Japanese Alps Day One

Last weekend M and I planned a trip to the Alpine Inn MIZUSHIRO Guest House located within the Chubusangaku National Park in the Japanese Alps in Nagano prefecture. My initial plan was to stop in Takayama where we could see the folk village and Takayama morning markets. The plan changed after we were misguided by the car Navigation system which showed a picture of the exit on the right when in fact it was to the left. After an 11 km tunnel the next exit was 22 km away and given that it was raining terribly we decided to find a nearby indoor activity. Our solution? Myoryuji (Ninja-dera) in Kanazawa city. Kanazawa turned out not to be as English friendly as the Fodors guidebook claimed, our lunch at Kincharyo was delicious. but a bit uncomfortable given that the menu was entirely in Japanese and mostly without photos. After lunch we moved on to the Ninja Temple where we were, in the parking lot, informed again in Japanese, that we needed to make a reservation. So I called from the parking lot and attempted to make a reservation, once more in Japanese, and was given a reservation for a tour starting just over one hour later. Since it was still raining we decided to walk over to the temple and wait there hoping that they would take pity on us standing the rain and let us participate in an earlier tour. Score! we were granted an earlier tour. The common name for Myoryuji is the Ninja Temple because it could provide escape routes or hiding places for shoguns not because it was Ninja related. The temple contains seven levels and 29 staircases despite appearing from he outside to be only two stories tall. Inside there are several (we were shown 12) trick contraptions for hiding or escaping including a offering box that doubles as a hiding place, a well with a tunnel to the castle, and a double door that when shut opened another door to make it appear that the fleeing person had gone in another direction. Photos were not allowed in the temple, but their website has some photos of the contraptions.