Mountains and old post towns

We sleep a little longer than the previous days. Breakfast is only served at 8AM which is a nice break from the loaded first days. Our pajamas are swapped for our yukatas. The evening before, we spent some time watching YouTube videos on how to wear and tie a yukata. With our newly practiced belt knot, we show up on time for breakfast. To our pleasure, an American family showed up as well all dressed in yukata. Seems like we set a standard yesterday evening.

After being warmly welcomed and assigned a table, we receive our orange juice followed by a traditional style Japanese breakfast. Just like dinner, it’s a mixture of all little bowls and plates. Each of us receives two huge boxes filled with tiny dishes ranging from fish to yoghurt to eggs.
We’re grateful for being able to try out this traditional style dish. Despite the amazing look of such an extensive breakfast, and the great taste of many of the dishes, we still kind of prefer our classical European or Western style breakfast. It’s just something we’re more used to. Eating raw fish and fermented soybeans for breakfast is a slight adjustment for the stomach.

Having finished our breakfast, we quickly change clothes and head to the station across the street to catch the train. There are only a few limited express trains running per day. Those trains stop only in major stations instead of all stations. We still have to buy tickets for the vending machine in the station, but luckily everything goes rather smoothly. We don’t pay the extra fee to reserve seats and just hope for an available seat in the non-reserved carriage. Each train has at least one carriage for non-reserved seats usually in the front or at the back of the train.

We board the train and use Google Translate to check which carriage is the non-reserved one. Unfortunately, there is no English indication for this. We still find two adjacent seats and settle down for our journey to Nakatsugawa. There are a lot of people exiting the train at the tiny station of Nakatsugawa which is the gateway for a famous section of the Nakasendo trail. The Nakasendo trail is an old trading route between Tokyo and Kyoto. A very scenic part is between the two old postal towns of Magome and Tsumago. From the train station we have to take a bus to take us to Magome. IC-cards don’t work in this area of Japan (it’s not part of any IC-card region), so we have to pay the bus trip cash. We just follow the flow of passengers that brings us easily to the correct bus.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Or in this case: when in Japan, do as the Japanese do and take a ticket out of the machine when boarding the bus. Contrary to Belgian busses, you have to enter a bus via the rear doors in Japan. There is a ticket machine that spits out tickets with a number on it. This number represents the halt where you entered the bus. During your journey, you can see on a screen at the front of the bus the fare that is due when exiting at each of the following halts. We’re riding the entire trajectory of the bus, so it’s the full fare of ¥570 per person. When exiting the bus via the front door, you insert your ticket and fare amount in a machine next to the driver.

Magome is made up of a lot of traditional wooden buildings that serve as souvenir stores or little cafes. We start our hike uphill through the picturesque town and cobblestone paved street. In the beginning it’s crowded with tourists, but not long after they all dissipate and we’re quite often walking alone on the track. Every now and then we come across a bell. It’s recommended to ring the bell to keep bears away from the track. We do it for fun, but pretty sure that there are very few bears coming so close.

Once you exit the town of Magome, the trail winds through the woodlands and the cobblestone paths make some nice pictures in the old, mostly pine tree, forests. After a while, we pass by a tea house. The place is nothing more than a wooden shed where there’s a big tatami floor inside and an open fireplace. The thing is filled with smoke, but we stop by to have a free cup of tea. On the outside of the house, you can draw your country’s flag with some chalk. The owner doesn’t speak much English but is very happy and kind to see all kind of tourists. We say goodbye and are offered a free, self-made candy. How sweet! Free tea and a gift for simply passing by.

Some bear bells later we arrive at the other post town of Tsumago. It has the same atmosphere as Magome but seems a tiny bit smaller. Of course, it’s also crowded with souvenir shops and little places to eat. Because we have to try new things, we try a matcha flavored ice cream. It’s surprisingly delicious!

Normally, most tourists stop here, but we decided to walk a bit further to the station of Nagiso. Not all trains stop at the station of Nagiso, but it allows us to not have to take a bus back to our starting place. The last section between Tsumago and Nagiso wasn’t very spectacular with only a little shrine on our path. Just before we arrive at the train station it starts raining, so we’re quickly going inside to seek shelter.

A local train takes us back to our hotel in Kiso-Fukushima. We refresh ourselves in our room. Change back to our traditional yukatas before going for our second haute-cuisine-style dinner in style. Just as the day before, it’s an amazing experience to see the amount of effort the hosts put into this. The little cups and bowls, everything is displayed nicely and has great taste and texture. When the waiter concludes our dinner by taking the drinks for the next morning, we hear that tomorrow morning will be a Western-style breakfast. Fine by us! Curious to see what they see understand as a Western-style breakfast.

With our tummies full of tasty food, we chill around a bit in our room. Because we have to leave this nice hotel tomorrow, we want to try out the onsen. Onsen are some sort of hot baths that are very popular in Japan. Men and women are almost always separate as you bathe naked. Each of us has the bath to themselves. Afterwards, we have to lookup online what the wooden benches and cups are near the showers. This really is a country of many unknown routines, disciplines and etiquettes.

Totally relaxed, we lay down on our fluffy futons and fall asleep. Tomorrow we’re heading to the cultural capital of the country: Kyoto!Read more