Japan Day 5 - Nagano

I'm so glad I packed up my bags last night. The unthinkable happened - I slept in! When the phone rang, I wondered why Susie was calling so early. She wasn't! And we had a reserved seat train to catch. I threw the rest of my stuff in my bag, Susie came up to help me finish, and I quickly got dressed. Oh! My! Gosh!

We traipsed through the streets of Shibuya with our bags and headed to the station to catch the subway to Tokyo Station. There were no seats for most of the journey but finally it cleared out closer to our last stop. Then we hurried through the station to catch the train. There aren't always escalators and hauling up one's suitcase up several flights of stairs makes one wonder why they went shopping for more stuff to put in one's suitcase. C'est la vie!

The Shinkansen train to Nagano was only a one and a half hour ride, and the time passed very quickly. Our hotel is not even a block from the station, bonus! We weren't able to check in just yet so we took a bus up to the town's big temple. But before we went there, Susie had a surprise for us. 

We visited a restaurant with a special room in the back. We were divided into two groups, given an apron and were told to wash our hands. Then we proceeded to make our own lunch! We each had a ball of dough then reformed them into special cakes called Oyaki.

We filled one with meat and the other with vegetables. The restaurant owners then cooked each dough ball over an open fire.

The meal was hot and delicious.

We were also served miso soup well as buckwheat tea. This type of tea definitely has an unusual taste and I'm not too crazy about it. 

After our meal, we headed towards the Zenkoji Temple. It is a very old Buddhist temple built in the 7th century. Susie gave us a tour and explain the significance of the various things we were seeing.

We needed to remove our shoes before we could sit in the altar part of the temple. Every so often, a drum would beat and a curtain rose to show a statue of Buddha.

It only lasted for about one minute, then the curtain went down. After that, we walked through a dark tunnel and I mean dark. The journey through the tunnel signified the long and arduous path to enlightenment.

When we were done, we were free to go. It had begun to rain but the rain in Japan is quite light. I stuck around to photograph some of the beautiful trees near the temple, then I proceeded to walk back to the hotel. The short, almost 2 kilometre distance took me 2.5 hours because of all the stops I made. 

After taking a break for a most delicious green tea ice cream cone, I browsed in many shops along the straight path back to the hotel.

Nagano is a city of 400,000 people but it seemed much smaller and quieter, perhaps due to the time of year. I found lovely a cloth picture of Mount Fuji, some trees, and a cat riding a horse. It sounds weird I know, but the hanging looked awesome and I am bringing it home! I stopped at a grocery store and picked up some breakfast for tomorrow as well as some food stuff for a friend back home.

And I found two different stationery stores and purchased some more brush pens. That's it! I must stop buying more art supplies! I also found a ¥100 store and managed to find a few fascinating items. 

I arrived back at the hotel at 5:30 PM, an hour and a half before we were scheduled to meet for supper. A shower sure felt good after my late morning start. Supper was at an amazing traditional restaurant, Shinshu Nagaya Sakaba.

We decided to order communal dishes and share. Some of the items were fantastic, some were bland (like the gelatin on a stick thingy), and other items were just plain weird.

The thought of eating grasshoppers, bumblebees and worms turned my stomach but I didn't want to wimp out. They actually tasted quite good with the sweet sauce they were cooked in. But it's funny how one’s preconceived notions play with the mind.

After dinner, a few of us went to a nearby bar for a drink. There was no English menu but after talking with the owner we all decided to have a kamikaze cocktail. The place was small and we were the only customers. Classical music was playing in the background and it was a lovely atmosphere.

I felt quite tired after that and headed back to the hotel on my own. The others are out partying somewhere. 

I need my sleep!