Nakasendo
Last week was one of my shorter work-weeks. I got a day off on Tuesday (the elusive day off between sessions - it seems I only get them now when the month has 31 days!), so I made use of it to get my reentry permit - sure, I've got a year's working visa, but I still have to pay an extra 3000yen to be let back into the country - and I thought Australia's $22.00 departure tax was extortion...
We also had a teary farewell dinner for the outgoing Advanced class on Monday night - I'm going to miss them, especially now that I'm teaching lower levels again. It was held at the Outback Steakhouse, an Australian-themed, but American owned and run, restaurant. At least they have good steaks; in fact, the best to be had in Nagoya as far as I know! I think it also had the greatest concentration of foreigners I've seen in one place all year...
Anyway, on top of the day off on Tuesday, Friday was also a national holiday ("Culture Day", apparently), which meant a long weekend! Just starting to feel human again...
Most of my colleagues had planned trips to Kyoto or Nagano months in advance, since holidays are the only time off that anybody gets (or, really, takes!), so everyone travels at the same time, and getting a last-minute booking on a long weekend is next to impossible. Therefore, in order not to waste the opportunity, a day-trip was in order. The guy I had bought my second-hand gas range from back in April had recommended a place he'd been to that was not too far from Nagoya, but a world away from the city. Just across the border into Nagano prefecture, in the Kiso valley, there are a couple of tourist towns called Magome and Tsumago, that have done their best to preserve the old sections of their towns as they were back in Edo times (ie. pre-industialisation), even going so far as to forbid putting up power and telephone poles, or allowing cars down the streets, although this policy obviously doesn't extend to the ubiquitous vending machines or stalls selling omiyage! However, between these towns runs the Nakasendo, the old road that connected Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto, which makes for a great 8km hike (and thoughtfully signposted in English, or at least Romaji).
The hike itself was not so arduous as getting there and back, though. Getting to Nagoya Station to get a highway bus to Magome took about three hours door-to-town, even though it's less than 100km as the crow flies. This meant that, despite leaving in the morning, it was already halfway through the afternoon by the time we got there. Also, this being November, it meant we had only a few precious hours of daylight left...
However, the views, as promised, were spectacular!
The town of Magome, which, but for the hordes of brightly-clad tourists, you could almost imagine troops of samurai swaggering down the street...
Of course, a few hundred metres out of town, and there were no more tourists, and stretches of the old road more or less as it was nearly 400 years ago.
Great stands of bamboo forest. I tried to get a picture of the kung-fu masters crossing swords in the treetops, but they were too fast! ;)
One of the many old waterwheels.
The view down the valley.
This is what lures the legions of tourists out here at this time of year - the autumn colours. It's still a bit early in the season, but in the mountains, it's turned into a riot of greens, yellows and reds covering the mountainsides. This, as well as the very pleasant weather (it's still going from a balmy 25C during the day to a little chilly 12C at night - I might just have to dig my jacket out again soon), makes autumn many people's favourite season. I must admit, they have a very strong case...
Close to the top of the pass between the two towns. In the towns, you sometimes wonder what people there do with the rest of their week when the tourists aren't around, but up here, we were walking past fields of vegetables and farmhouses with flashy new cars and satellite dishes. Not a bad way to get by...
On the way back down from the pass, the slope was gentler, and the forest a bit wilder. I was half waiting for ninjas to jump out at any moment...
The road followed the course of a little mountain stream most of the way down, and for once, it wasn't sculpted!
Being on the eastern side of the pass, night fell pretty quickly. Luckily, just as it was starting to look like we'd be stuck in the middle of nowhere in the dark, we emerged from the forest into the little town of Tsumago. Of course, just like some places I've been in Scotland and Ireland, since darkness had fallen, the town itself had completely shut down. We had missed the last bus out by 20 minutes, even though it was only just past 5:30, and we quickly realised that we were, after all, stuck in the middle of nowhere in the dark.
Fortunately, it seems this is not an uncommon occurrence, and we realised that the tourist map we'd picked up had thoughtfully provided a list of local taxi services, one of which whisked us 5 minutes down the road to the nearest train station. We arrived just in time to see the train pull out of the station, with a hour to wait for the next one. We asked the station attendant if there were any restaurants nearby, and were assured there weren't. We had some time to kill, so we decided to have a look around, and found a place across the street from the station! I suppose if we'd asked for an izakaya, he might have told us...
There's a big difference between a country pub in Australia and Japan. There's nobody in singlets or thongs for a start, and no foam stubby holders, but there's always a guy in a suit! And no matter what, noone will hassle you - they might ignore you, or stare when they think you're not looking, but they'll never give you trouble. And as long as there's a few yen to be made, you'll always get a smile and a hearty welcome and great service. So, after a refreshing meal of katsudon and mountain pickles, and a couple rounds of hot sake, we were back to civilisation on the next train...
We also had a teary farewell dinner for the outgoing Advanced class on Monday night - I'm going to miss them, especially now that I'm teaching lower levels again. It was held at the Outback Steakhouse, an Australian-themed, but American owned and run, restaurant. At least they have good steaks; in fact, the best to be had in Nagoya as far as I know! I think it also had the greatest concentration of foreigners I've seen in one place all year...
Anyway, on top of the day off on Tuesday, Friday was also a national holiday ("Culture Day", apparently), which meant a long weekend! Just starting to feel human again...
Most of my colleagues had planned trips to Kyoto or Nagano months in advance, since holidays are the only time off that anybody gets (or, really, takes!), so everyone travels at the same time, and getting a last-minute booking on a long weekend is next to impossible. Therefore, in order not to waste the opportunity, a day-trip was in order. The guy I had bought my second-hand gas range from back in April had recommended a place he'd been to that was not too far from Nagoya, but a world away from the city. Just across the border into Nagano prefecture, in the Kiso valley, there are a couple of tourist towns called Magome and Tsumago, that have done their best to preserve the old sections of their towns as they were back in Edo times (ie. pre-industialisation), even going so far as to forbid putting up power and telephone poles, or allowing cars down the streets, although this policy obviously doesn't extend to the ubiquitous vending machines or stalls selling omiyage! However, between these towns runs the Nakasendo, the old road that connected Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto, which makes for a great 8km hike (and thoughtfully signposted in English, or at least Romaji).
The hike itself was not so arduous as getting there and back, though. Getting to Nagoya Station to get a highway bus to Magome took about three hours door-to-town, even though it's less than 100km as the crow flies. This meant that, despite leaving in the morning, it was already halfway through the afternoon by the time we got there. Also, this being November, it meant we had only a few precious hours of daylight left...
However, the views, as promised, were spectacular!
The town of Magome, which, but for the hordes of brightly-clad tourists, you could almost imagine troops of samurai swaggering down the street...
Of course, a few hundred metres out of town, and there were no more tourists, and stretches of the old road more or less as it was nearly 400 years ago.
Great stands of bamboo forest. I tried to get a picture of the kung-fu masters crossing swords in the treetops, but they were too fast! ;)
One of the many old waterwheels.
The view down the valley.
This is what lures the legions of tourists out here at this time of year - the autumn colours. It's still a bit early in the season, but in the mountains, it's turned into a riot of greens, yellows and reds covering the mountainsides. This, as well as the very pleasant weather (it's still going from a balmy 25C during the day to a little chilly 12C at night - I might just have to dig my jacket out again soon), makes autumn many people's favourite season. I must admit, they have a very strong case...
Close to the top of the pass between the two towns. In the towns, you sometimes wonder what people there do with the rest of their week when the tourists aren't around, but up here, we were walking past fields of vegetables and farmhouses with flashy new cars and satellite dishes. Not a bad way to get by...
On the way back down from the pass, the slope was gentler, and the forest a bit wilder. I was half waiting for ninjas to jump out at any moment...
The road followed the course of a little mountain stream most of the way down, and for once, it wasn't sculpted!
Being on the eastern side of the pass, night fell pretty quickly. Luckily, just as it was starting to look like we'd be stuck in the middle of nowhere in the dark, we emerged from the forest into the little town of Tsumago. Of course, just like some places I've been in Scotland and Ireland, since darkness had fallen, the town itself had completely shut down. We had missed the last bus out by 20 minutes, even though it was only just past 5:30, and we quickly realised that we were, after all, stuck in the middle of nowhere in the dark.
Fortunately, it seems this is not an uncommon occurrence, and we realised that the tourist map we'd picked up had thoughtfully provided a list of local taxi services, one of which whisked us 5 minutes down the road to the nearest train station. We arrived just in time to see the train pull out of the station, with a hour to wait for the next one. We asked the station attendant if there were any restaurants nearby, and were assured there weren't. We had some time to kill, so we decided to have a look around, and found a place across the street from the station! I suppose if we'd asked for an izakaya, he might have told us...
There's a big difference between a country pub in Australia and Japan. There's nobody in singlets or thongs for a start, and no foam stubby holders, but there's always a guy in a suit! And no matter what, noone will hassle you - they might ignore you, or stare when they think you're not looking, but they'll never give you trouble. And as long as there's a few yen to be made, you'll always get a smile and a hearty welcome and great service. So, after a refreshing meal of katsudon and mountain pickles, and a couple rounds of hot sake, we were back to civilisation on the next train...
posted by Ia Ftaghn at 7:03 pm
2 Comments:
Actually, the map does say otherwise, but checking the kanji, I believe you're right. Another nit well-picked! ;)
Hey Dan,
Very nice pics (your camera phone must have a good resolution) and travel descriptions. I liked your latest trek out of town.
Is the other person in the "we" going to get a look-in with the camera?
Hope you can wrangle some more days off - if only for some armchair travel for us home-bound folks.
Keep on bloggin'
best,
Leon
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