A few days ago Abbey and I went back to Gifu City to meet a friend: Noda-san. He’s a Japanese artist who has been Facebook friends with Abbey for over two years. He loves to travel, but had never been to Gifu, so now was his chance!
Plus we got some sweet memes out of it too.
We met Noda-san at the Gifu train station. Here is him and Abbey
(decked out in kimono, of course) heading down to the station plaza.
A picture with the statue of Oda Nobunaga, a famous historical figure in Gifu.
He was a daimyo (feudal lord) in the 16th century who tried to unify Japan.
After the mandatory photo poses, it was off to the bus!
Ooh, do we get the beautiful princess bus???
No, just sushi bus. Sigh. Maybe next time, princess bus.
When we got off at our stop Nagarabashi, Abbey was already bouncing down the stairs.
A group of Japanese students even approached her, asking if she needed any help.
She’s just a magnet for Japanese students, no matter where she is.
Nagarabashi has a section that’s modeled like Meiji era Japan (19th to early 20th century). Aside from the Pikachu scarf and heart-shaped sunglasses, Abbey could fit right in!
We had lunch at a nearby cafe. Oh did I mention it was nearly 100 degrees (Farenheit) outside? This was my progression before/during/after getting an ice coffee.
Abbey going ham on her chicken sandwich.
After lunch it was time to head to Gifu castle, way up at the top of a mountain. Along the way, Abbey wistfully eyes a scooter especially made for people wearing kimono.
The entrance gate to the park at the base of the mountain! Dun dun dun.
The park offered some much-needed shade from the blistering heat.
And at the rest center there were two vending machines… that were completely sold out of water. You can see the little red lights underneath every single water.
I got a “yogurt water” that was milky, sweet, and made me regret everything.
We took the ropeway (a gondola) up to the top of the mountain,
but still had to hike a bit to get to the castle. Abbey was loving every step!
Especially when she made some bug friends.
Cicadas chirping is something you hear all the time in Japan.
If you’ve never experienced them before, take a look at this video.
Finally! We made it to the peak of the mountain and to Gifu Castle!
Right outside the castle entrance was this interesting clock that used Chinese Zodiac animal symbols instead of numbers. Not the most efficient, but neat!
And of course inside the castle there was a
Nobunaga (statue guy from earlier!) anime playing.
Abbey doing her best samurai armor impression.
You could climb to the top of the castle and peer out in all directions. Everything was so small, it didn’t even look real. It was like a painting. Speaking of paintings…
That face when you a horse and your daimyo tells you to
go faster but he been buyin’ the cheap feed recently.
That face when you let the weird foreigner paint your
portrait and he sneaks some Jesus into the background.
That face when all your descents are a disappointment.
That face when you gonna show yo dad that you can
do more than just play video games and watch anime all day.
That face when you forgot to shave your cheek whiskers for portrait day.
That face when they told you that hat makes your head look less fat.
That face when you been staring at that one dot on the wall the whole time.
That face when you just finished putting on all
your samurai armor but you realize you gotta poop.
This historical experiences has been brought to you by Coca Cola!
Please exit through the gift shop…
…where you can buy some delicious Nobunaga shrimp chips!
Of, if you’d prefer, a fish.
After that, we went for dinner at a ramen shop. This is the machine we ordered from.
You pick what you want and get a ticket to give to the chef. Pretty common in Japan.
Abbey’s ramen is T H I C C
What a bunch of happy bowls and happy faces!
Right before we parted ways at the station, Noda-san surprised us with paintings he’d made of me and Abbey. So cool! Thanks so much, Noda-san.
Here’s a video that Noda-san took of us in the restaurant
(while I munch on some ice!) and when he gave us the pictures.
And after that we came home and collapsed, just like the last time we went to Gifu. Who knows what new meme-able adventures await us next?
If you want more stories from Japan, then join us when we stream on Twitch every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 7:30pm-10:30pm (U.S. Eastern Standard Time).
Hope to see you next time, friend!
Scott Wilson is the author of the novel Metl: The ANGEL Weapon,
forthcoming December 2018.