In the third episode of "Unsung Places" on TV3 (Malay documentary series),Thanuja Amanathan visited the central part of Japan. The first place that she went was Takayama in Gifu prefecture. Takayama is also known as Little Kyoto because the natives are mostly wood carpenters who make wood crafts for the palaces in Kyoto. The Miyagawa river flows at the middle part of Takayama.
Thanuja later visited "Kamisan no machi" where the Kunasaka Shizo sake brewery is located. She also looks at the making of miso, a Japanese food made of soy beans. The miso takes about one to three years to ferment itself. The miso which was previously used only by the aristocratic people, is now used by many Japanese to make food. For dinner, Thanuja tried eating uncooked salmon fish with soy sauce.
The next day, Thanuja visited the morning market located at Sanmachi in Takayama which opens from 7:00 am to 12:00 pm. It faces the bank of Miyagawa river. Besides selling local goods, it sells local crafts such as Sarubobo and Ichihitobori.
The second place that Thanuja went was Matsumoto in Nagano prefecture. She visited Nawate Street where the shops in the street sells antique and modern items. Small frog statues are placed at the front of each shops to bring good prosperity to the shops. She also saw the making of soba, another Japanese food which is made of doughs. The Toji soba in Nagawa is one of the places in Japan where soba is made. The Japanese eats according to the changes of the season which maintains their health. This is an effective food diet of the Japanese.
Thanuja also visited a place where a couple who lives in Matsumoto makes paper craft out of Japanese paper known as washi. Washi is made out of wood pulp of various Japanese trees. The month of May is the month of the display of Matsumoto handicrafts.
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