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

SEPTEMBER 2019 : JAPAN : DAY 8 : Narai - Karuizawa

The view from our window as the first trains passed this morning 

Breakfast, including fried egg and bacon hidden in one heated pot, with Jamie, a film editor from Sydney. We have shared a few of our ryokans with him as he booked through the same company, Oku.

Leaving Narai

Yesterday Oku sent a message, through the ryokan, warning us of a possible typhoon. Fortunately there was only light rain overnight in this area and a fine morning, although one of the trains was delayed today because of the weather.

Only an hour’s walk this morning, just to the next village, Kiso-Hirasawa.

Walking towards Kiso -Hirasawa

A very peaceful town with quite a sophisticated ambience. The comb represents a major industry of this area in days gone by. Before the introduction of plastics, cypress combs were produced here and considered highly-prized.

The school children were in a PE class, learning how to develop human towers. I can’t imagine that in an Australian curriculum.

A little photographic indulgence as it was such a pretty place. The first two are drain covers. Everything was immaculate.

Mark captured the shots of these dragonflies by the river and the moth and butterfly at the small station.

A group from Seattle, whose paths we’ve crossed a few times in the last few days. They were off to Tokyo, where we will see them again, as we are staying at the same hotel.

Then our adventure began. We caught local trains to Matsumoto and Nagano. In Matsumoto, a voice constantly sang “Matsumoto, Matsumoto” to remind passengers of where they were. I feel a train station musical coming on. Then we caught the bullet train to Karuizawa.

Wooded mountain scenery, lots of rice paddies and some large towns along the way. Interesting that the mountains are full of pine and cedar forests with no housing or shrines on the slopes or summits. All the buildings are in the valleys.

We realised right from our arrival that there was something different about Karuizawa. The station felt like an international airport.

The town itself is a cross between hill station/Hamptons/resort/Rodeo Drive, LA/ French village. It was such a culture shock.

Then we arrived at a main shopping area that was like Market day on steroids. Locally produced honeys, cosmetics, wooden products, galleries, high end fashion, boulangeries, lacquerware. Everything exquisitely presented and packaged.

Our very impressive hotel (ryokan style rooms) was at the end of this street. Hotel Tsuruya

A bit of sumo watching on TV to recover from our amazing day. Very wobbly tushies.

The hotel has large male and female onsens, which we enjoyed, having them to ourselves. The lounge area is very hill stationesque with a large aquarium with some engaging goldfish. Dinner tonight was very much Asian fusion and was delicious.

Our last walk tomorrow. This has been a very pleasant few days with a nice balance of exercise and culture, despite the humid conditions. This area is reknown for its refreshing weather, so we’ll see about that tomorrow.

M&M