Nagoya & Takayama

After Nikko, an express train to Tokyo to get a Shinkansen high-speed train to Nagoya. Overnight stopover in Nagoya then a regional train to the city of Takayama. Nagoya is the capital of Aichi Prefecture in central Honshu. Takayama is a small city in the mountainous Gifu Prefecture. The narrow streets of its Sanmachi Suji historic district are lined with wooden merchants’ houses dating to the Edo Period, along with many small museums. The city is famed for its biannual Takayama Festival, going back to at least the mid-1600s, celebrating spring and fall with parades featuring ornate, gilded floats and puppet shows.