Nagano Prefecture, Japan

We left Kanazawa on the high-speed Shinkansen train heading east to Nagano. Once there, we switched to the Nagano Electric Railway to go up into the mountains towards the ski village of Yamanochi. We were met at the small train station in Yudanaka by a driver from our hotel. Since it was still early in the day, he brought us to the Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park. You may recall the hot-springs-bathing monkeys there, they were made famous during the 1998 Winter Olympics that took place in Nagano.

These Japanese Macaques, better known as snow monkeys, are the northernmost monkey species. They live high in the mountains and descend into the valley each day to eat and (when the weather is cold enough) bathe in the hot spring pools. To reach their habitat, you have to walk over a mile into the valley on a trail through a beautiful alpine pine forest.

Since it was spring, the trail was wet and muddy from the snow melt. Luckily we had put on our waterproof hiking boots. Only a few patches of snow remained. The monkeys had long, red faces with human-like expressions. It was a warmer, sunny spring day so the monkeys were not bathing, but they were hanging out around the water and were very photogenic. We got lots of good pictures. I took a picture of a poster in the visitor center showing them in the water too.

Once done with our monkey experience, our driver took us to our hotel. We had decided to stay at a traditional Japanese Ryokan called the Shibu Hotel. It was in the historic mountain village of Shibu Onsen. The village is known for its healing hot springs that were discovered over 1300 years ago by a Buddhist priest named Gyoki. Stories of its healing properties quickly spread making it a popular pilgrimage site.

We had never stayed in a Ryokan before. We were greated in the entryway by the owner who kindly asked us to remove our shoes and put them on a rack. We then walked in our stockings up one step across a tatami mat where sandals waited for us to slip into to continue into the lobby. One would never wear one’s outside shoes inside someone’s home! While we are on the topic, one would never wear inside sandals into a bathroom either. That is why another set of sandals is typically provided at the entrance of the bathroom to switch into.

The owner told us about the hotel and gave us our scheduled time for dinner and breakfast, before he had someone show us to our room.

Our room was carpeted in tatami mats, so we removed our sandals in the entrance and donned the provided slippers. Our room was very charming and calming. It had sliding panels between the rooms and on the windows. The beds were futon mattresses on the floor with big fluffy down covers. All the chairs and tables were very low.

We were encouraged to change into the traditional Yukata, which was a robe we could wear in the hotel and even around the village when visiting the bath houses. It came with a Haori – an overcoat one could wear when it was cold.

Shibu Onsen retains much of its historic charm, with narrow cobblestone streets, old buildings and temples, and nine public bath houses called Soto-yu. Each of them has different healing properties, listed on a map that is given to the visitors- from healing skin conditions to gout to stomach and intestinal ailments. As a guest at the hotel, we were given a big wooden key that opened all nine bath houses. After getting properly dressed, we ventured out to give it a try. We wore the traditional wooden clogs (Geta) which made a clapping sound as we walked across the cobblestones.

We were surprised how small and rustic the bath houses were, only room for a few people at a time in the ones we tried. There were separate entrances for men and women. After removing all your clothes in the changing room, you entered the bath. We happened to be alone, which was a plus for us.

The hot water from the spring runs into the bath continually, so the only way to control the temperature was to run cold water. Since no one had used the baths for a while, they were extremely hot. It took quite a long time to cool them off, but it would be great for someone who enjoys extremely high temperatures. I am sure that during prime ski season, the baths are hopping. It was quite a unique experience!

Back at the Ryoken, we were given a call that our dinner was ready. We were asked to go to the second floor. There we found our name on one of the doors and were surprised to discover that we were to be served in a private room – as it is apparently the custom. Sophie was quite happy we were alone, as she still has nightmares about mishandling chopsticks! Luckily they provided low chairs at our table so we wouldn’t have to sit on the floor. Our server greeted us and provided us with our handwritten menu which outlined the many-course meal we were about to experience.

Of course, it was all in Japanese so it was of limited help for us. This type of meal is called Kaiseki Ryori and features artful presentations, subtle flavors and local ingredients. Our server would bring out each course and quietly disappear behind tatami doors. The courses were very elaborate – and consisted of many different tasty bites.

The appetizer course was a tray of seven different dishes from Cherry Sea Bream and Tofu, Wild Onion Miso, River Shrimp, Trout Roe, a large Prawn, cold fish and more. It was beautiful and bizarre. Our next course was a salt-grilled river trout along with some sort of steamed bun. We continued with a covered simmered dish with local rice and vegetables. After that, our server brought us some sake. Next was some crispy tempura fried cheese/shrimp/vegetables nest with a lemon wedge.

We were getting quite full when our server arrived with our main course of heavily marbled local mountain beef, mushrooms and veggies that we grilled ourselves on an oiled hot plate at our table. It was followed by a local rice dish in a red miso soup with pickled vegetables. Apparently this signaled we were towards the end of our meal.

The final dish was called a baked apple with fruit, but looked more like a crème brûlée. Boy were we stuffed after all these dishes! It was quite an experience and we are glad we had the chance to try a traditional Kaiseki Ryori. We still don’t know all the items we had eaten!

Amazingly, breakfast the next morning was similarly elaborate. We didn’t have as many courses, but the spread was impressive, including fish and miso soup of course. No coffee though, which we were craving, so we set out to find a place that would serve some. After a nice hot cup of joe, we were ready and we spent the remainder of the morning exploring the historic temples in Shibu Onsen.

Some of the temples we visited were set high upon the mountain side, requiring some hiking and stair climbing. All the temples were very unique, with many carvings of lions along with some great mountain views. We passed a few more Soto-yu, and some foot baths while walking back to our hotel, and even some soft boiled eggs for sale, that were staying warm in the hot spring.

That afternoon we took the Nagano Electric Train back to Nagano where we spent the rest of the day walking through the city. We walked up Zenkoji Omotesando, the main boulevard going through the city.

There were still remnants of the 1998 Winter Olympics here and there. The boulevard climbed towards some massive temple gates and beautiful grounds. Nagano City is a typical Monzen-machi city, which means it is a town which developed in front of the gate to a temple or shrine. It is filled with lodgings, restaurants and souvenir shops which welcome pilgrims from all over Japan. We passed a lot of impressive old merchants houses before arriving at the temple gate.

The highlight was the enormous wooden 1,400 year-old Zenkoji Temple – one of the most historically significant temples in Japan. The Japanese have long been told to visit the ancient Zenkoji Temple at least once in their lifetime. It houses what is believed to be the very first Buddhist statue ever brought to Japan – around 552AD. The statue is considered so precious that it has been hidden from view (even to monks) since 654AD.

The temple suffered numerous natural disasters and fires over the centuries requiring it to be rebuilt 11 times. The Main Hall that stands today was built in 1707 and was designated a national treasure.

Continuing past the temple, we walked to Joyama Park where a fantastic display of blossoming cherry trees awaited us. It was the end of the day, so the light was fading and it was getting chilly, but the cherry blossoms were full and brilliant. We started retracing our steps towards our hotel.

We ended our evening at a neighborhood Ramen joint where we quickly shook off the chilly weather with warm soup and an even warmer atmosphere. The staff saw us struggling with the self-service ticket machine and quickly came over and helped us order delicious bowls of ramen and gyoza wontons which we washed down with crisp Asahi beer.