Takayama travels - part 3

One of the most exciting parts of our trip was my random find of the Ninja Cafe in Takayama. After we’d had a good rest we headed back out with the aim of dinner “somewhere a little different”. I surprised the kids just before we got there, mainly so they could help me find it! In typical ninja fashion the cafe was a little hidden away and we initially thought it was closed until suddenly a ninja appeared at the door. Luckily he was friendly and greeted us warmly. We were his only customers so we had his full attention. They didn’t have many food options but the kids didn’t really care. One thing I thought was utterly brilliant was a very subtle change in the menu- it was a scroll and they had it in English too. Also, instead of having ginger ale available the cafe had ninja ale! It was coloured black, tasted just like ginger ale and had a samurai sword sticking out of it and was put on a ninja star coaster. The excitement was already building.

The two younger kids elected to go for the full costume experience whereas the nearly teenager and I decided we just wanted the experience. The changing room was a hidden door that you could only open by leaning backwards on it and disappearing! The toilet door was also hidden. They had been very well thought out and in keeping with the whole experience.

We started with a few ninja stars. There was a safe alleyway and no one walked down it whilst people were throwing stars as these were actually quite sharp. I managed to break a bit off of the wooden target which the kids haven’t let me forget. Everyone got competitive with their stars and a little mini competition was born. The smallest of our group was allowed to be slightly closer due to her height. She was scary in all truth. She may be small but she is mighty. 

After the stars was the blow pipe. (We all had our own mouthpieces and in fact the whole place was very COVID safe with our instructor standing as far away as he could whilst looking after our safety). This was where the eldest came into her own. Suddenly she was hitting each target! After a few practise attempts we had to pop a balloon each. The darts were only paper but they did actually pop the balloon. Naturally I managed to pop it!

Next were the swords. The big kids and I had actual metal swords! The smallest had a plastic one which is good as the first thing she did was try and attack her brother!! Told you she was scary. Although our boy did have to be reminded that he couldn’t attack back with the sword! Speaking of the boy he was in his element. Either he was a ninja in a past life or he’s secretly training for the profession. He could have spent a full week there. We learned how to unsheathe and sheathe the sword properly and how you walked to attack. 

The last bit of the evening was finding the 6 gold coins that had been hidden around the place. So simple but a brilliant was to round off everything.

The next morning we headed out for breakfast. On the way we stumbled across this awesome little shrine. It was full of sarubobo that people had placed there as offerings. The big stone sarubobo was said to heal any hurts if you placed your hand on the corresponding part of the sarubobo's body to where you hurt.

For breakfast we revisited the safe cafe with the vegetarian and gluten-free options for morning pancakes. Everyone was tired by this point having had a great but busy week. So most of the meal we all sat looking out of the window at the beautiful river, still drenched in autumnal sunshine.

After that a quick wander around the market again for any forgotten souvenirs and maybe more coffee at Koma coffee for me (I was driving after all!) and then homeward bound....or were we?

As I mentioned in Takayama Travels part 1 when I’m driving on my own I like a good rest stop. Driving is something that really makes me sleepy so I need a proper stop, food and a good drink to keep me going. So I decided we’d go home via a waterfall....that serves noodles! “What?!” I hear you cry? Yeah. Its one of those ‘only in Japan’ things. It is as a beautiful and unique stop. In order to get to one of the waterfalls you have to walk through the cafe where the noodles come from. So we walked through and stretches our legs and visited the lovely waterfall. So refreshing after being in the car and it was lovely fresh mountain air too. The boy tried parkour again but this time on wet rocks. It was discouraged as I didn’t see any area that was fit for an air ambulance!

Being a weekday the Kamagataki cafe was very quiet, as in only the 4 of us, but we got fast service! So what happens is you select a table, place your order, and then wait. The noodles come out of these drainpipes that surround the table and then you catch them with your chopsticks. They just keep floating and being refilled until you’re done. (It’s an all-you-can-eat service). And yes, the noodles are cold but they are somen noodles and can be served cold much like soba noodles. Although they were wheatie I had a taste and they were nice but then I stuck to my rice cake and let the kids have fun fishing. It’s certainly not a meal that they found boring. By the end, when they were full, it became more about fishing than eating. And all this was done over the wonderful waterfall.

All in all we had a fabulous time. I'm so glad I planned this trip with the kids and we got out and about whilst we could. We have all decided we want to return and show the husband the sights. 

Thank you Takayama and Japan. We had a great time.

More adventures to come!