Japan - the snowy landscapes of Nagano

Nagano is a well known as it hosted the 2008 winter Olympics. It is a surprisingly large city in a valley in the middle of the Japanese Alps, and is therefore a hub for winter sports, walking and the famous onsen loving snow monkeys. It also helps that it is well connected with Tokyo, via the Shinkansen.

Nagano

The Snow Monkeys had brought us here, but after a few conversations and checking out the webcam at our hostel 1166, we soon realised that it was a bit over hyped, commercial and, without the snow, didn't have the same draw. Back to the drawing board.

When planning a visit to a destination, you normally focus on a reason for going there. This is generally focused on a piece of architecture, a religious site, an activity or stunning landscape. However, sometimes plan don't work out, and it is these times that sometimes the unexpected make even better memories and experiences. Nagano was one of those moments.

There was still snow on the upper slopes of the mountains and so Chris was very very tempted to do a spot of skiing. Sadly it didn't quite work out, but it gave us the idea to focus on the mountains and find some snow. So we decided to check out the huge Zenko-ji  shrine (another one) and go for a mountain walk.

The Zenkō-ji temple

We wondered out of the hostel and up to the 7th century Zenko-ji temple which dominates the city. The temple is huge. Wandering up the streets through the gates was very atmospheric. There were the usual good luck charms and fortune telling. A large incense burner was smoking, with people surrounding it washing the smoke over there heads, before they proceeded up the steps into the temple to worship. There was a charge to go in but we didn't feel it was worth it, as you could see the various ceremonies from the general area.

Suddenly there was a huge commotion. The ceremony finished and out came the high priest. Everyone ran into a line, knelt down and he started blessing everyone individually by tapping his prayer beads on their heads and saying something. We both thought, why not join in so we ran down, knelt down and got a blessing or otherwise known as receiving merit. Buddhists do all they can to collect merit as it contributes to them getting closer to reaching enlightenment. 

All line up

Thanks for the merit

After all that excitement it was time for a local delicacy - a buckwheat soba crepe filled with blueberry jam cheese cake - it was lush!

Chris tucking in

Yum yum

To wash it down we headed to a sake brewery nearby and tried a few varieties - obviously the strongest was the nicest.

We woke early and went on a bit of an adventure to the Togakushi valley. The mountains were beautiful in the sunshine. We had found a shrine walk  online that would take us up into the mountains through the forests and via lakes and shrines - it was to be one of those awesome days.

Snow ball fight!

Leaving the bus we headed up snow covered footpaths past different shrines and through a wonderful tree lined walk of cedars. We even made a snowman on the way and a huge 'Happy Birthday Tom' for our good friend back home.

Wonderful walk

Snowman!

Walking back down we decided to go a little off piste... literally. Even though the snow was a few feet deep, it was hard so we could easily walk on top with our normal walking shoes, but we did see some walkers with snowshoes - it was awesome.

Beautiful gate to a shrine

The route was fairly well signposted and we could follow footprints in the snow so it was an adventurous but easy walk.

I think this is the right track

Soon we came across a frozen lake surrounded by mountains - stunning.

Stunning landscape

We continued on the track up and over a mountain, with the path getting much more difficult to follow. We began to get a little concerned when we past a sign warning us of bears, but luckily enough we didn't see anything and we were soon rewarded with amazing views across the valley and mountains at the top.

What a view

Soon we were back where we started and having checked out the last shrine with beautiful wood carvings, we got back on the Nagano bound bus,

Amazing carvings

After a long day walking we thought it was time to relax so we went to a public onsen near our hostel. It wasn't quite as good as the one in Hakone, but it was much cheaper and did the job relaxing us.

Shoes and lined up

Chris enjoying soba

We wanted to try some local Soba noodles, so headed straight to a noodle place recommended by the hostel. It was full of business types, with all their shoes lined up neatly, as you sit on cushions on a raised platform. The Soba noodles were okay, but we  preferred other Japanese dishes.. .gotta try all the local specialties though!

Our next challenge was figuring out how to get to Tokyo, without using the Shinkansen. Using cheaper local trains was going to involve many changes, but our hostel host said why not use the bus, which was quicker and much much cheaper. She even booked it for us!

The following morning we walked the 30 minutes to the bus stop. It didn't seem much, but the bus arrived on time and was very spacious. With only 3 seats across there were tons of leg room and after 4 hours we were back in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

On the bus to Tokyo

Nagano was great, and highly recommended. The best time of year is in winter when you can not only go skiing, but see the snow monkeys in their onsen (they don't generally go in the hot onsen in spring or summer as it is too hot!). Great memories and wonderful to see snow - Chris loves the stuff!