We arrived at Shirakawago in the evening about 5pm local time. It was so colddd~

There’s alot of tourists already making their way in.

The bridge was rather slippery cos of the melted ice~

It was really freezing, I think about -6°C? We decided to buy some hot food to warm ourselves up.

This was a hut where they sell food and beverages, with tiny seating areas.

We bought the Hida beef croquette at ¥250≈SG$3.20. The taste was alright. Most importantly, holding it warmed up the hands, lol~

It was still light out~

But it quickly turned dark~

Although we went as a tour group, there’s no guiding inside the village, we were free to roam around.

The village is quite big and you can spot many places selling the same hida beef items as it’s the specialty there.

Souvenirs and snacks…

It’s a picturesque place~

Visit to the Wada house is free~

It’s a traditional house~

The dining ware used during the olden times.

Traditional fireplace~

This was the second floor where silk used to be produced.

From here, you can have a bird’s eye-view of the village~

These photos were taken with my iphone so I couldn’t really capture the depth~ They look like something straight out from a fairytale!

There’s heaters inside the house but the floor’s still rather cold. You’ll need to remove your footwear at the entrance.

We took about an hour and a half to cover most of the area~

There’s other traditional houses but you’ll have to pay to enter~

Do bring a torchlight with you as it’s extremely dark in some areas. The ground might seem level but it could just be high grass patches covered in snow and you risk stepping straight into nothingness. Thankfully it didn’t happen to us, lol~

The place was not that crowded, but there’s still a sizeable amount of tourists and we had to stand around waiting in the cold for our turn at some good picture spots like this one~

And fortunately we weren’t hungry cos the queues for hot food items were quite long.

That’s the reflection of the house in the water, you see?

A temple~

We had a matcha ice-cream at the same hut where we bought the hida beef croquette cos K thought it would be interesting to eat it in winter, lol~

Anyway, looking back at the photos, I realize how strikingly beautiful our pictures were even though it’s less dreamy in reality. As it’s during the night, many shops were already closed and there wasn’t much worth lingering. We weren’t able to go up to the observation deck due to the strict restrictions this time and up close, the illumination was just street lamps, nothing extraordinary.

I would have deemed it better worth the trip if 1: It’s less crowded. 2: We didn’t have to spend so much money for a mere bus trip.

According to my friend who’s gone to both Shirakawago and Gokayama, he suggested going to Gokayama instead where it’s less crowded. So you might consider going to Shirakawago during the day and then Gokayama for it’s winter illumination and night stay, since the view is about the same. 🙂

Still, it’s a cross off my bucket list! ^^