Last weekend we took an overnight road trip to Gifu Prefecture. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, I have wanted to visit here for some time. It’s not along the typical tourist path, so I never quite made it before.
Thanks to some usual, but unexpected traffic getting out of Tokyo, we had a late arrival on Saturday, but we explored the nearby town, Hida-Takayama, which is popular for wooden pieces and it’s sake breweries in old-style houses.
On our way there, we had to cross the Japan Alps, but found that there was nothing really to worry about in our city car. It’s been a rather warm winter and so neither of us had thought to look at the weather report or worrying about our drive. Although, once we saw snow on the hills on the way there, we did lament about not at least bringing along our snow gear in case we had thought to stop for a quick swish-swish down a slope.
Still, we drove along enjoying the pretty views without a care.
Upon awaking the next morning, our excitement at seeing heavy snow fall quickly melted into tentative worry about our drive home. Thus, we headed off to Shirakawa-go without haste.
It was fun despite the chill to walk through the village and see the thatched-roof houses from days of old. We stopped for a ‘local coffee’ and watched the people go by taking in the traditional wintry scene.
Satisfied with our explorations, we prepared for the long journey home. Sadly, we had not prepared enough for the continually falling snow and our little city car with little city tires.
Most cars in Japan have winter tires that help them in all types of weather and terrain. As car-share participants, not owners, we tend not to think of such things. So…sure enough one slippery hill caused the little car to protest. We attempted to burn our way up the hill in hopes of at least getting out of the middle of the road, but the little engine that could, couldn’t. One of the challenges of being in a foreign country is the added stress of not knowing what to do in such situations. Also, it was a car-share rental, so there was only a protocol listed for accidents….
Therefore, I put out my spidey-senses and willed someone to stop to help us. This is not a country of good samaritans for the most part. However, a kind old batty man stopped to help us. He explained that there was no way our car was going to make it back to Tokyo in the current weather conditions. He stated we had two options: 1) buy chains; 2) call a tow truck and wait for at least an hour or more with a hefty bill to go with it.
Obviously, since NOM (nice old man) was willing to drive us to a gas station to see if we could buy some chains, we chose that option. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to use chains or drive in snow, but I felt confident one of us could figure it out. My gregarious husband did not let on that he had, in fact, never driven in snow nor touched chains before in his life. Luckily, his hubris covered until we were well on our way! π
I think the NOM had a sense that we “city-folk” were at a loss, so even though we gave him the equivalent of about $50 for taking us 12km round-trip, he also helped us in the cold to get the chains on and see us on our way.
Everything went smoothly and we made it through the rough patches. It only added on about an hour to our long journey and we managed to laugh our way through it all; so in the end we can share it as an experience and adventure!
What was rather strange about the whole thing was that we were just talking about how it never hurts to just be nice to people. There are plenty of times when we feel like we don’t have patience with others, but small acts of kindness build up good karma. Inevitably, we will be dependent on the kindness of others and want to be extended it, so we should always be in the state of mind to do the same. So, our sentiments were reinforced by NOM. π
Next time, though, we vowed to at least make sure we knew what to expect weather-wise. Plus, now we have chains that will fit most city cars – just in time for spring! π
~T π
