Takayama Matsuri

The spring festivals in Takayama is really beautiful. It's a bit like the one in Gion in July, but it is in a much smaller cit. So it has a small town, community feel to it. Big wooden floats, basically three story houses on wheels with walls made out of really old tapestries or scroll paintings, are paraded through the town. This one was really beautiful so we took a picture next to it... like you do.
Also, they have puppets here. The puppet performances are the hi-lite of the three day festival. They are suprisingly well animated (controlled?) and do some unexpected stuff. Even though they announced the story of each puppet show in Eglish before it started I was still a little surprised when this doll appeared with a dog looking mask.
Takayama has delicious beef. If you go there you should try it. We ate dango at the slowest food stand/hole in the wall place known to man. It was cold even though they put it over charcoal and tasted terrible. How can you mess up mochi on sticks covered in sauce? geese!