The Full Nakasendo Trail, Part 2: Nagano Prefecture 中山道の歩き旅・長野県

The Full Nakasendo Trail, Part 2: Nagano Prefecture 中山道の歩き旅・長野県

[Music] in episode one I started the nakasendo hike from Nom Bashi bridge in Tokyo cross the aado river into saitama prefecture and was welcomed to GMA prefecture by a beautiful sunset it was in Guma that I had my first night outdoors thanks to a lady that showed me where to Camp the flat terrain quickly turned to mountains and I had my first test crossing the usui pass this was an appropriate welcome to Nago prefecture on this episode we’ll be crossing the longest and most mountainous prefecture of the entire nakasendo Trail let’s go pray that we had a safe journey over the [Music] mountain as you walk into kurawa uh looks you’re just walking on Old Road like this since I slept in a tent did haven’t had a bath in 2 days actually booked a hotel in kizawa so oh it feels good having the shoes off I think I must have had a leech on me my sock is soaked in Blood and a little bit on my pants here too and on this side too looks just like where they would probably bite got some hi Chuka for dinner look at this two full beds to myself myself I staying here for like 2 hours [Music] but had a nice sleep last night got all my clothes washed nice long bath filling not 100% but maybe 90 95% so let’s have a good breakfast and do another 20 or so today we’re going to head from kurawa to Saku city today not bad for 800 Yen breakfast so the nendo kind of meanders this way through some of these towns so I think without the the app the nakasendo app it’d be hard to navigate make sure you’re on the right path this part of it is just going through a neighborhood here in K zawa but it’ll meet up with the uh with rude 18 the main road in probably just a few more minutes that’s actually a suay Yama volcano right in front of us it’s just covered with clouds today [Music] [Music] [Music] it was supposed to be a rainy day today but turned out it be really nice uh rained a little bit last night but super Sunny blue skies today this is the post town of oaki Juku which was the intersection of two major roads during the Edo period the nakasa trail that we’re hiking now and the hoko one of the attractions is the tea house that’s been preserved to its original state the towns along the nakasendo that have more historical significance and have the tourism to support it are able to put more money into the town you can see this this is OA Kuku one of the post towns the roads are really nice uh the houses are nicer uh there’s just a lot of greenery more plants uh you can tell they put a lot more money and time into upkeeping the place Museum places like this that you can go visit um even a few like b&bs that you can stay in these kind of [Music] towns they have Galleries and uh cafes through these kind of towns too so nice just to take a walk and enjoy it here’s a temple called ctoi it’s right at the base of Asama Yama so there’s the kji Asama Yama looking at the map uh looks like it’s pretty much downhill from here in kurawa down to Saku so probably about two to 3-hour walk and the roads look like this yeah so R into some fellow hikers going the other direction yeah you the fourth one we met fourth one yeah yeah yeah going our opposite direction I think we didn’t meet anyone anyone going uh Kyoto Tokyo because then uh after a half hour of chatting and exchanging information with this like-minded couple from Italy I made my way downhill into the city of Saku we made it to Saku there’s asayama right there the volcano it’s a pretty decent sized city uh I’ve come through here quite a few times driving but never walking but we’re going to be heading in that direction over those mountains the next few days being a stop on the bullet train route Saku city is considered a bed toown with many residents who commute to Tokyo for work and travelers heading to Nago last night I stayed here in Saku City uh caught up with an old friend known for 20 almost 30 years and uh we had nice dinner drink some sake and just had a fun time catching up so thanks a lot Takashi had a great time but just stopped by the drugstore to pick up some Band-Aids got three different sizes of these I got one little spot between my toes rubbing so in Japanese band bandaid is B so so if you need to buy some stuff at one of these drugstores and sunscreen is hiyak do so make sure you stuck up cuz once you get away from these towns it’s hard to buy some of these things you can see the smoke coming up out of samayama volcano nice clear day today look at [Music] [Music] that make sure you follow these little signs too let go there this bridge crosses the chika River connecting the post towns of Shion and yawata just had some lunch at drivein skuma uh good cheap place and uh don’t know how many more places there are or where the next stop is if you’re heading towards kto if you’re heading towards Tokyo they’re here about to be tasaku City so there’s plenty of places we’re here in tasina there’s actually Two tatosha Towns side by side but they use different kanji for the names but this is Kasa Tor to Pine Forest it’s kasor pass so let’s go check out the pine trees yeah some toilets in a rest area for the toilets says tonel which is feudal Lord and he may princess so Lords and princesses the sign says national highway 142 tasina town uh kasor pass there’s a sidewalk but it’s beside a highway so uh it’s not dangerous but I don’t think I’d want to be walking through here nighttime we have about 12 more kilm to go to uh our current Campground for tonight akakura no Mori Campground I can see the sign just ahead for the tea house we’re in nagawa town the owner of Toano Chaya was super friendly and kept me company as I had a second lunch the road curves its way down the mountain but nakasendo actually cuts off to the side here [Music] most of the afternoon was downhill through peaceful Forest I passed a couple of villages a few random houses before stumbling upon the Shrine in the woods it’s 38k to the town that I first moved to when I first moved Japan 23 years ago Chino City we’re here out of Camp akakura no here’s the cheick in they have a small shop here to buy things if you forget got some snacks Camp gear here they have cottages for rant The Cottages have a toilet there they even have uh sinks and a washer and dryer here you can can use if you need to wash a few clothes so it’s May 21st today and and uh we’re here in Nagano but it’s still a little bit chilly it’s going to get cold tonight so I’m glad I brought my hat so my bald head doesn’t get cold be able to sleep nice here look at the nice river behind us Little Creek and I just had a shower so you just put your money in right there 200 yen for 5 minutes it’s about a dollar 150 and get a nice hot shower I’m the only one here tonight so I have the whole place to myself it’s an auto Camp so you usually park and then say set your tin up next to it but I don’t have a car so he gave me a discount it’s usually 4,000 Yen uh but he let me do it for500 Yen ,500 Yen like $10 the toilets are like a log cabin super clean smells like Cedar inside too look at that it’s getting a little bit cold I was getting a sleeping back get some rest and uh get ready for tomorrow okay good night today is day eight and we’re going to be going over the W pass or W toi and just over those mountains right over there and for the most part nakasendo follows Route 142 but we’ll go off into the woods in a few spots uh but it’s we’re going to go up to uh an altitude of about 1,400 M uh so it’s sort of a slide uphill and then downhill into sua it was a Scenic walk through a rural Village before connecting back up with Route 142 this short section would be the last few shops and vending machines for nearly 30 km so make sure you have water it’s a little dangerous on road 142 there’s no sidewalk they’re doing construction so this guy is going to take me just a couple of kilometers down the road’s another hiker here in uh so they cut about 1K off of our 500 and something kilm walk the truck dropped us off about 1K up the road just cuz it’s too dangerous to walk uh without a sidewalk on this busy road as I followed the nakaso trail into the woods I came across a guy that was biking it for the day today is a bit of a uphill track but that’s a nice temperature [Music] [Music] we’re at 1100 M up and we’re going to take that side road right over there [Music] there’s an an emergency shelter if you get stuck along the trail and need to sleep in there her weather’s bad it’s a nice little place [Music] [Music] [Music] I think we’re at the top of the pass I don’t see any more upill uh it’s hoping have some lunch about now but guess we’re not going to eat here I got a few snacks in the bag though so let’s keep trudging along looks like we’re going to have to walk under this road probably if it’s heavy rain it’s going to be hard to go through here oh we made it to the top okay oh we did it ah my eyes are burning from the sweat we made it if you can see right through the valley there the sua that’s where we’re heading to probably got about 10 10 or 12 km but it’s downhill from [Music] here so it’s uh pretty quick uh since it’s downhill from here on out just heading this kind of Trail just down through the [Music] woods even on these less popular parts of the nakasendo trail there are still signs in the woods to guide [Music] you the woods here remind me a lot of the woods in Alabama and Georgia that I grew up uh playing in and living around so I guess that’s why I like Nagano so much and the fact that it’s the first place I ever lived in in Japan but so just a lot of good memories here in Nagano could be because there are a lot of pine trees that I’ve been seeing today although in Japan you usually see a lot more Cedar than pine trees but uh in the south in the US you see a lot more pine trees so uh maybe just since I’m seeing a lot of pine trees here in Nago that’s what reminds me of the South [Music] [Applause] this road uh Route 142 is probably the worst I’ve seen so far for having some areas that don’t have sidewalks or any kind of Trail so you got to be really careful and uh stay through the side of the road and don’t walk against traffic it soon cut off to a safer and less busy Side Road as I got closer to the city of suah and then there it was sight of the omash festival a festival that’s once every 6 years that I haven’t missed in over 20 years this is uh where part of the omash festival is and I’ve been fortunate to come take part in an a few times uh when I was living here and even afterwards but uh this is where the big feature they uh pull the trees down the or ride them down this hill down to the bottom there looks strange not seeing tons of people on the other side of the river since me and this other couple’s here this guy’s going to do a kiotti which is kind of the the little uh motivational yell before they start pulling [Music] they have this sample tree here kind of shows what it’s like and they go down the hill still surprised that the nakasendo trail came right through the omida Festival site I knew I was getting close to one of sua’s most important shrines there’s Lake sua in the city of [Music] [Music] sua so we just walked across uh shimosa and we’re just leaving Oka now we’re about to get into the woods so I stopped at a convenience store to get u a drink and a banana and a ham and cheese croissant look at that that’s going to be my lunch today so uh I’m just going to head across the street back onto the nakasendo goes right up through this that up the side street there this is a nice view of uh Lake sua and yatak katake the mountain range right there which means eight Peaks and on a really clear Day from a little bit further Closer by the lake you can see Mount Fuji through the valley over there uh but this is Oka interchange and we’re about to head just right over this little Peak here last night was able to catch up with an old friend here in sua uh she treated me to a big steak dinner so thanks Goan got plenty of energy today if you see these signs around uh it’s just saying warning danger uh they have traps and cages set up for Deer uh board another Wildlife so uh basically stay away from them stay away from the cages and traps this is fujimi Observatory so looks like a nice place to have [Music] lunch it’s beautiful view from up here they have yats Kake in the mountains Lake sua you can see the silhouett of Fuji just through the clouds there and then there’s a little bit of snow still on top of the Southern Alps Japanese they say Minami Alps since the previous day was a long hard walk I decided to take a relaxing lunch break after lunch I made a video on what I packed for this trip so be sure to check it out on this YouTube channel hey guys how’s it going so we’re somewhere in shj city and Nago pref and we’ve been walking for 9 days from Tokyo in that direction and we have about 9 more days to go to kilo in that direction so hope you’ve been enjoying it cuz I have and let me know in the comments what you think and so let’s go make some more memories [Music] there’s a sign uh says during the Ed period This Town uh prospered and it flourished with Travelers the time and there’s something across the street let’s go check that out so this is nakasendo sh it’s a place where a d like a feudal Lord would stay uh or the site of where it used to be so there’s a little bit of information about the history right there says n Sendo but still no sidewalks to walk on so be careful when you’re walking on this part yeah this looks like an old uh sake Brewery Wako Shel this is called the uh huchi house and it’s also a national cultural asset looks like it was rebuilt at some point [Music] we left uh shioji City this morning and we’re almost through the town of saba which is one of the post towns but not much going on here I’ve only seen two [Music] people but uh from here on out we’ll go head down into the kiso valley and to more of the historical post towns which means it’s more Scenic and which means there’s going to be more tourist so all the Japanese ends and hotels which there aren’t many to start with those are pretty much full so we’re gonna find some places to camp on this leg of the [Music] trip there’s a 7-Eleven across the street here and looking at the map I don’t see where there are any more convenience stores for a while so I’m going to get stocked up on a few things here uh maybe even for dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast too so I got a bag of goodies uh bread different kind of things chicken bar might be good to put in some soup so just in case I get stuck I got some stuff to eat these small towns that we’re heading to now it’s not that I worry about them not having a supermarket or anything it’s just that a lot of these towns uh everything closes at 5: so if you don’t reach it in time there’s not a convenient store or supermarket to buy anything after 5:00 so I could be up until 8:00 I don’t know so but we’ve got a few things just in case of emergency probably just cook my own dinner at a camp tonight so just have to be prepared that’s what they taught me in the Boy Scouts so here’s a row of uh places so it says here that this kuch is K so most of these are probably ends that uh nendo hikers or Walkers people going from toky traveling from Tokyo to kyotto or kyotto to Tokyo would stop and stay at one of these kind of places we’ve seen a few of these already when it says it means this is the uh site of where the feudal Lord would stay so there’s probably a nicer place over on this side there’s somebody’s bee farm right there right off the side of this Main Road see all the bees flying around so kiso Valley is a world heritage side it’s a really pretty Place uh but the uh walkway stops here so we’re not going through the tunnel we’re going to head across the street over there as I cross the street I met coam masan he’s an experienced hiker and we kept each other company all the way to n nice view from up here rainy season ah rainy season this is Ni Kawa station only about 7 or eight more K from uh Nuku where I’m going to camp for the night but there’s a vending machine here so it’s always good to grab a cold drink if you want one I’ve got some water in my pack but it’s not cold so I’m going to get a good I’m going to get a good drink for the road but uh this guy I’ve been walking with he’s a nice fell he’s done a lot of walking around Japan so it’s been nice hearing about some of his other hikes this is another uh what they call Seiki show it’s like a checkpoint uh during the Ed period different feudal Lords control different areas and Tokyo basically controlled the area and had checkpoints like this where they check your documents but it’s like this if you didn’t have your documents in place he couldn’t get past this area he couldn’t go any further there’s a small shrine and these little places are along the way to get fresh water there was another seven and we’re about 4K from naruku but I’ve got plenty of stuff in my bag so we’re [Music] okay so this town is famous for lacquer wear Shiki and that’s what this place is uh they make like the bowls that you use for drinking miso soup and uh dishes like that [Music] lots of lacquerware shops urushi lerare nice town the shops Landing see in here [Music] okay we made it not auku post Town we’re here just going to walk into the town [Music] now so just uh walking past the station here Nuku said bye to coyama we’ve been walking together for about four or 5 hours um had a nice long chat about different things and some different Adventures but uh let’s go walk to the uh sightseeing [Music] office there are a lot of lacquerware shops here too you can see there all up and down the street some cafes and uh gift shops [Music] it really is it really is a quain atmosphere in this town I can see why people like come in here it’d be nice just for a day trip just to walk this street and uh maybe have lunch at a cafe look at this [Music] after a relaxing stroll through town I went to the river to find a place to set up for the night I went to a guy here in Nuku that knows a little bit about tourism I can’t say who he is or where he works but he told me if you get stuck in this town and need to Camp he said he didn’t tell me but this park is the place to do it and it’s right by the river toilets across the street there’s a couple of vending machines and if it rains there’s this Pavilion here so helps a lot so I got a place to sleep for tonight to be honest with you I think I’m going to save myself the trouble of setting up my tent and taking it down tomorrow morning early and just probably sleep on my sleeping bag in this Pavilion here which is where he said was okay to sleep if it rains camping in the open called No Juku in Japanese is Sur upon here so be sure to stay inconspicuous so tonight’s dinner we’re going to have some uh broccoli and cheese soup and I’ve got this chicken bar from 7-Eleven I’m going to cut that up put it in the broccoli cheese soup have chuo and cheese which is like a fish paste with cheese in the middle middle of it ham and cheese bread save a couple of those for tomorrow morning I couldn’t resist an evening stroll through the town of Nuku before settling in for the night [Music] today we’re going to head over a Tory pass it’s the last of the major mountain passes on this uh nakasendo Trail and uh we’re just leaving Nuku so let’s go say a prayer here at the shrine just so we’ll have a safe journey [Music] [Music] a s do here’s a sign right here see 2.3k to Tory pass uh the guy I was walking with yesterday told me this is the part of the nendo you might see a bear or two so they have these bells along the way but I’m going to go ahead and take mine out my backpack click it on it’s a little bear Bell keep them away okay got it and [Music] sounds like a woodpecker it’s nice and peaceful beautiful in here but a little dark and secluded so I don’t think I’d want to run into an Angry Mama Bear in here hey we made it to the top this is Tori to Tori pass have a nice building with toilets look at that this would have been a nice place to sleep last night nice and warm uh no electricity but that’s fine oh this was this would have been nice look at that nice clean floors and toilets right on the other side of the building if you’re new to Japan and you’ve never seen a Japanese style toilet or a Squatty Potty this is what they look like this is you Squat and you face the wall and that’s where you do your business most uh most places have modern sit down toilets now but these Mountain huts and even old schools uh have squatty potties like that yay we made it Tory pass 1197 M we made it it’s all downhill to kilo from here [Music] [Music] [Music] that’s probably the town of yabada that we’re heading down to now [Music] just stopped out a bakery got a little bit of bread uh this is a nice little town not quite as quain as not auku but uh gabar seems to be more of a functional town they were having a sports day for like a preschool or Elementary school back there so actually people living and and uh raising families in this town this stretch from uh yabuhara to M Koshi to uh now we’re going through harano I’ve been pretty quiet not really many people out it’s a Saturday uh it’s nice weather but just not much going on still some snow on the crevices on the on that mountain so this is the actual midpoint of nakasendo it’s 266k from here to Tokyo and from here to Kyoto says it right there on the sign right there says nakasendo here in the middle nowhere got to be careful with these really small turn offs you think you got to go straight but it’s down this little [Music] [Music] [Music] I love to jump in that River looks like it feels so good look at that this town is called Fukushima Juku and it’s more Scenic than the past few towns we just walked through but it has this river running through the center of town houses are kind of built up on the mountain and you got these brown wooden buildings Lin in the streets there’s also a SEI show Museum which is one of the checkpoints that we’ve seen already uh along the way we just passed a brewery up the road there a sake Brewery there’s a tofu restaurant tofu dishes Fried Chicken Kaz some I like these traditional buildings all the [Music] wood the sad thing is is I just saw a sign back there that said there’s a el shopping center just a couple of miles down the road and those big shopping centers kill all these mom and pop and small town shops uh same way it did in America too with like Walmart and big shopping centers [Music] [Music] it’s a scary looking tunnel oh that’s dark wonder how far that goes it looks scary I’ve seen too many Japanese horror movies to be walking in dark tunnels like that so M noi uh in Japan they’re roadside stations roadside stands and kind of like farmers markets and they sell like souvenirs and fruits veggies uh this one has some food too so let’s stop here and uh see if they know if aim mat’s town has a supermarket and what time it closes cuz if not we’ll just buy some food here probably got another hour and a half walking and then we’ll find a place to camp for tonight so that’s Mount onake over there with the snow on it it’s a nice view of the gorge here the rice fields this is pretty we at that big Temple over there so agimat has a few supermarkets they close at 6:30 it’s 4:00 now so takes about an hour to get there from here for us to walk there so gives us uh a couple hours and sun doesn’t set till about 7:30 almost 8 now since it’s end of May so it gives us plenty of time to walk through town hopefully as we’re as we’re leaving town we can find a good little spot that’s not too obvious to set up a tent and uh have some dinner and relax for a little bit before we go to bed [Music] so a little bit of change of plans uh walked a little further found a Ramen Shop at that for dinner and a local person told me about the sports park uh that’s not in use in the evening times and uh said I could probably just set up here so I set up the tent right there and this is what the view looks like these mountains SL out so let’s get a good night’s sleep start back walking again tomorrow and another piece of advice is make sure you know where your flashlight or your headlight or lanterns whatever you’re going to be using for light make sure you have those ready before it gets dark okay good night see you tomorrow [Music] I popped in uh close to 7-Eleven and got a breakfast sandwich some yogurt and a coffee for breakfast but sit behind here and eat it look at this view this is the kiso river [Music] when I was a kid back in Alabama used to go with uh my brother John and some of our friends we would always go walking away off into the woods follow the train tracks down to uh different creeks and uh this kind of reminds me of a lot of that look at that we got the railroad tracks we used to walk on these kind of tracks didn’t really have a river as big as that but we had small Creeks that we’d go and catch snakes and uh turtles it was always just a fun time exploring oh look at that it’s beautiful if you hike about 17K from here there’s a trail that goes to the inagawa gorge inagawa Ravine is what they call it but look at this this is beautiful [Music] I just talked to a lady out watering her flowers and uh this brand new building here is a city hall see it says right there oku Mur Yak yaku which is the city office but they built a new gym right there for the for the school but uh she said as far as high schools they have to go to other other towns cuz there’s no High School in this Village um which is kind of a problem across Japan with the shrinking population it starts with preschools closing and then next elementary schools start closing and uh junior high and high schools so I think if they they probably think if they build like a nice city hall have some infrastructure they’re trying to bring other bring people from Tokyo to these outer parts but problem is there’s just no jobs so in this day and age uh with more and more remote work maybe even digital Nomads uh which Japan just started a Visa this year it’s a six-month visa for digital Nomads if you have income already uh from digital creation digital work uh you can get a visa to come to Japan but and live here for 6 months but that still doesn’t help uh to grow things for the future can see these houses down here half of these are just uh closed up and no one’s living there so you may have heard of the Akamai which is the problem with all these empty houses in Japan it’s because of the shrinking population and uh I don’t know there’s just really not much just such a el there’s such a huge elderly population and a smaller younger generation to support it that’s scary to park a new car under that thing [Music] here’s another Miki let’s take a stop here for a break this is uh okua Kaka stop in here and get a drink maybe just a little bite to eat we still got a quite a few hours of walk in today my instincts were right they had cinnamon rolls and another coffee is a early morning so we’ll have two breakfasts today this part of the uh nakasendo follows the Jr train line so a lot of foreigners and a lot of older Japanese people uh ride the train to the nice quiet towns and skip the so-called boring towns but uh if you want to walk the full cendo from Tokyo to kto or vice versa you’re going to have to walk through the boring towns and between towns where there’s nothing but be prepared there may not be places to eat or places to stay so you might have to wing it uh and be prepared just have some food with you and uh if possible have a small tent this is called the ebo isi or mole Rock so if you have any moles that you want to go away or you want to want to get better you just just touched this rock that’s what it says right here there’s a coffee shop right there let’s stop in and have one that was nice chatting with that couple um they move from Yokohama to the small town to live a quieter life and they reform that place which used to be a blacksmith’s house and uh which is interesting since my family has blacksmiths my father and my brother uh and so I asked them if there were any leftover things and they showed me the iron piece that hangs over the Hearth uh which you find in Old Japanese houses and uh but traditionally Japanese blacksmiths uh made tools for Woodworkers on this side right through the trees you can see parts of the Kissa river that we saw this morning it’s really blue look at that so I found a campground for tonight but it’s uh not located right on the nendo it’s quite a away is I don’t know 5 10 km away so what we’re going to do is finish walk into simle town and then from there there’s a like a city bus that takes us close to where the camon is but uh the city bus leaves at 3:00 one leaves at 5:00 and let’s see we need to go down these stairs over here knao make sure you don’t miss these little [Music] stops many tourists were enjoying the fully restored edop period town but my main concern was looking for food and a place to stay for the night since there were no supermarkets or convenience stores nearby the tourist information center directed me to an oaki or steam bun shop these are a specialty of Nago prefecture I stocked up on some uh snacks dinner maybe tomorrow’s breakfast the nearest place to camp for the night was up in the mountains outside of Tumo chuku so we’re going to take this bus uh for heading towards Hami and wherever we get off it’s about a 2K walk from there to the campsite the friendly bus driver told me that it would be about an hour walk to get to AR Campground [Music] the good news is is tomorrow morning it’ll be downhill back to the bus stop come all if he didn’t know he’d be wondering if there’s really a campground up here it’s uphill and starts getting into these Woods hey we made [Music] it and here’s the chicken so we made it here and checked in and it’s only me and one couple here tonight so the guy said I could choose wherever I wanted to to pick so I’m going to stay close to where the shower is in the bathroom and there’s also some sinks next door here I set the tent up here just behind us we have a nice little creek running through and the cool thing is there’s electricity so I have all my stuff charging tonight’s dinner Su por Ramen courtesy of the guy that is leaving now that manages this place and then they steamed buns uh Nago they’re kind of famous for putting different ingredients in them it’s called oaki and this one has eggplant in it this one has no zawa now which is a type of leaf uh kind of like spinach this one has dry da cone and this one has pork in it but I’m going to save this for tomorrow [Music] good morning it’s about 6:30 and I was I knew it was going to start raining uh early this morning so as soon as I heard the sprinkles I brought the tent and sleeping bag to this Pavilion and going to start putting packing everything away um I left my backpack and all my other stuff up here last night so um go ahead and start packing things away and uh get ready to walk in the rain today I spoke to soon yesterday I said we were lucky cuz it’s all downhill tomorrow morning but it is downhill but it’s in the rain I was going to catch the 9:35 boss back into smuggle uh but after eating all those buns last night those steamed buns um not so hungry for breakfast so uh decided to catch the 7:30 bus we’re up and out of here early so we can get started with our walk today we’re going to be walking through one of the prettiest parts of Japan but it’s going to be a rainy day but that’s nature so we’ll enjoy it either way I walk back down to the bus stop to catch the bus into tum go Juku which ended up being almost all [Music] students so we’re back here in Sagle and uh it’s 7:40 in the morning so nothing’s really open there’s only one person out on the street so we’re going to go ahead and start our hike to M supposed to be one of the most cnic hikes and let’s go see what it is it’s about 10K or so so it should take us probably two 3 hours so as we leave the town and follow the river know not cross this bridge but walk walk past this bridge and head just right across the street there’s a rock that says nak cendo on it right there and now we head into the woods make sure you take a right here at these people’s house and take this little Trail up into the woods just past a few houses couple more buildings right up [Music] here here’s an inn called hanaya hanaya hanaya in just keep following the signs we cross head up through [Music] there so the road splits right here and if you go to the left up into the mountain it that’s follows the nakasendo if you go to the right it goes past a couple of waterfalls but they’re both the same distance and both end up in magome Juku magome town but I’m going to stick to nendo since that’s what we’re [Music] walking with the steep mountains around this area the roads are probably really hard to maintain from erosion and all these little waterfalls after the snow melts in the spring um I probably always having construction probably cost a lot of money you can see the sides of the mountains here trees start eroding and they they fall rocks Fallen trees sliding down the hill like they have a cable holding it just to keep it off of this Trail and after coming down that Hill we’re going to follow these signs here across this road and follow the sidewalk only about 4 more K till we get to M and we go back into the woods [Applause] once you come out at this part going to cross this curve and head back into the woods again these are actually two cypress trees that were planted in 176 and they’re growing together over 300 years old [Music] so just leaving the Tea House talk to the few groups and talk to the guy that volunteers here so some nice people interesting uh tourists from lots of different places so we’re somewhere halfway between mome and SLE so not sure what kind of restaurants there are at either place so let’s have a little bit of lunch here some hot SOA and go Mochi which is mochi balls with some sweet sauce in it my just had a good lunch warmed us up a little bit the rain stopped and it’s downhill from here to muggle me and going to stay at the hotel tonight yay going to soak in a bath for a while one more little secret for you hikers is this part from mag to smuggle I just asked the Vol the guy was volunteering at the Tea House back there and I said have you ever seen any bears yourself or have any hikers that you’ve talked to see any bears and he’s like never so these bells are probably just for effect to give uh hikers A Little Bit Of A Thrill I’ve been walking for 13 days now only Wildlife has seen to Deer but I’m sure there are a few Bears out or [Music] [Applause] [Music] somewhere 1.3k get [Music] that’s bamboo forest there at the one [Music] cave look got a lot of foreigners like seeing these bamboo trees going through here [Applause] [Music] he started raining a little bit again but we’re here in mugg we’re going to head down into Momi on that path right [Music] there there are 133 mountain passes on this section of they have this free museum about the nendo so let’s go can also use them to trap Bears tooo H I’m going to have to make another trip for sure I spoke too soon this is the actual Mountain Pass monkey skel open look at that so the GPS signal stopped working and the trail just disappeared came to a dead end the uh sha police picked me up off the highway PR us on the yasawa Yas River okay today’s day 18 the final day and they gave me a certificate for doing the nakasendo [Music]

Experience Japanese history by walking the Nakasendo Trail. Episode 2 follows me from Karuizawa to Magome as I walk across Nagano Prefecture. This video begins with a recap of Episode 1 from Tokyo to Gunma, but don’t miss the end as we arrive in Magome-juku. Be sure to watch the preview of the exciting finale, Episode 3.