Central Japan Tour Day 8
Fujifilm X100VI 23mm f/2: 1/8s, f/11, ISO500
This was another moving day, and the first time in 20 years boarding a Shinkansen (bullet train).
Fujifilm X100VI 23mm f/2: 1/125s, f/2.8, ISO3200
I missed posting this photo of the dining area in the hotel last post, so here’s that.
We boarded the Shinkansen in Toyama. The group of us arrived at Toyama station early to make sure that no one would miss the train that always arrives on time and opens and shuts its doors expeditiously! It was certainly an adventure doing so. I don’t recall much of the actual train ride because I fell asleep 😴🤷🏻♂️. I recall Shinkansen food carts being surprisingly good, but I missed it if it happened. I believe it was less than 1-hour that we were on this one.
We arrived in Nagano and enjoyed lunch in a mushroom specialty restaurant called Kinokomura Shinzan (thank you Jolie!). I really enjoyed this lunch! I also remember it being very cold here. After finishing lunch, many of us ducked into the accompanying store for warmth!
Fujifilm X100VI 23mm f/2: 1/500s, f/2.8, ISO800
Next, we went apple picking at a Nagano farm. I was hoping for the chance to experience a new breed of fancy Japanese Apple like the honey crisp is to Americans, but alas, this was Fuji Apple season in the area. I did appreciate getting to experience eating a freshly picked apple, which was much easier to dig into than the persimmons from before, and the fresh apple juice I purchased from the shop was Oishi (delicious) with a crisp aftertaste! I didn’t get a lot of photos from this stop though because it seemed they were camera shy (no photography signs were posted). 🙈
Then we came to… the strangest stop on this trip: the Tateshina Teddy Bear Museum. It was very unique and definitely not a stop I would plan, but that’s precisely what I enjoy about going on these tours. When I read that we would be bussed on the famous “Venus Line scenic road” I perked up a bit because the name sparked a recent memory I have with a very weird 2-core (2-seasons) anime called Birdie Wing where the opening song is called “Venus Line.” (Apparently there’s very little cross-over between the two, but the song’s a bop)
The main event for the day, however, came at the end of it when we settled into the Yatsugatake Grace Hotel which I think was my favorite hotel stay on the trip. It was also the shortest stay. We were treated to a Kaiseki (multi-course) dinner followed by a genki (energetic) performance by our tour leaders and a premature farewell to our luggage handler, Suzuki-san 🥲. This was the starkest example of when I should’ve probably recorded some video instead of just snapping stills… but alas, I did what I did. Mom was so enthralled by the entertainment portion that she forgot to eat her birthday cake.
This hotel is relatively high up in the mountains so they offered a star-gazing guided viewing in the evening. It was VERY cold so only a few from our group decided to partake on this adventure. The hotel provides some cold-gear which you’ll see in the next post. We walked about a quarter-mile out to a field, and were instructed to lay down on the provided mats to witness the cloudless starry night. It was beautiful. We shivered while listening to the hotel staff guide describe, in fluent 日本語 (Japanese), the stars and constellations and galaxies that were visible and invisible in that night’s sky (the brightness of the waning near-full moon proved to be a minor drawback to a fully immersive experience). The guide used a narrow-beam flashlight to point out areas of interest. There was very little I understood from the presentation, but it was a freezing good time!