Takayama would be an easy town to live in.  It’s surrounded by mountains, it’s clean, it has a historic downtown area, and it’s close to the UNESCO world heritage village of Shirakawa-go.

You can stumble upon temples while taking a stroll around town and everyone living there seemed to be in a constant good mood.  They probably love the fact that it is several degrees cooler than the rest of Japan in the summer.

The mascot is “sarubobo”.  Apparently, it is supposed to look like a baby monkey.  Personally, I don’t see a resemblance but I was close to buying a sarubobo doll, it just wouldn’t fit in my backpack.

sarubobo cookies