Nagano, January 9 - 11, 2012

We order one Japanese and one Western dinner at the restaurant car (Hokutosei from Sapporo to Tokyo).

The Japanese meal is a pretty standard bento set.

It is nicely displayed, though.

The western meal is actually quite good -- stylish and tasty -- but served a bit too cold.

The service is good, again, maybe a bit too efficient given that the restaurant is not busy, and we are in no hurry.

Ocho the bear enjoys the train ride for a change. To those who have not been following our journals, we found this poor bear lying on the road when we were crossing Ochoco Pass in Oregon on our bicycle tour in 2004. Ever since he has joined us on our major travels.

Our cabin is nice, although some cigarette smoke lingers in even if we are in a non-smoking car.

We wake up before 8am. when the train is approaching Fukushima, two hours behind the schedule.

We change trains in Omaya, instead of going all the way to Ueno. Shinkansen Asama takes us at over 200km/hour through numerous tunnels to Nagano. Between the tunnels we get momentary glimpses of the gorgeous scenery.

There is no snow in Nagano, and it is getting really warm in the afternoon = several degrees above zero centigrade.

Nagano's mid-winter fashion. Ugg boots are everywhere these days - even in Singapore.

Our accommodation, 1166 Backpackers is not open yet; the place is run by a young woman Orie, and she is out running errands until 3pm., so we need to figure out what to do meanwhile.

We leave our backpacks in a non-functional locker at the JR station -- it does not accept any coins but we are able to lock it, unsure if we can unlock it later.

We visit the nearby Zenko-ji Sin temple, which is very crowded.

We return to 1166 to shower and do some laundry. Then we face a dilemma: coffee shops are already closed or closing, and restaurants are not yet open for dinner. After walking around the neighborhood we reserve a table at The Fujiya Gohonjin at 7pm.

With more than an hour to go, we find one tea room that is open and have some light sandwiches with milk tea and coffee. This is our first meal since the breakfast in Hokutosei.

Fujiya Gohonjin is nice and warm place with great service. We have a quite a few dishes, among them seasonal vegetables with hot anchovy oil sauce, sweet potato gnocchi with mascarpone cheese sauce, sauteed sea bream with Napoli style tomato sauce, and grilled herb marinated "SHINSHO" pork with mustard.

We still have little space left for dessert and order an applepie that welcomes us to Japan. Thank you! We have already enjoyed the country for two weeks, and will a few more days.

1166 Backpackers.

We have a light breakfast at the Backpackers, and then head out. Today's destination is Jigokudani Yaen-Koen, Onsen that hosts Japan's famous snow monkeys.

On our way to the railway station we are in constant look for a cosy breakfast or coffee shop. We don't see any. Then we are at the station and manage to buy tickets (it is a local train, so Japan railpasses are no good)

We have 40 more minutes until the next train leaves, so in search of a breakfast place we find a coffee shop on the ground floor of the nearby shopping mall. Nothing to eat there, though. As soon as the first smoking customer arrives, we are out.

The train ride to Yudanaka station in Yamanouchi Town takes 45 minutes. A friendly volunteer guide at the station gives us instructions how to get to the monkey park.

The town is really hilly, and soon we realize that we are too hungry to hike all the way to the monkey onsen.

We spend quite a while on steep slippery streets trying to find a place to eat.

Eventually we find a place that looks something like a hotel, and at the reception mumble in our very limited Japanese "eat?" or something, and the guy directs us around the corner.

We walk back and forth in the pointed direction, and eventually realize that there is a place that is open. It has no signs, no flashing lights, but we just need to try the door. Voila!

And then we are in another cosy restaurant, Asashinaya, which actually has an English menu available.

We order some gyoza (potstickers), two soba soups with pork and vegetables, respectively, and warm sake. The food is good, and so is the service.

When we leave we are given a snow monkey door decor that we can hang on our apartment door in Singapore. Ha ha.

Super energized by the good lunch we continue uphills through the town.

A public onsen (bath).

Once leaving the town, the road takes us higher and higher on a relatively steep snowy road through a pine forest.

We are not sure what this means -- electric shocks make you fart?

We have a nice and quiet hike up, since very few tourists take this route. The sun almost comes out.

A hard choice.

The monkeys don't pay much attention to the humans around them, but go on with their lazy grooming.

We take another route down to the town. The road is mostly in shade and we start feeling cold. The goal is to visit a sake/beer brewery Shiga Kogen on our way.

Again the downward slope is very slippery.

We don't find the brewery yet, but see a coffee shop that seems to be open. We step in and are not that sure: one side of the shop is full of cardboard boxes, the other one with shelves full of souvenirs.

A lady comes from the back of the shop and welcomes us in. We order two black coffees (remember, we are freezing). She does not only prepare us the coffees but brings us crackers and tasters of her homemade jams (apricot, apple, and plum). We buy some apple jam to go from this lovely lady.

Shiga Kogen is not too far. We stop by for some beer tasting and find a Californian couple tasting sake. Soon they too are tasting the local pale ale.

We buy a bottle of each of their beers: Shiga Kogen Porter, IPA, Miyama blonde (beautiful mountain), Indian Summer Saison, House IPA, mild, and pale ale.

We continue to the railway station in a freezing condition. On our way to the we stop by at 7Eleven to buy a couple of bottles of wine for the hot pot night at the Backpackers.

Everyone is already gathered around the hot pot when we are back. We take a quick shower and join them.

This is Orie. She runs the place by herself, with little help from her friends, and occasionally her guests.

We finish the night with Shiga Kogen beers and playing cardgame Uno.

Next morning we don't find anything paricularly interesting to do -- there are a couple of art destinations nearby, but they are closed for the Winter -- so we decide to return to Tokyo.

On our way to the JR station we have lunch at Bakery's Street and Cafe (sic!).

Fresh vegetable sandwich and tuna sandwich with cappuccino and cafe au lait.

Then we reserve seats in train Asama to Ueno.