Day 6 - Miso and Matsumoto Castle
We visit a Miso factory today, discovering why this ingredient
is so important in Japanese cooking on a guided tour, before
tasting the distinctive flavours - a mixture of fermented soya
beans with salt and other umami-based ingredients - for ourselves.
We continue to Matsumoto Castle, a five-storey pagoda-style
fortress known as 'Crow Castle' due to its unusual black exterior.
After time to look around, we continue to Takayama, visiting the
Hida Folk Village, an open-air museum depicting more than 30 rustic
farm dwellings from the Edo Period, on the way. Set deep in the
mountains, Takayama is a fascinating town of narrow streets and
wooden houses, a beautiful place to spend the night.