The Nakasen-do Highway

Where: The Kiso Valley
When: August 10 & 11, 2007
Who: Me, Mom and Dad
Temperature: Frickin HOT! It was something in the high 30s without the humidity.

The Kiso Valley is located in the south-west of Nagano-ken and is surrounded by the Japan Alps. From Edo (now Tokyo) to Kyoto there used to be an old post road with towns located along the route. Travelling from Tokyo to Kyoto by foot would not have been my idea of fun.

We started in Magome, a small post town with traditional houses and souvenir shops (of course). My favourite shop was a sembei/bean shop. It had the most beautiful display. And they had samples of everything!



The town is on quite a hill and as we got higher, the number of Japanese tourists got smaller. It turns out that most Japanese tourists visit Magome, eat lunch, shop for omiyage and then hop in the car/bus and drive to Tsumago (the next post town).

But not the Elliotts...we decided to walk from Magome to Tsumago (LP says it's a pleasant and easy walk). Yes, it was burning hot. Yes, my dad is allergic to the sun. Yes, my skin turns to bacon really quickly. Call us crazy but we slathered on the sunscreen, stocked up on water, umbrellas and our cameras and started out.

Distance between the towns: 8km (!!!!!)


You might be looking at these pictures and thinking, this doesn't look to bad...its shady and covered. Well, you're right but all of these pictures are from the second half of the walk. The first half was all up hill in direct sunlight. I didn't have the energy to take burning-sun pictures. I didn't know if we were going to make it. There was talk at one point of turning back...and something about a taxi...


That's when we met three Americans (a father, his son and his son's friend) who were also doing the hike. They had talked to some Canadians the day before who said the walk was hard until you reached the top of the mountain and then it was shaded and downhill all the way to Tsumago. This gave us hope and after a break we kept walking up...and up and up...





We finally reached the top of the mountain, bought some energy drinks and then headed downhill (finally) into the shaded forest.



It was really beautiful and I'd love to do it in the fall/early winter. When I wouldn't feel like passing out from the heat. It was quiet and peaceful (the Americans went ahead of us....and we saw maybe two other groups along the way).


Near the end of the trail, there were a number of small towns/groups of houses. One had a fish farm...


We celebrated when we finally hit the 'under 1km' mark. We had walked 8km in the burning sun. We are crazy.


Tsumago feels like Takayama without the hundreds of tourists and zooming cars and flashy stores. It was quiet and calm and very traditional feeling. Ryokans, souvenir shops and museums all looked like they belonged. I felt transported back in time.






Our hotel was very nice. We had a large room that had its own private balcony which overlooked the front garden. We promptly took baths and then passed out in the wonderful air-conditioned room.


Dinner was very interesting. Above is the 'local specialties' plate. From the left, duck-goose (our server was very excited to tell us about how the duck and goose mated and boom...we have duck-goose). In the middle; BEES. Yup, bees. From an underground hive. Now, why you'd go to the trouble of digging up a bees hive and then decide to cook the bees...I have no idea. My mom and I couldn't eat them....not wanting to be rude, we made my dad eat them. Finally, the on the right is a tiny river crab. Instructions: eat the whole thing, shell and all. Seriously, this was the worst thing I've eaten in Japan so far. Give me 10 bowls of pond scum seaweed, I'll eat it without complaining. Just don't make me eat the tiny baby crab again.

Above: The local 'invisible' fish, which hides under river rocks trying to avoid being caught. I guess this one wasn't so invisible but it was amazing. SO SO delicious.
Below: The Japan Alps specialty, Hida beef with miso cooked on a leaf. I've had this a few times and I really like it.


To get from the bath or dining room to our room we had to pass the tanuki in the hallway. It was terrifying, with its blank staring eyes and out stretched arms. It was like a car crash...you just had to look. My mom and I would run down the hallway trying to look the other way....

After a relaxing night and a great breakfast we walked around the town a bit and then caught a bus to Nagiso. The trains aren't very frequent which meant we had to wait at the local train station for 2 hours. Luckily there was a breeze and really cheap and good ice cream.

When we made it back to my apartment we showered, ate a quick dinner and watched more Long Way Round. I'm so proud of us for not giving up and taking a bus between the post towns. It was such a great experience...even though it was SO SO SO SO SO HOT!!