Onsens (hot springs)
Hundreds of unique onsens in Hakuba and the surrounding area, some private, indoor, outdoor, and several foot baths with overhead awnings to stay dry on rainy days.
Hakuba Village Onsen Info
Shio no Michi
updating…check back soon.
Izakaya
The name “izakaya” is a compound word consisting of “i ” (to remain) and “sakaya” (sake shop), showing that izakaya originate from sake shops which allowed customers to remain on the premises to drink. Izakaya are sometimes called Akachachin (red lantern) in daily conversation, because these paper lanterns are traditionally found in front of an izakaya.
Dining in an izakaya
Depending on the izakaya, customers sit on tatami mats and dine from low tables in the traditional Japanese style, or sit on chairs and drink/dine from tables. Many izakaya offer a choice of both, as well as seating by the bar.
Usually, you will be given an oshibori (wet towel) to clean your hands with; next an ot?shi or tsukidashi (a tiny snack/an appetizer) will be served. This is local custom and usually charged onto the bill in lieu of an entry fee. Japanese people in Kant? region call it ot?shi and Kansai people call it tsukidashi.
The menu may be on the table, or displayed on walls. Picture menus are common in larger izakaya. Food and drink are ordered throughout the course of the session as desired. They are brought to the table, and the bill is added up at the end of the session. Unlike other Japanese styles of eating, food items are usually shared by everyone at the table.
Common formats for izakaya dining in Japan are known as nomihodai (”drink all you can”) and tabehodai (”eat all you can”). These formats are especially popular in large, chain izakaya. For a set price per person, customers can continue ordering as much food and / or drink as they wish, with a usual time limit of two or three hours.
1998 Winter Olympics
Hakuba was a proud host of many of the 1998 Winter Olympic events. . . yea, that’s quite interesting for the average tourist– you can go and stand next to the ski jump and have your picture taken with colored hoops in the background, or imagine yourself as one of the proud racers on the mogul course. Yea, great stuff.
Togakushi
Tokakushi Heights is situated in the north of Nagano within the Joshinetsu National Park. This volcanic area has an altitude of 1,200m and is located in the foot of the two volcanoes, Togakushi and Iizuna.
In the midst of a wood with cedar trees that are over 100 years old, there stands the Togakushi-jinja Shrine. You can see Kagura, a performance of traditional sacred music and dancing with themes selected from myths at the grand festival in autumn. Togakushi is also noted for the production of buckwheat noodles and soba.
Matsumoto Castle
(taken from Wikipedia) Matsumoto is one of Japan’s historic castles. Located in the city of Matsumoto, in Nagano prefecture, it is within easy reach of Tokyo, making it popular with tourists from Japan and other countries. This castle is also called Crow Castle because of its black walls and spreading wings. It is an example of a flatland castle, not being built on a hilltop or amid rivers.
The castle’s origins go back to the Sengoku (Warring States) period. At that time, the Ogasawara clan built a fort on this site, which was originally called Fukashi Castle. Later, it came under the rule of the Takeda clan and then Tokugawa Ieyasu.
When Toyotomi Hideyoshi transferred Ieyasu to the Kant? region,
he placed Ishikawa Norimasa in charge of Matsumoto. Norimasa and his
son Yasunaga built the tower and other parts of the castle, including:
the three towers, the tenshu (donjon tower), inui-kotenshu (small tower
in the northwest), watari-yagura (connecting scaffold), goten
(residence), taikomon (drum gate), kuromon (black gate), yagura
(scaffold), hori (trench), honmaru (the main wing), ninomaru (the
second wing), sannomaru (the third wing), and the sub-floors in the
castle, much as they are today. They were also instrumental in laying
out the castle town and its infrastructure. It is believed much of the
castle was completed in 1593-4.
The tower of Matsumoto Castle is listed as a National Treasure of Japan.
Directions to Matsumoto Castle
Kurobe Dam
Kurobe Dam Japan’s largest dam[1], is on the Kurobe River in Toyama Prefecture on the island of Honsh?. It generates electricity for the Kansai Electric Power Company. It stands 186 m high and
holds 200,000,000 cubic meters of water. Its construction, completed in
1963 at a cost of 51.3 billion yen, claimed the lives of nearly two
hundred people.
A film, Kurobe no Taiyo (”The Sun of Kurobe”), starring Yujiro Ishihara (the late brother of Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara), recounts the drama of the project.
