Shionomichi Festival

Shio-no-michi means Salt road. Every year a festival is held to celebrate the ancient salt road that passes through Otari, Hakuba and Omachi.


People clad themselves in clothes of days gone by and walk the same path that was once used to bring salt from the ocean to the cities.

Like the men in this picture, they would carry the bags of salt on their backs.

I had the privilege of taking part this year. Okaasan, her daughter Mimi and I all got dressed up and went to Otari. The festival lasts for three days. On the 1st day they go through Otari, then Hakuba and on the last day Omachi. The path through Otari is supposedly nicer which is why we drove two towns away rather than wait for the 3rd day when they come to our city (Omachi).

Mimi was dressed as a beautiful village girl, I as her bodyguard and Okaasan as her nanny.


It was a long trek, mostly up hill, and it was hot and sunny out. However, I never had the chance to get tired as we were stopped every minute or two by someone wanting to take our picture.

There was a best picture contest going on and apparently every year the pictures of Gaijin (foreiners) always manage to win. I don't particularly like having my picture taken but after a while I got used to it and I had a very good time.

Throughout the day there would be pit stops where everyone would get super tasty, free food and drink. At lunch time we arrived at the main area of congregation. There was again free food & drink and also a bunch of singing, dancing performers. (I would post the videos that I took, but unfortunately they aren't compatible with Blogger's Player)

Messengers... hehehe

After the performances there was a contest for best outfit. The signup was already closed but the man organizing it begged us to join in anyway. We called ourselves team Canada.

These guys by far had the best costumes.

However, the Gaijin-ness never fails and we won.

Here we are afterwards being interviewed on cable television.

We made friends with one of the photographers that took about a billion picture of us, and went to her house for tea after the festival. She has a cute puppy dog :)


Japanese people are always so kind. Inviting us to their house for tea when we've only just met, that's so cool! I once took the train to Hakuba and was a little confused as to how I was supposed to pay for the trip (which is very inexpensive by the way, the public transit here is awesome). There was no one at the station and no ticket machine. So, when I got on the train, I asked a lady where to buy a ticket. After explaining it to me, we spent the rest of the trip talking. She told me the names of all the lakes and mountains we passed by, and then before she got off she gave me some flowers and a cookie! I love the people here :D