Welcome to Japan! You already read about about Osaka, Himeji, Hiroshima and Kyoto in previous blogs! We visited old castles, mystical temples, bamboo forests, strange restaurants, love hotels and countless skyscrapers. After some wandering we arrived in chaotic Tokyo. You can perfectly visit this country on your own! Before we leave Japan, there is one more beautiful itinerary that we should not miss. The ancient Nakasendo Route is a 500 km long hiking trail that was once constructed during the time of the Samurai. It runs from Kyoto through all kinds of traditional villages to the most beautiful nature in Japan: we travel through the Japanese Alps!
The Geisha-city in the Japanese Alps: Kanazawa
Our first stop is the city of Kanazawa, where we start with a city walk; the night bus only arrives so early that we take a kind of sleepwalk through the center like two heavily loaded zombies. Every now and then I still click on my camera, but the biggest attraction is still the bed in our hotel. The Japanese night buses are great, but if the distance is too short you will only get a maximum of about five hours of sleep. The journey was often only three hours; the driver parks the car somewhere at night to create time for our beauty sleep.
On the one hand, Kanazawa is a modern city with lots of art and architecture, but it also has one of the best preserved old centers. In the old geisha district we walk around a kind of open-air museum full of wooden ryokans. However, the geishas have made way for newly married couples who do entire photo shoots in traditional clothing. Without selfie sticks this time, so that’s already unique! From the old town we walk towards Ishakawa-mon castle. With that name I expected a cool stage 3 Pokémon from my childhood hero Ash Catchum, but unfortunately it was just a castle. We walk through the castle park and arrive at the Kenroku-en gardens.
We have overcome the biggest disappointment in the gardens, because they are in the top three in Japan. ‘So what’? Well, in Japan gardening is top sport. They are immensely popular: the Japanese really take a photo with every bridge, tree and flower!
Bathe among naked Japanese in the typical ‘onsen’
If you travel a little longer in Japan, especially inland, you will increasingly come across the famous ‘onsen’, the typical Japanese bathhouse. We are very curious to know ‘what all the fuzz is about’! We put on a lovely pair of Japanese pajamas and head to the onsen. Along the way we meet dozens of people in the same monkey suits and we are the only foreigners. In my swimming trunks I walk to the (then empty) men’s pool when Suus calls me back. She doesn’t do it often, but she threw out a classic ‘OMG’: ‘all naked old ladies with big bushes of hair!’. From the way she said it, I could tell that she didn’t mean the regular flowerpot hairstyles on the head.
We discovered that the Japanese are a lot less prudish than we thought and that we are somewhat ‘overdressed’ in this onsen. Anyway, there’s no one here, so we’ll make a quick video. With the previous ‘surprising’ image still fresh on her mind, Suus is not eager to meet more bunches of hair and perhaps a snack-size spring roll. We quickly jump into the boiling lava, because that’s how you should imagine this bath. And just as we’re done, we see a thin Japanese stem coming through the glass. We quickly run back to the changing room and have yet another unique and revealing Japanese experience!
A return trip with the time machine in Takayama
From Kanazawa we take the bus to Takayama, although I must honestly admit that I mixed everything up at the time, so for example I said Kanayama and Takanawa. Cities often have the same syllables the other way around, such as Kyoto and Tokyo.
The city of Takayama is the most traditional city in Japan, with many fairytale streets and ancient temples. We rent a bicycle and see what Japan must have looked like a few hundred years ago.
Yet we find the most interesting sight in a museum that does not focus so much on antiquity, but rather on developments over the past century. The Showa-Hall focuses on the 60s and 70s, with hundreds of movie posters, household appliances, means of transportation, toys; a paradise full of vintage items that we are amazed by. Via an old-fashioned sweet shop we walk into a recreated street with all kinds of small buildings in which a cafeteria, a hairdresser’s shop, a living room, a kitchen, a schoolroom, etc. are perfectly furnished down to the last detail. Somehow we’re surprised that the stuff doesn’t differ much from our own old junk, but then everything has a little Japanese touch.
Japan’s huge wooden castle and fantastic views in Matsumoto
From Takayama we continue by bus through a fantastic alpine landscape and we make a stop at a famous piece of UNESCO World Heritage. The Japanese Alps are home to typical chalets with high pointed roofs, which are not found anywhere else in the world. Against a backdrop of glimmering mountain peaks, we take a walk through the photogenic village of Shirakawa-Go.
In Matsumoto we visit the largest and oldest wooden castle in Japan, one of the four national treasures. Earlier we also visited the castles of Himeji and Osaka. Matsumoto’s is perhaps the most special! A bright red bridge takes us over a bright green canal to the gigantic black castle and it is not difficult to imagine what Japan must have looked like five hundred years ago, in places like this.
From the city we walk into the mountains for a stunning view of the valley in which Matsumoto is located. We visit the oldest school in Japan, which is still in exactly the same condition as in 1873. In a beautiful classical building, the notebooks are still on the table. Our walk ends in the so-called Alps Park, which contains a zoo. High in the mountains live native animals such as raccoons, foxes, martens and deer.
The Japanse Alps: Nagano
The last destination of our trip through Japan is the city of Nagano, known for the 1998 Olympic Games. It is a modern city located in the middle of the Japanese Alps between the most beautiful ski areas in the Kiso Valley. We travel from the city by train through the mountains to a tiny town called Yudanaka. The region is famous for two things: soba noodles, a local specialty (very tasty!) and another unique phenomenon. A colony of monkeys lives in the mountains and is known for using a natural hot spring; the only monkeys in the world that practice wellness!
We arrive in the evening in pitch darkness in a town that reminds me of Japanese anime films; While we test our backs by walking for half an hour with our break-your-back packs, we see people everywhere in bathrobes walking down the street in wooden slippers that look about as comfortable as clogs during a running race.
Everyone has them: wooden blocks that the Samurai carry in a cartoon. The tapping echoes through the streets as we pass dozens of bathhouses. The steam coming from all the houses creates a kind of mysterious atmosphere in this village. Finding our hotel is also a mystery as all signage is in Japanese characters. Fortunately, Japan is very hospitable and the people are happy to help you. Without saying a word, an old lady takes us by the hand and guides us to the hotel. How did she know? No idea; apparently there is only one hotel where a westerner ever visits in this hole. Exhausted, we enter the traditional Japanese ryokan, where in a large room there is only a small table on the bamboo carpet. We have to pull out the futon beds ourselves, but then we fall asleep like a log.
Monkeys in a hot tub? Only in the Japanese Alps!
From our hotel it is a beautiful walk through the Japanese Alps, between a jungle of enormous conifers. It smells exactly like that famous car scent in the shape of the pine tree! At the top of the mountain, the trail ends at Jigokudani National Park, better known as Snow Monkey Park. Despite my prayers that morning, the weather gods did not provide any snow; the chance was not that great since it is about 25 degrees here in the month of May. Anyway, we’ll just have to make do with Sunshine Monkeys.
We walk between waterfalls and geysers to a bath that is world famous for its bathers. Slowly some monkeys come to take a look and drink a sip from the water. We wait until one of them takes a seat in the jacuzzi to recover from a hard day of collecting nuts. When things get busier, monkey-wise, we would prefer to give them a little push. When two monkeys get into a fight over a spot next to the pool, a real fight breaks out. So you see a nice comparison with us humans, who, after years of evolution, invented ‘the towel by the pool’ to secure our spot. But no, no towels here, so although it can’t really be called wellness; we finally see the monkeys in the water. With my head held high and a decent wooden ass, I leave the park.
Door naar Zuid-Korea!
At the end of a holiday it is always a bad moment, leaving the country to go home. That doesn’t bother us this time, because the next adventure awaits around the corner! From the Japanese Alps we’re a stones throw away from a nearby South Korea. We know very little about it, but that makes it all the more adventurous! Read more about this quickly using the following link: Backpacking South Korea. Don’t want to miss a video of our trips? Then subscribe to my YouTube-channel!
