The sweet smelling leaves of Kamikochi

The busy oppression of Tokyo was getting to me and so I suggested to Hannah that we head out, to my favorite place – The Mountains of Wherever – for the weekend.

Not a yodeler in site

Now, organising travel in Japan is extremely difficult and frustrating as often travel websites are in Nihon-go and it is hard to fathom what is what, especially if you want something reasonable. All the pricey places have the yen to put together a website with decent info, but all the low-key special type places exist within a pocket of word of mouth and shoddy web design.

But through a bit of toil we found a ryokan (Japanese inn) in the Japanese Alps that was dubbed as being “unforgettable”. That sounds like us, we said and so we locked in a booking for this place and meticulously ascertained our route via train to glorious Kamikochi of the Nagano Prefecture. Nagano is due North of Tokyo and is well known for skiing and mountains. Thank sweet Jesus for www.hyperdia.com which makes it a million times easier.

Yay! Fingers!

An early start is a prerequisite when travelling and thus we were up with the cock and gadding through Shibuya to Shinjuku for: a) a near three hour train, b) another 40 minute train, c) an hour and a half bus and finally d) a 40 minute trek through the Alps to our ryokan.

The trip, however, didn’t start well and we nearly missed our train because of a hiccup with our train tickets that actually ended up with us jumping the train turnstyle to make it on time. Hannah got excited – bless her. Due to this, we had to stand for the entirety of the long train ride to Matsumoto (along with the salary-men on their two hour Saturday commutes to work – poor buggers.)

As the ugly type grey streets dwindled away, the air became fresher and fresher and the greens became greener and greener and we soon found ourselves nestled between the Japanese Alps in a slightly euro styled ryokan called Kamikochi Myojinkan. Aptly named, it sat in the burly shadow of Mt Myojinkan and it was beautiful. We spent the afternoon wandering along the riverside amongst the browns, yellows, oranges and deep reds of my pal, Autumn. The air was thick with the sweet smell of one style of leaf that littered the floor – I have no idea what it was, but it was wondrous. It was like breathing in a bowl of overly ripe fruit.

The area is well known for a British Reverend called Weston. He went to Kamikochi in the 1880s and introduced modern European mountain climbing to the area. He sounds like a boss and there is a plaque for him along the riverbank.

That evening we had a group Japanese style dinner of river fish, tofu, pickles, tempura, rice (of course) and a few other selections. The remoteness of the inn was great and thus power became limited from 9pm. There is nothing wrong with an early night, however.

We did a little bit more hiking the next day and found a postcard picture pond next to a shrine before heading back to the Big Toke.

So this place, this place called Kamikochi, I would thoroughly recommend a trip there. We were lucky enough to catch it in the beginning of its Autumn slumber, but I’d say you would find the scenery absolutely breathtaking in any season.

Post script, Hannah and I are far from fluent when it comes to speaking Japanese, but we were quite please with our ability to communicate with folk along our journey so that is a positive! Yay, us.

Here is info on the ryokan.

Here is info in the area of Kamikochi.

Kamikochi Myojinkan