Teetoo- Japan 2023 Trip Itinerary (still updating)
- Nov 1 – Arrival at Nagoya, around Nagano Station, Stay : Sotetsu Fresa Inn Nagano-Zenkojiguchi
- Nov 2 – Bus trip to visit the famous Snow Monkey Park, Nagano, Stay : Sotetsu Fresa Inn Nagano-Zenkojiguchi
- Nov 3 – Easy trek at Togakushi 5-shrines, Nagano, Stay : Sotetsu Fresa Inn Nagano-Zenkojiguchi
- Nov 4 – Visite to Zenkoji Temple and hiking at Hakuba Happo Pond, Stay : Hotel Hakuba
- Nov 5 – Relax at Hakuba Mountain Harbour and Oide Park, Stay : Hotel Hakuba
- Nov 6 – Drive to Sea of Japan, Ben-ten Iwa rock, Stay : APA Hotel & Resort Joetsu Myoko
- Nov 7 – Drive to Kiyotsu Gorge and Naena Waterfall, Stay : APA Hotel & Resort Joetsu Myoko
- Nov 8 – Drive around Lake Nojiri, train ride to Lake Suwa and Tateishi Park, Stay : Beni-ya Hotel
- Nov 9, 10 – Train ride to Shizuoka and Nihondaira Terrace sunset, Stay : Nippondaira Hotel
- Nov 11 – Train ride to Fuji City, walk around Atami City, Stay : Super Hotel JR Fujiekimae Kinenkan
- Nov 12 – Shy Mount Fuji, cheap seafood at Co-op and Numazu City festival, Stay : Super Hotel JR Fujiekimae Kinenkan
- Nov 13 – Mount Fuji, Shira-Ito Falls, Fujisan Sengan Shrine, Mount Fuji World Heritage Center, Stay : Super Hotel JR Fujiekimae Kinenkan
- Nov 14 – Mount Fuji, Hamamatsu Station and bus to hotel nearby airport, Stay : Hotel Route-Inn Tokoname Ekimae
Today we needed to return our little dependable but underpowered Toyota Roomy back to Toyota Nagano. We made a quick pit stop at Haradori Post Office (原通郵便局) to drop off the postcard delivery to some buddies back in Malaysia before embarking on a short hour-long drive to reach the Toyota Office for the drop-off.
We gatai made a detour to Lake Nojiri for our outdoor breakfast but ended up extending our drive as we went around the whole lake instead, making our journey longer than planned. Nevertheless, the calm lake was quite picturesque despite having some run-down and neglected facilities. We only made brief stops as we had to return our car before noon. Ended up taking 3 hours instead of 1 hour to reach Nagano city.
Once we completed the simple procedure of returning the car, we walked to nearby Nagano Station to buy our tickets (1,690 yen each) from the counter (and not the automated machine) heading to Kami-Suwa Station, using the Shinonoi Line. Interestingly, when we mentioned Kami-Suwa Station, the counter staff offered us the cheapest but slower direct train, which was more convenient. We always prefer direct rather than the need to change trains. This particular train was not shown on Google Maps for that time frame, highlighting the advantage of buying tickets from the counter for non-Japanese speakers.
Coincidentally, we met a fellow Penang couple traveling on the same train, but they were heading to Takayama – such a small world that the only Malaysians we met from the whole trip were from Penang.
We reached Kami-Suwa station a shade less than 2 hours but had to lug our bags for 800m to our hotel, Hotel Beniya, which is just next to Lake Suwa but our “cheaper” room was located in the annex building, which was a maze to get to and had only a partial view of the lake – not a great deal. However, the good were the exceptional staff, sumptuous morning breakfast and an onsen with a lake view. So, if you plan to book at Hotel Beniya, avoid the annex building.
After leaving our bags in the room, we laced up our walking shoes for our walk up to Tateishi Park, which offers a panoramic view of Lake Suwa, inspired by the rounded lake backdrop from the movie “Your Name”. Director Makoto Shinkai is from Nagano – hence the connection of this city.
The ascending walk had some “shortcuts,” although not well-marked, with some painted “shoe prints” leading us to brushes and paths that were not well-used. We had to be quiet because the paths were almost always between some local houses and back lanes. It took us approximately 40 minutes to reach the summit. Use this link for walking directions. The elevation difference is only 175m with a distance of 2.1km (one-way) so be reasonably fit.
The view was stupendous, especially with the late afternoon sun casting a slight yellow tint on the landscape. The park had limited parking lots and seemed to be popular with bikers. As always, we had a small picnic while enjoying this unforgettable view. The park even had a higher observatory deck for a wider view, but it required walking up more steps. In around the observatory were brilliant autumn leaves to take photos of.
Since the sun was dropping below the horizon, we had to make our way down quickly before it got too dark. The walk down was filled with even more scenes of local life as we ninja-walk our way down behind local alleys and homes. We reached the lakeside just as the sun was about to set, blanketing the whole town and the autumn trees with a brilliant golden glow – stunning scenes! We celebrated this great day by eating our Famichiki fried chicken by the lake.
Lake Suwa is known for its unagi (eel) produce, so an unagi dinner was a must! We Googled an establishment, but unfortunately, it was closed due to technical issues. We opted for our second choice, うなぎの館 天龍, which was just a stone’s throw from our hotel. This unagi meal turned out to be one of the costliest meals thus far, but it was well-deserved, with tender and fresh meat coupled with a tasty soup with unagi liver – a first for me. Since E doesn’t like unagi, she had to settle for a meal from 7-11 in hotel room with kesian-ness. LOL.
- Useful links:
- Lake Suwa What to do
- うなぎの館 天龍 Unagi goodness
- From our experiences :
- Lake Nojiri looks quite forlorn when we were there but maybe with more time and a better lighting conditions, it might be different.
- When purchasing train tickets, non-Japanese speakers please ask the counter staff for assistance – so much easier.
- There is an easier option to use local taxis to reach the summit of Tateishi Park, which is not that far from Lake Suwa by car.
- Tateishi Park has a toilet and an observation deck for the public