Light-up

This year snow-covered gassho-zukuri farmhouses in Shirakawa, Gifu Pref is reservation-only, you know.

one of the places I really want to visit in japan..

A pretty serene scene. Resembles a Christmas card.

Unfortunately it's not so serene when you visit. It's crawling with tourists, buses, etc. They have tried to control vehicles in the village by having a park and ride scheme for visitors, but it's not enough. We took my MIL there as she's always wanted to visit, but it was nightmareish, there were too many people in a small place - perhaps they should start issuing tickets for particular time slots. It was worse than a theme park.

Yes, it looks like the six light-up days are reservation only, the car parks included.

Note that most of the houses were moved there when a dam was built. That number of farmhouses of that size would not be built that densely otherwise. They also remain thatched thanks to very generous grants from the national government. Most houses of that vintage in the countryside have been covered with metal roofing to allay the high cost of rethatching. Thatch in humid Japan lasts less than half as long as the UK, even with an irori (open hearth) pumping out smoke year-round.