Shirakawa-go Tourist Association — Attraction in Shirakawa

First, the tourist information window is quite confusing, it appeared to be manned, but the staffs were sitting at their desk few steps away from the window, and they’re not really looking at the reception whether somebody came or not. I have been to many tourist information counter but is a little disappointed by this one. Am thankful to the staff who came to attend to me and briefly answered all my questions, but as this is an information reception, I would be more happy to not have my nationality assumed, without being asked. I don’t usually write not-so-good review, but as I hope that they could improve their service, so I am writing this one. Next, I bought a free-seat bus ticket from there to Takayama and the ticket cost ¥2800, I was a bit surprised at the price as I actually took a bus over there from Takaoka which cost me ¥2200. And a direct bus from Takaoka to Takayama would cost less than ¥4000, so I was a surprised, as Shirakawago and Takayama is also nearer, compared to from Takaoka, but it actually cost more here. But since it is a tourist spot, I do accept the cost. However, I was surprised again when the bus arrived. The staff just opened up the bus storage compartment without giving any clear instructions to the tourists queueing, and everyone just simply shoved in their bags/luggages without any sequence nor cue. This is really disappointing. I’ve also rode many highway buses in Japan, seeing the bags and luggages being handled this way, it’s really quite upsetting. Who’s going to be responsible if there’s spoilt or missing items due to this handling method of the luggage compartment? And yeah I saw many bad comments regarding the lockers issues there, but the locker staff seems over hectic, but I had no issue with him, I only wonder if he has time to go for break, hope he gets to. And the staff stopping pedestrians from crossing the road straight to the traffic light as it is only for the buses to cross there, would be very helpful to the staff if a signage in multiple languages is put up there, it should at least help a bit. It’s really sad seeing him chasing pedestrians away for continuous hours from that path while being in the rain. But yeah, just hope that these issues could be reviewed, addressed and improved by the relevant...

It's a very hot summer when we visited this place famous for its natural scenery and architecture. Sadly, there wasn't much tourist friendly infrastructure, like public place for family/elderly to rest, rubbish bins, etc to accommodate the tourist volume. There was one convenience store but with very limited medicine choice. Perhaps it's just me. The place looked repetitive and lost of character. Almost every shop sold the same things. The food was not local either.

The architecture was inspiring but then that's it. For a half day trip I did not get the chance to understand its engineering without googling it on my own. Of course It would look more romantic on the outside in winter.

If you need to leave for the next stop earlier, in my case for medical reasons, make sure you directly check with the bus driver instead. The ticket office lady seemed too indifferent and cold to make any flexible arrangements despite there was...

Beautiful to see the sun set while standing here for our bus to arrive! Our experience was good! Thanks. We arrived here and departed by bus. Since we had bags,we were fortunate to find a vacant locker which we used and there wasn’t any problem with it even afterward when we took our things. There’s instructions on where to leave your luggage in case the locker is full or your luggage cannot fit in so ask inside the station or you can read the posters to understand where.

Inside here,there’s toilet,a vending machine,few benches to sit and plastic trash(the village doesn’t have trash bins but you can throw away some of your trash here or in areas where you buy things otherwise you will have to carry it...