen the main touristy locations, I instead had a chill day meandering through the city with no real destinations before grabbing a vegan curry at 森のカレー for dinner.

 I headed to Tajimi on the 29th, hitting up two museums before heading to my accommodation. As it was a Thursday, the weekend tourist bus was not running so getting places required a bit of walking and a lot of staring quizzically at bus timetables. I stayed at the Tajimi Guest House, which was a lovely little property run by a very friendly and helpful Japanese couple.

 Tajimi ceramic Art Museum - small museum detailing Mino ware history of the Tajimi area. Nice museum shop - just a shame I'd have to lug the pottery around in my pack if I had bought any.

 Mosaic Tile Museum Tajimi - fun museum filled with mosaic tile installations and history.

The following morning I got dropped at the west entrance to Eihoji temple, the forest track was beautiful if a little slippery due to the rain. There was no-one about at the temple itself so it was a relatively quick look around before finding the closest bus stop (...and waiting 40mins in the rain for the next bus).

 Kokeizan Eihoji Temple - nice temple surrounded by forest with walking trails, unfortunately it was raining and anything that may be open normally appeared to be shut.

 Once at Tajimi station, I went on my way to Shiojiri, Nagano with a brief stop at Nakatsugawa. I had originally envisioned walking and staying in accommodation along the Kiso road but booking accommodation in Japanese over the phone on the fly while dealing with changing typhoon predictions was not a battle I wanted to take on just yet. I settled for booking a hotel for 4 nights in Shiojiri, with the plan of catching the train out to the Kiso valley each morning, weather permitting.