I finished off my time in Kanazawa and it was time to jump on the Bullet train to my next destination which was another Onsen town in the middle of nowhere near Nagano Japan.  Why did I decide to go to another small town in the middle of nowhere?  Well a few words describe why Ryokan, Beer, Snow Monkeys and beautiful scenery.

I took the Shinkansen from Kanazawa to Nagano station and then transferred from there to another line that would take me out to Yamanouchi which had a pretty unique train.

Before discussing the train though there was another awesome thing I wanted to point out.  I had a bit of time between the two trains and needed to get something to eat.  I thought about going upstairs to the streets of Nagano to try and find something quick but wasn’t sure if i had enough time.  Then I noticed a few people standing up at a counter eating noodles and wandered over to see what was up.  There was a noodle bar with a standing counter which allowed you to walk up, pay, get quick noodles, eat them fast then continue in with your journey.  The noodles were good and cheap and they were ready super fast.  I loved the concept and wished North America could do something like this rather than fast food burgers etc.

The driver was located in a compartment above the front of the train so that the first row of the train could get a panoramic front facing view of the train ride!  I tried to take a few cool long exposure shots but since I haven’t edited any of them yet they are a but overexposed.  When my travels are over I will probably continue this blog with some photography related posts including my “Photography” of the trip.

I managed to get a spot in the front which was really cool and provided a lot of really cool views.

The train ride was actually a surprise but ended up being pretty cool.  One of the things several people had told me to do when I was in Japan was to stay at a Ryokan which is a traditional Japanese home stay of sorts.  Most of the ones I had seen advertised online were well over $100 but in this town, I found one a bit closer to my price range at just over $60.  I also opted for the breakfast option which was a home cooked breakfast served in the morning.  The person running the Ryokan offered to pick me up from the train station, drop my stuff off at the property then continue driving me to the Snow Monkey park, which was one of the reasons for my visit to this town.

You get dropped off at the snow monkey park about a 30 minute walk to the entrance to the actual park, but it is a beauty walk through the woods to get there.

The park was situated in a valley along a river which was also pretty pretty.

The snow monkeys live up in the higher parts of the mountains and come down to hang out in the park during the day before heading back up into the mountains at night.  There are hot springs in the area at resorts and they used to have problems where the monkeys would come during the winter to bath in the pools meant for humans, so the park decided to pump in hot spring water to a special pool in the park for the monekys exclusive use.  During the summer they kind of just hang out around the pool and don’t actually go swimming, but in the winter they apparently use the pool to stay warm.

The park itself was about $8 to enter and was nothing much other than the hot spring, part of the river and some walkways but it looked like that is where most of the monkeys were hanging out.

The snow monkeys clearly have not been fed by the tourists very much because they were all over the path and would allow you to get very close, but were not aggressive and were basically indifferent to whether you were there or not.  They were just living their lives as if  nobody was around, it was great.  It was also baby monkey season which made it super cute.

I hung around the monkey park for some time, taking lots of pictures and just watching the monkeys interact with each other.  It was interesting and hilarious.  Eventually I had to head back to the parking lot, where my ride was supposed to pick me up and take me back to my accommodations.  However, I decided to have him drop me off at the brewery in town instead.  The brewery was called Tamamura Honten Brewery and are the ones responsible for Shiga Kogen beer which is pretty famous throughout Japan.

The brewery was a bit weird as it appeared to just be their office and was also an art gallery.  I walked in and was encouraged to try any of the Sake form the bottles they had on the counter as well as explore the art gallery.  If i wanted some beer they would be able to pour me some as needed.

I checked out the art gallery then sat down for a few beers.  Since it was an office and art gallery vibe, it was a little bit awkward and so i tried two of their beers then headed into town for a bit of an exploration walk.

The town was in a bit of a valley with a river flowing through it and was very small.  I had asked where I should go for dinner and the suggestion was a place near the train station.  I decided to keep the “treat yo self” mentality and opted to eat something nice.  I ordered a sushi appetizer followed by a noodle dish.

The sushi was very good, but pretty expensive for what you got although at this point I was over it.  After dinner I made it back to the Ryokan and decided to settle in for a night of relaxation and chilling.

My room was pretty old and dated feeling but very cozy.  As is typical in Japan there was a mattress on the floor and that’s about it.  I had a nice view of the garden and a nice sitting area in the front.

There was also a hot spring bath in the place which I decided to check out.  There was only one other person staying in the place when I was there but he ended up bathing for a decent amount of time so eventually I got tired of waiting for him to finish and just joined him in the pool.  The bathing area was very similar to the room in that it was very dated and not very well kept up.  I guess this is what you get when you pick the cheapest possible Ryokan.  The picture actually makes it look even worse, but oh well, it was relaxing.

The pool was super hot and I tried my best to ease myself into it, but was struggling hard.  I eventually realized that I had burned myself in the water on my ankle where i was trying to get used to the heat.  My leg started to itch and then eventually a blister started to form and super itchy.  It took several days to work itself out so you know the water was indeed hot (although the guy was fully immersed in it!)  Eventually the guy noticed that I was struggling and showed me the water temperature control method.  There is a cold water tap on the wall as well as an angled pipe that diverts some of the spring water coming out.  By balancing the amount of cold water being added and the hot spring water being diverted, you can make the temperature of the pool a little bit more bearable.

After a nice relaxing soak, I returned to my room, got into my robe and had a nice relaxing night with a few beers I had picked up at the brewery and my book.

The next morning I woke up decently early for a nice run around town.  I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to go but eventually hit my stride and did a nice tour of the town as well as a bit up into the hills.  The town had a peace park which included three monuments .  In the Heiwa no oka Park there are three Deities: “Miroku” providing protection from Earthquakes,

“The Goddess for mercy and World Peace”

guaranteeing a long and peaceful life in happiness and “the tobacco deity” for granting support for smokers to stay healthy or to help smokers trying to quite.

It is said that by visiting all three and then ringing the big bell, one’s wishes will come true and happiness will reside.  I made this a goal for my run so I visited all three deities and rang the bell.  The run also had some great views.

Upon returning to the Ryokan I had a quick bath to clean up then told the nice old lady that I was ready for breakfast.  She brought me up to the breakfast room and continued to bring up food.  It was a great mix of different traditional Japanese dishes and I really enjoyed the experience.  I guess I forgot to take a photo of the complete spread as i started eating it as it came out.

The room was really cool and I had it all to myself.  The couple that owned the Ryokan were a wonderful old couple that didn’t speak english but were so sweet and welcoming.  The man made a point in asking me where I was from on the map and was very interested in learning where I was from.  My dad gave me a bunch of Canadian flags to bring with me on my trip to give to people, so i gave him one of them since they were so nice and welcoming.  I really felt the homey nature of the place and am really happy i decided to splurge a little bit on having this experience.

I checked out of the Ryokan and headed to the train station to catch my train.  I was a little bit early and what do you know there was a free hot spring foot spa next to the train station, so I hung out there while i waited for the train!

I eventually jumped on the train and headed back to Nagano in order to start my next adventure.  Look forward to that in my next post.