Tuesday, 10 September 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019 : JAPAN : DAY 8 : Karuizawa - Yokokawa - Tokyo


Last morning of yukata dress-ups and foray into formal Japanese etiquette 


Our guide book recommended taking a taxi for the first six kilometres this morning as it was mainly on the forest road  to the top of Usui-toge Pass (1195m). We had a deadline of 3.10pm to catch our train, so we decided to err on the side of caution and give ourselves time for a humid descent.



The Kumasi-jinga Shrine at the Usui-toge Pass


Yoko and John Lennon holidayed here and there is a lot of memorabilia about them in the cafes and hotels, where they frequented.


The signs were all in Japanese today. This says Nakasendo. To identify the correct sign we decided to de-code the symbols - (1) Ned Kelly (2) Cricket Stumps (3) Waiter carrying plates


We were in shade all morning with the occasional breeze. It was a continual decline with eroded paths. Fortunately it wasn’t muddy but some parts were tricky to negotiate. Mark took his time, strategically taking each step at a time.





There were a few historical markers and shrines, in Japanese, of course. But we know from our notes that their were battles fought here, emperor visits and references to the difficulty of the trail for seventeenth century travellers.


The famous wood print artist, Hiroshige, documented scenes on the Nakasendo Way at the time.



Brightly coloured fungi



Wildflowers



Again, disappointment on the native fauna front - no bears, no monkeys (although some were sighted today), no squirrels but we did have the pleasure of a few leeches in the tops of our socks.


View to Yokokawa and descending into the town


As we headed towards the station we passed our final checkpoint for this post town on the ancient trading route



We caught our 3.10 local train, transferred to the bullet train and finally to the Metro to our hotel. Seamless. 2 hours. We are so grateful to the travel company, Oku, for pre-purchasing all our tickets and giving us detailed information about all our train journeys.






Our first view of Tokyo from the train and then a five minute walk to our hotel



Shiba Park Hotel


What a wonderful few days ... and now, in contrast. a cosmopolitan city, Tokyo, to explore.



M&M

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