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. 

Conquering THE ROCK

Joining the 2nd corregidor international half marathon was exciting to say the least. For those who know corregidor, it is one of the last strongholds of the US and Philippines forces during WWII.

Most of us learned about it during history class in high school. I actually love the sense of history this run gave me. For more info click HERE. I ran a 10k. I had no expectations of running fast whatsoever. I have heard that they have the steepest hills you can run. (it was actually like climbing up a mountain)

We woke up about 3am Dec 10. We had to catch a ferry going to the island at 5:30 am. The trip took about 1 1/2 hours. (it gave me an opportunity to take a nap on the boat). I surveyed most of the runners there and noticed they were very experienced runners by the way they were preparing for disembarkation.
Some had full on compression suits and were putting on several globs of sunscreen. By the way they looked (very lean and fit) and the gear they had on (very "runner"), you can tell they were serious.

It was humbling.

I was glad I was running only a 10k.

The 21k runners were the first up. All in all, I think the total runners for both events were about 387.

The 10k runners were so few, I had a chance to run in FRONT.  (I think most of the people were afraid to position in front.. maybe pressure to run faster?).. I checked later on and discovered we were 98 runners in total.

The start of the race went with a loud honking of the bull horn. I ran a faster pace at first because I knew I had to slow down when I got to the "killer" hills. I needed to gain more ground. About 100- 200 meters from the starting point, we were going to do a turn. This turn was going up an 45 degree uphill incline.

pretty hard to take a picture of yourself while going uphill!

This incline went for about another 1.5km!!! I tried running, well, for the most part, jogging.. but I was afraid I wouldn't last the rest of the 8km that I still had to go. --- at least most of the 10k runners did not attempt to run uphill too. I was not alone!!!

I took several shots of the ruins and the scenery while jogging.

used some artsy effects...

loved this part of the run. very relaxing!

I took opportunities when the roads got more even to run a bit. One thing about his run is you get to see a lot of sights. Like ruins (see above) from world war 2. At some point during my 3rd kilometer, I got into a conversation with a fellow runner. Her husband is a serious runner and left her (he was going for a fast time... I eventually found out that he was the first place finisher in the 10k at 49 minutes...wow!)

So, Michelle (that's her name) was grumbling how it was so hard to take pictures when you are alone. Echoing her sentiment, I offered to take her picture if she would take mine. So I had a running/picture taking buddy from 3km onwards.

It was quite fun after that because we took turns taking each other pictures and babbling about our running experiences. (we both were recreational runners). I found the time and the kilometers went by quickly. We also found ourselves in some "jungle-like" conditions in one part of the race. Thankfully, no rain for that day or we would have been crawling over mud. (the day before saw a heavy downpour and flooding that I was worried we were going to swim our way to the island)

The sightseeing runners just had to take a picture with the antique gunnery

I think doing this run is the best ending to the year. I really enjoyed this most of all the runs I have attempted. WHY?

1. the route was challenging and yet enjoyable at the same time. You get to see history and nature and get fit too.

2. the limited number of runners made it extra special. As I was running towards the last 200m, I was cheered on by the volunteers and was actually all alone on the route. It made me feel like I was the FIRST one coming to the finish line. The announcers was calling out my bib # as I was running towards the finish and they even had a ribbon for me to cross! wow. unbelievable feeling!!! Made me feel like a winner all the waaayyy!~~~ (unlike other runs where participant number by the thousands, you get lost in the crowd coming in)

3. They handed me a rose and a medal.

We had a nice lunch (which was included in the race fee)-- my husband and friend said they could not taste the food from being so exhausted -- they ran 21k and were cramping so bad during the last half of the race. (most were hills). I was thankful I had a more enjoyable run and had time to even take pictures..! (but honestly, I could really feel the downhill on my knees)

We also took the tour after since our boat ferry back was at 5:30. The tour guide was a elderly white haired gentleman who amazed me with his encyclopedic knowledge of history. He even recited the farewell letter of the admiral who surrendered the island to the Japanese. It was like a Filipino David Attenborough and I was watching the history channel without the guy having a script. To think he looked about 70! WOWZER. If you are interested in doing the tour, click HERE

The pictures from the event are not yet available. I am excited to see the picture they took as I was crossing the finish line. (imagine me... arms up leaping over the ribbon... hehehe) will update this blog when it comes out.

Even with all the picture taking, I managed to finish 48th place out of 98 runners. Not bad eh? 1:34 mins. upper 50th percentile is not bad for one who has no training and was taking pictures.