Nakasendo Trail

 The second half of 2024 gave me an opportunity to visit Japan again. Mabuhay miles had a half the miles promo and it was too good to pass up. It’s always exciting to go to Japan again. We hurriedly picked a random city to fly into and we picked NAGOYA. (We always fly yo Osaka and Tokyo and it seemed a good idea to go somewhere else for a change)

I think one of the things about aging is that you need more help. (And I was getting bogged down by all the research I need to do for trips since as usual, I am the main planner/ guide)… so hello ChatGPT.

It was really easy actually and honestly speaking it helped me reduce the amount of research by just asking ChatGPT to make me a rough itinerary and I just tweaked it a little to our preferences.

So, one of the adventures in the list is the NAKASENDO TRAIL. I haven’t really heard about this before chatgpt suggested it. It is the route taken by the samurai to Tokyo that stretches from Kyoto and has 69 resting spots for travelers called POST towns. In addition to Tokyo and Kyoto, the Nakasendō runs through the modern-day prefectures of Saitama, Gunma, Nagano, Gifu and Shiga, with a total distance of about 534 km (332 mi).

It can be considered like the highway of the Edo period. Aside from making the local shogun travel every year to pay homage to the emperor (which entails several days traveling this route), it limits the powers of these local shoguns by making them spend money (of course) for the travel and in turn also giving the local towns income from all the travelers passing through.

We travelled from TSUMAGO to MAGOME - a total of 8km. Through beautiful forests.

We opted to book a tour in GET YOUR GUiDE app (viator has it too) or since we know the company already.. you can book direct to SNOW MONKEY RESORTS - a travel agency

We were met at the Nagano train station by our guide Shawn. (An American working in Japan) and we were told we were the only ones joining the tour that day. Whoopee… lucky us! Turned into a private tour. 

Local snack made of rice and smothered in soy sauce. Overall… just ok.

Huge persimmon!

We were dropped off by our personal van (3 hours drive from nagano) to TSUMAGO. Our start off point. We walked through the post town looking at local inns that were preserved. I even had a chance to visit the local post office and shrine to get my stamps for my stamp book

Local shrine

Monk with baby

Funny thing about the shrine is that the monk had a baby!!! I didn’t know they could do that. Our guide said that usually the role of taking care of the temple is passed down, so the monks are allowed to get married and have kids… who knew???

Local post office. I just saw the post office sign

It’s just amazing that they preserved the towns as is, some of them 100-300 years old.

Cypress “union” tree… two trees become one…
So we had to do the fusion pose.

We passed by two waterfalls also, one male and one female… (see sign that has “male “ and “female” in chinese characters)

I would say the bigger one was female but I was wrong. Haha

The paths would up and down… with some parts crossing the highway. We met a lot of hikers too but not too much that it felt crowded. The beauty of this trail is that it’s still not touristy like if you go to Kyoto. 

You can still feel the stillness of the woods

Local tea house with free tea, we ate our packed lunch here

We also had a packed lunch we bought on our stopover at 7-11. there are very little food options on the trail and it’s better to bring a snack with you. The temperature was nice. About 17C and I had to take off my over shirt in the middle because it got so hot. (Don’t go in the summer for sure it’s hotter). For us the temperature was dry and cool and very good for hiking.

Local info board when entering a town. You can see general info and “wanted” people

You can nearly see the writing on the wall of this info board. (It’s still the original writing). 

We shared a wagyu sushi with our guide and got some chestnut ice cream ( a local specialty). It tasted like potato. 

We also got a peek at the sculptures of an eccentric local… who I think has a predilection to nudes

You see the boobs sculpture?

Happy tree

The 8km such a joy to walk through. The beautiful nature everywhere! We ended in MAGOME and browsed the shops (specialties were wood products… but I found them a bit pricey)

The Nakasendo trail is longer than this and you can actually do a longer trail walk like the Spain “way of the Cross” where you stay at local inns… but for us, this was enough and a great way to experience the Edo times. 

Nara, Tenjin Festival and Kurumon

Well, most people have visited Osaka and Nara (best guess) so I think this would jst serve as a personal insight on what we did during the Tenjin Festival.

We came back from Osaka from Gifu prefecture and one of our stops was the KURUMON market.

definitely a foodie paradise for fresh seafood and other goodies

whole abalone in soy sauce.... so yummy!!!! 1600 yen or $15

 The whole abalone was a winner!!! went back for more!

grilled scallops... 

fresh uni (sea urchin)  about $11 a pc

tak0yaki heaven 

My kids ate several plates

you can actually pick and choose a lot... like resh sushi or sashimi or your choice. some places get crowded and better to scout around because price differ from store to store. We and a full brunch right there. After which, we took a train to NARA for some deer.....

The deer were quite aggressive when they know you have food... they would nudge you and bite your clothes... you can also make them bow to you... you just have to bow to them and they will bow back

The children had fun with the deer and we did not tour the temples anymore... since we were supposed to get back for the tenjin festival..

Tenjin Festival is every July 24 and 25 and it involves a lot of parades which will culminate when the images of the Gods are loaded into the boats and they would circle the city.

some people in the viewing decks

The city came alive with people... and it was interesting to watch how the street (near the festival sight was transformed into street food heaven... lots of new things to try, candy apples too. Most of the people tend to gather around the village to watch the floats come by...

Locals in traditional japanese costume (imspite of the summer heat!)

this was pretty good

I hate crowds but Japanese people are so nice and courteous that you won't mind mixing with them.. they dont even push and actually keep a good distance from you... so you never feel there is a "crowd".. loved the experience!

Shirakawa Go and Hida Furukawa

We booked a van (from our airbnb host who happens to be a tour guide )  to take us to Shirakawa go and Hida Furukawa. You can also reach the village via tour bus from the tourist office.

For info on how to get to Shiarkawa go... refer to my previous post here (jumping point was takayama)

The village and Gifu itself is located in central Japan.. if you ride the bus going there... all I can say is, enjoy the view.... its actually called the ALPS of Japan... views of villages, with fog rolling over them.... sigh...

shirakawa go village

We got to see the view from a hill of the shirakawa go village. It was as postcard perfect as you can get. Designated as a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE, it has preserved the way it builds its thatched roof houses.

It was quite interesting to see how the people of the village lived. Mostly by agriculture and lately through tourism (they built a road through the mountain, which made the village more accessible.)

rainbow trout feely swimming in the canal

I honestly was blown away by the beauty of the village. MUST SEE definitely. We then did a hike up some waterfalls... it was humid and yes, hot.

hike up to there!

sweaty!!!

July is not the best time to hike up a mountain! I think it was an experience but not the best one we had.


We then proceeded to Hida Furukawa. My kids know this from watching a famous anime hida no sato ( YOUR NAME). We quickly toured the town, the old village and the festival float exhibition (held every April)

We went to the canal where the koi were swimming... some were as big as my forearm!

one of the floats used in the festival

We really enjoyed the outing. We wished we had more time in Hida (it was already late in the afternoon).. maybe should have skipped the waterfalls.....

Takayama

I am back in Japan again for our family trip this July. This trip just came to me when I was attending the annual travel expo held every February and Takayama had a booth. I had seen a few pictures of shirakawa go before but the travel expo really gave me the idea to visit.

I booked a flight to Osaka... but I would later find out that it would be easier to fly to Nagoya and jump off from there to Gifu prefecture.

But then, we already had tickets to Osaka. So first option for us was to take a train. They have trains running from Osaka station (direct trains because I don't want to transfer trains and risk getting lost). We took the HIDA limited express train #25 from Osaka (click here) which leaves at platform 11. They also have trains from nagoya which will be faster.

You can also opt to take the bus ( see here ). the bus station also has bike rentals and luggage storage facilities if you want to take that option. We took this option going back to Osaka. I really enjoyed the ride through the mountains as Takayama is located in central Japan. (skiing is popular in winter) Both bus and train option takes about 4 hours.

TAKAYAMA

We booked an airbnb (which came out cheaper for our 11 pax party) and explored the city. Takayama is the center od HIDA beef of of the three famous brands of wagyu in Japan (other being kobe and matsunaga)

beef sashimi

We visited the old houses in town which preserved all the cooking methods and structures. It was quite interesting.

cooking mama

 another interesting thing is, the rivers had KOI swimming in them!

One of the MUST SEE places is the OLD TOWN which had a lot of preserved buildings (UNESCO sight) They had a lot of local artisans  shops (some, I might say, are quite expensive) and food (very touristy)

local artisan making wooden keychains

Japan in July is very humid (but I had no choice since it was the only time the kids were free) and sometimes, it would rain, which what happened when  we went to the old town.

rainy

I loved walking in the morning market, which is located near the river. There were people who sold vegetables, coffee in a edible cup, some local preserved veggies,

The kids were quite happy with eating hida beef skewers (which were available everywhere) and cooking steak at our airbnb.

You can opt to take the NOHI bus also to tour the other parts of town like the HIDA FOLK VILLAGE. The bus station is located near the tourist center in the middle of town. We didn't get to go there since we already went to shirakawa go and hida no sato (which I will talk about in the next blog)