Awaiting us in Yuzawa were 2 smiling, waving friends, which felt so nice in a country as alien (in a good way) as Japan. It was going to be great spending 2 days with people who would be able to help us navigate and understand Japan a little better. Yuzawa is a mountain resort town, so unless you’re into skiing, there’s not much on offer. This being said, it’s a beautiful place and has some great onsen (that are used to and accepting of tattooed foreigners). Our first day was spent visiting a sake factory in the afternoon and then at an onsen set at the base of a mountain in the early evening. It was magical; soaking in the steaming bath while the snow fell around us (this is however after the initial awkwardness of being naked with complete strangers – not something most westerners are used to!). We were then up early the next morning ready to head to Nagano to see the snow monkeys. Miho (one of our hosts) had made us a delicious breakfast of homemade rice balls, rolled omelette (which she taught me how to make!) and miso soup. Heartily fed, we set off on what may have been one of the most beautiful drives of the trip. Snow-capped mountains, little villages, evergreen pines covered in snow...it was stunning. All this, before arriving at a place Dani and I had been dreaming about since we met Canadian friends of ours 5 years earlier in Laos who showed us their pictures of these gorgeous fluffy monkeys bathing in hot springs to warm up in the snow. It did not disappoint. The monkeys were as cute and fluffy up close and not even a little bit phased by the people around. It was well worth the effort to get there (we were lucky enough to get a ride one way but having done the journey in reverse it’s not a cheap or easy place to get to as it requires a Shinkasen from Tokyo Ueno Station to Nagano then an electric train to Yudanaka). After a delicious lunch of soba noodles we had to bid farewell to Miho and Yu with promises of seeing them again in New Zealand. In Yamanouchi (the onsen town nearest to the snow monkey park) we had decided to splash out a little on staying in a ryokan that we had found on AirBnB. As it was the cheapest ryokan in the area we should have guessed it wouldn’t live up to expectations but just how disappointing it was upset us. I guess we had expected a level of cleanliness in Japan that we actually learnt wasn’t the case in a lot of hostels as they cut corners and costs by using volunteers rather than paid staff who aren’t invested in the business or it’s customers. It meant we ended up paying twice the price of somewhere else to sleep on the floor in a room covered in creepy crawlies, with half a bathroom, and a sink that had been dismantled and was dripping brown slime from the hair clogging the pipe into a bowl on the floor. Needless to say it wasn’t our favourite accommodation in Japan! The town of Yamanouchi itself was pretty enough and we didn’t dislike our day there after the snow monkeys, but given the opportunity again we wouldn’t bother staying there for a night. A better alternative probably would have been a night in Nagano as this is relatively quick and easy to get to from the snow monkey park. Upon returning to Tokyo we were actually going to stay with a friend in Matsudo, which is sort of part of Tokyo, sort of not. Again, luckily for us. our friend Natsuki had kindly offered to pick us up from Oomiya station so all we had to do was make it there. Easy right? Well as you may have already gathered Japan is expensive so to save a few hundred yen (it does make a difference when breakfast only costs ¥400/$4.80 AUD/3.65 USD) we walked the 2.5km to the train station instead of taking the bus. The train being your only option to Nagano means that it costs ¥1260/$15.20 AUD/11.50 USD (as they can basically charge what they want) and then you can take the shinkansen (bullet train) back to Tokyo. The Nagano Dentetsu line is a private line so cannot be taken with any JR pass but the train from Nagano to Tokyo is covered by both the JR pass and JR East pass (see post about ‘How we beat the JR pass’). Staying in Matsudo meant we got a different perspective on life in bustling a metropolis. It is still as quiet and orderly but there seems to be more space and the people seem less…intense! We had a great night out with Natsuki and her friends on our first night and Dani finally got to achieve another food goal of eating chicken sashimi (yes she really did eat raw chicken...and survived). Natsuki being a nurse, had to work on the other days of our stay but it really gave me a better insight into nursing in Japan (honestly, nursing friends look into the expectations of nurses in Japan, we should count ourselves lucky in Australia and NZ...sorry UK I still think you guys may have it the worst because they still pay you well in Japan). On our first full day back in the Tokyo area, we decided to head to Yokohama via the Tokyo Fish Market. We arrived at the fish market and wandered the stalls noting that this didn’t look much like what we were expecting at all. The samples of snacks were fantastic and we sampled our away around but it turns out we never did make it to the heart of the fish market where the tuna auctions are held. I’m not sure why we didn’t find it but if you’re heading to the fish market make sure you don’t make the mistake of thinking the stalls outside are it. Having eaten all of the snacks we headed back to Yurakucho station but made a little detour to the basement entrance to the nearby metro line to geek out over the home of Jiro’s Sushi (If you don’t know who this is he’s an 80 year old sushi chef who has a Michelin stared restaurant in a metro station. You can watch a fantastic documentary about him that we saw on a trip to Adelaide years ago called Jiro Dreams of Sushi). Standing outside and listening carefully we could hear the kitchen prep going on but unfortunately it was closed so that was as close as we were going to get to a Jiro experience! Next stop on our day trip was the Kirin Beer Factory. We had found out online that you could do a free brewery tour after which you could try the beer for free. This turned out to be a great trip because not only is the tour really well done (they give you an English translation guide) but they give you 3 glasses of free beer and a snack at the end! When do you ever get to drink for free…let alone free in a country as expensive as Japan?! We would both highly recommend this tour if you’re heading to Yokohama. It’s a 15-minute walk from Shin-Koyasu station and you just head in a put your name down for the next available tour. Sufficiently tipsy we headed for our final stop of the day the Ramen Museum (¥300/$3.60 AUD/2.75 USD pp). This was fast shaping up as a day of great discovery and also a day of great mistakes. Having missed the centre of the fish market that morning and having only had snacks to eat we were starving. Mistaking the Ramen Museum for an actual museum we thought we’d stop at Matsuya on the way. It turns on out the museum is more like a food court of all the ramen varieties found around Japan in a room that has been made to look like a street in Tokyo in the 1930s. Because we had already eaten this made this stop a little redundant as we had no desire to sample any of the wonderful looking ramens, but it was fun to wander around anyway.
We had plans the next day to meet up with another friend Noriko in the kitchen district of Tokyo, Kappabashi. Kappabashi is where all restaurants and chefs go to buy all their equipment at wholesale prices...If you’re wanting to pick up anything kitchen related in Japan this is where you need to come. Having emptied our bags of Central American souvenirs in Taiwan we made the mistake of believing we should fill all free space. This means I’m now the proud owner of a rectangular pan for rolled omelettes, cooking chopsticks, a thermos, tongs and a fish slice with my favourite character Gudetama on them and Dani needed (yes needed) the sushi covered green tea cup. This place was amazing but very dangerous when it comes to packing. After wandering the length of the area and bankrupting ourselves in the process, it was an easy walk to Asakusa, which is known as Old Tokyo. It’s pretty there, but rammed with people, which takes away slightly from what I’m guessing is a really nice area when you can see it! On our last full day in Tokyo we decided to have a planning day. This may confuse most but those of you long term travellers will understand not only the need for a rest day but also that it takes a lot of time and effort to budget backpack. We had a night bus booked for later that night so we thought it would be good to chill before the 2 hour long trek across Tokyo to catch the bus to Osaka (¥4500/$54.30 AUD/41.10 USD). After 2 weeks of dipping in and out of Tokyo it was time to head down to the more historic part of the country (The buses around Japan were definitely a huge money saving tip that we learnt from other travel bloggers. They are extremely comfortable, much cheaper than the trains and can save you a night of accommodation in some cases).
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