A day in Takayama

Thirty-three cuts of beef. Tonight is thirty-three cuts of Hida beef cooked at your table, and the boys run the grill. Everything before it, the onsen, the museum of old Japan, the old town, is there to earn it.

Morning

Onsen first, then a slow breakfast. Maya has the bath at seven, alone, before anyone else is up. This is the reset day in the middle of the trip, and it should feel like one.

Late morning at Takayama Showa-kan, a museum of 1950s and 60s Japan. Indoor, nostalgic, and more fun for kids than it sounds. It is also the snow plan: if the weather turns, this and the onsen are the day.

Afternoon

The old town. Preserved merchant streets in Sanmachi, short and flat enough for the 10-year-old to finish without asking when it ends. Hida beef skewers and a beef bun from the stalls, so the boys get a taste before dinner without sitting through a full meal.

Evening

This is the wagyu meal, and the one Maya and Dev flew for. We hold the beef splurge for Takayama on purpose. Hida beef is the regional star, and it is worth building a dinner around instead of spending the big meal in Tokyo while eating on the move.

Dinner at Hida Gyuu Ittougai Yakiniku Akariya. Order across the board and let the boys work the grill. We ate here. The menu board photo is ours, and we did not get through all thirty-three.

Where you sleep

A ryokan near the old town with a private onsen, two nights. We match the room to the dates and hold it. The private bath is the point: a family of four can use it together, and every evening ends there.