Trip 3 - Day 3: Nakasendo from Nagiso to Nojiri

The day dawned bright and clear this morning - a welcome surprise after the rain-fest that closed out the day yesterday. After a buffet breakfast (gak), we jumped on the shuttle bus and were back at Nagiso JR station by 9:30am ready to test ourselves on the 16km walk up over the Nenouetouge Pass to Nojiri - both of which were important postal towns along the Nakasendo in their day (alas no longer). Right from the get go the weather was absolutely glorious, and after grabbing some snacks at the local supermarket, and donning our sunnies, we were on our merry way.

Japanese country supermarkets. Good for rice crackers, nuts and chocolate.

The Nakasendo wound its way out of Nagiso, between houses, through farms, and slowly made its way up the valley. As with the previous day, we passed through many stands of tall japanese cyprus and thick bamboo groves, emerging to find farmsteads and hamlets nestled higher and higher up in the valley.

Bear filled forests lead us to faming hamlets futher and further up the valley

Slowly we were climbing up through the valley, with views becoming more and more spectacular with each farmstead we uncovered. The only sounds we heard were the wind in the trees, the constant rush of the ever-present stream, and the birds. Very peaceful indeed.

We stopped for a break at the 7km mark, eating some snacks and drinking some water and generally giving our feet a rest. As we sat and munched, we saw many groups of walkers pass us, all of them from countries other than Japan.

Stopping for a snack and a rest for weary feet before continuing the ascent

When we restarted our journey the track started to climb in earnest, making its final play for the pass. The last 3kms up to the summit were through some deep wooded forest and we were hard pressed to keep our legs pumping.

The final forested climb up to the Nenouetouge Pass.

But finally we emerged from the pass and looked forward to the downhill stretch. The last 4km of the Nakesendo runs from the pass all the way down the valley side into Nagiso following a reasonably steep bitumen road. Apart from playing hell with the balls of our aging feet, it was a cake-walk compared to climbing up to the pass.

The final leg down from the pass was all on bitumen road

Finally we made it down to Nojiri JR station by 3:05 - just 10 minutes shy of the recommended 2:55pm train to Kiso-Fukushima where we would be staying for the night. We were so fucking stoked to have made it the full 16.5kms and be still standing, that we dropped to our bellies and kissed the immaculately clean pavement outside the station.

JR Nogiri Station and its infinitely kissable pavement.

This left 2 and a half hours to kill in Nojiri before the next train at 5:30pm. We decided to try the local cafe run by a sweet old lady who took her coffee very, very seriously. Turns out she makes a killer drip filter and her chocolate cake was the bomb. Oh my god, so damn good after a day's walking.

Our cafe in Nojiri - killer coffee and that awesome chocolate cake

With a little more wandering around Nojiri, downing the odd Pokari Sweat, and snapping a few photos, our train finally arrived. And soon we had arrived at Kiso-Fukushima, and hurried to walk the 15 minutes to our lodgings for the night - a historic onsen ryoken. We passed many beautiful old buildings in the dark on the way to the ryokan - but we'll have to wait until tomorrow morning to find out how beautiful they really are!

We made it to our ryokan 'Onyado Tsutaya' just in time for checkin and a quick wash before a beautiful Kaiseki style dinner. The welcome tea was very nice, and the dinner was even better. Man were we starving.

Love the traditional room

Kaiseki dinner before a long hot soak

After dinner we retired to the onsen for a long hot soak. While the ryokan has both indoor and outdoor baths, I went straight to the outdoor and plunged myself for a good long while working the tiredness out of my leg muscles and working up a good sweat. The outdoor bath looks out over the Kiso river and while it is some way below you, the crashing sound of the river is every-present. Utter heaven after a long day.

The indoor and outdoor onsen. Sugoi!!

Relive video of today's epic walk:

Trip 3 - Day 2: Nakasendo from Magome-juku to Nagiso

Our first day on the Nakasendo trail today and it was amazing! We were up and out of our hotel early to catch a shinkansen to Nagoya, a local train to Nakatsugawa, and finally a bus to get us on the trail by 11:50am. Phew!

Planes, trains and automobiles

On the bus with us were quite a number of ahem - non-Japanese - all in their hiking gear, so we expected it to be a little bumper-to-bumper on the trail.

Amazing dango was consumed without TV cameras.

We started our walk at the bottom of the hill in the beautiful postal town of Magome-juku by munching on delicious dango - the same dango, and in the same place, that Lucas, Richard and I were filmed by a Japanese film crew a few years previous (see trip 1!). Ahh, memories! Damn but that dango is good though - I just couldn't resist a second round.

The official start!

And the weather! Gloriously, it was not raining at all, just overcast with the threat of sunshine! We could not have had a better start to the day for walking. Except for maybe some sunshine. We were soon on our way up the hill through the town and snapping photos left and right. The town, beautifully restored and maintained  by the locals, was just stunning.

The beautiful town of Magome-juku.

As we made our way up through town, a steady stream of Japanese tourists surrounded us, only to peter out when we reached the top of the hill and crossed the road to continue up the trail. From this point on, we had only other hikers to contend with.

Only hikers beyond this point.

For a little while, the trail mirrored the road, criss-crossing it back and forth a few times. At about the point that we'd discovered, and duly clanged, our first bear bell, it began to rain - heavy enough to think about our pack covers, but not heavy enough to be bothered getting our goretex jackets out.

Watch out - bears about!

Soon the trail descended into the forest proper, and the modern world dropped away. Surrounded by japanese cedar, interspersed with groves of bamboo, the ancient paved trail disappeared into greenery ahead. The only sounds we could hear were the crunch of our boots on gravel, the burble of the stream down in the valley, and the loud clanging of bear bells from the other hikers walking somewhere ahead of us. We really felt our spirits rise higher and higher as the tranquility of the forest enveloped us.

The ancient Nakasendo in all it's glory

It took us about an hour of steady, and at times steep, up-hill climbing to finally reach the apex of the path - Magome pass - and we were then treated to a long downhill descent to the next postal town of the Nakasendo - Tsumago-juku.

We finally make it to Magome Pass.

About half-way to Tsumago-juku we came upon an old tea house that provides a free cup of green tea (with donation) to weary travelers on the road. The service is run by volunteers and is yet another way the locals of Magome and Tsumago are keeping the spirit of the Nakasendo alive. The old dude running the place was very friendly, and the whole experience really refreshed us (dare i say spiritually? no better not).

Traditionsal tea house. Notice all non-japanese hikers!

A little way along from the tea house the rain really started in earnest and we were forced to grab our rain jackets for the first time. Unforftunately, the rain never really let up for the rest of the walk to Nagiso, but we took it in our stride. As Mitchel has said time and time again - a day in the rain is still 100x better than a day at the desk.

Paddy fields on the way down to Tsumago-juku

As we neared Tsumago, we passed paddy fields and small hamlets, all the while descending into the valley shrouded in clouds. Before too long we were in Tsumago proper, another absolutely beautiful town. We rued our aggressive schedule that would see us at Nagiso by 4:05pm (sharp!) to get the shuttle to our onsen hotel, as this left precious little time for enjoying the town. A stop for some sustenance would have been very welcome, but instead we snapped some photos and continued on our way towards Nagiso JR station another 3.5kms away.

Tsumago-juku is another beautifully restored postal town

The rain was falling quite steadily by now so there's little to tell of the journey from Tsumago to Nagiso. We were joined by a group of European travelers who were also making for the same shuttle appointment, so we were able to draft in behind them. They kept a very keen pace, and we were able to finally reach Nagiso station by 3:55pm. 10 minutes early!

Finally arrived at JR Nagiso with minutes to spare!

We were weary but really pleased with what we had accomplished. 12.3kms in around 4.5 hours (hey there was a lot of sightseeing in there!) and 500 photos. Not a bad effort.

Here is the relive video. Unfortunately I didn't turn the tracker off until we were a couple of kms down the road in the shuttle bus. You guys get it.


Postscript
We're staying in a big onsen hotel. The outdoor bath is hot and beautiful. I came back in and was sitting on my little wooden stool soaping up my bits and bobs when the female attendant started wiping and tidying the station beside me. I mean it's ok when she could be your grandma, but this nice lady wasn't much older than me. No one else paid her any heed, but inside i burned with ingrained anglo embarrassment. At least she thanked me as I was leaving.

Trip 3 - Day 1: Osaka

Well, we are finally here! After a day of typhoons and flight delays, we finally landed in Kansai (9pm - only 3 hours late as it happens) and made our way into the city. With the airport express whisking us to Namba station in a very comfortable 45 minutes, we decided to walk the remaining 1.5 km to the hotel - dragging the bags, but just happy to be on our feet and back in Japan. By 11:30 we'd checked in, inhaled some salmon onigiri from the local konbini, and were tucked up in bed exhausted.

Rising at a respectable 8am, we grabbed some breakfast at the hotel buffet and then hit the streets. Our first destination was the riverside restaurant strip of Dotonbori to snap some photos before the weekend deluge of visitors. As it happened, our meandering path took us through the trendy America-mura portion of the city, akin to Tokyo's Harajuku, so we got to see that for free despite the fact that it was far too early in the morning for all the pretty young things to be out and about.

 

Dotonbori was just starting to wake up when we arrived. We snapped a couple of obligatory photos in front of the Glico running man sign, and then walked the food street. We wandered up and down surrounded by food stalls with their huge signage and drank it all in. Thing is, we weren't hungry enough to actually eat anything yet. Hmm, poor planning that, but we walked and dodged the slow build of other pedestrians, and we walked some more.

Dotonbori food street and it's huge signs

Soon we made our way down a narrow little laneway that shoots off Dotonbori towards Hozenji Temple - a small temple tucked away in the nest of narrow streets behind the food Mecca, and containing a moss covered effigy of someone whose features are totally occluded. By moss. We dutifully clapped our hands, made our offering, and splashed the moss-dude with water. I'm assured that a successful trip is all but guaranteed.

Hozenji Temple behind Dotonbori

Gotta make that moss.

Still not hungry, but wishing to start our food adventure (for appearances sake more than anything) we decided to walk back to the Namba area, and sample the Namba Ramen Ichiza - a collection of 9 ramen shops from all over Japan collected on the 9th floor of the edION building near Namba station.

In no time at all we were sitting in the DanDan noodle shop, ready to sample Osaka's famous Tantan men ramen.

Tantan Men Ramen in Namba Ramen Ichiza

It was a fish-based ramen broth, which I had never had before, and it was pretty damn good. Not to mention the gyoza that we inhaled along with it were exquisite (when are they ever not?).

With full bellies we decided to keep heading south to the old Shinsekai part of the city in search of another Osaka delicacy Kushikatsu - crumbed, fried things on a stick. Again we took a meandering path, always tending southwards, but turning down each street that looked the most interesting.

Once we were out of Namba, we found ourselves in another famous part of the city - Denden Town - which is where all the electronics, pop-art and anime (ie geek stuff) can be found. On the way through, we saw lines of middle-aged men waiting to go into idol shows, and then even got to witness a show ourselves. A single idol, obviously a rising star, was giving a performance in the car park out back of a small market.

Her cadre of loyal fans were out to support her - belting out lyrics and clapping in time, even dancing where needed.  One dude in particular delighted us with his amazing outfit and slick moves. This guy really knew the material.

In no time we'd reached the Shinsekai area and could see the famous Tsutenkaku Tower looming over us. Using it as a beacon, we made towards it, reaching the old shopping streets that surround it. In a small covered market I found a t-shirt stall run by a cool dude named Masahiro who did all the designs and screen printing himself. I dutifully purchased one of this originals.

Matsuhiro of Absolutely Marvelous Designs

Coming out of the covered market we ran smack-bang into the base of the tower, and proceeded to investigate the old restaurant quarter laid around its feet.

The old Shinsekai district of Osaka

We wandered, and wandered, and wandered some more - snapping a shit-tonne of photos before finally selecting a Kushikatsu place for some fried morsels and a beer. The food was ok - a little bit oily (duh) but the beer was very welcome!

Kushikatsu and beer makes a nice afternoon snack!

Having sated what appetite we had regained, we turned for home, deciding again to walk back to the hotel. Our meandering path re-commenced, and we managed to see a few more of the DenDen Town, Dotondori and America-mura back streets before reaching the hotel. It was amazing how many more people packed the streets now that the sun was over the yard-arm, and we were kinda glad we got out so early.

After a rest and a shower back in the room, and with a little tap-tap on this epic treatise, we ventured out again to get some dinner. Given how much we love Okinomiyaki, one thing on my food list was Osaka-style Okinomiyaki. I had in mind a recommended little place near Hozenji Temple called Hozenji-yokocho Yakizen from whence we could procure same. With this in mind, we walked back to Dontonbori, now all lit up in neon splendour.

The Dotondori river by night

Hozenji-yokocho Yakizen

Okinomiyaki was duly consumed, but it did not, it must be said, live up to the hype established by its infinitely more desirable, and umami-filled cousin, Hiroshima-style Okinomiyaki.

Osaka-style Okinomiyaki

We trudged back to the hotel full but unsatisfied. May tomorrow bring something new to tempt our tastebuds. Talking of tomorrow, the weather report for our first day hiking is pretty woeful so we'll see how 12kms in the rain sounds. Can't wait!