A Trip to the Mountains

One of my main reasons of waiting until April to come to Japan this year was to enjoy the sakura (cherry blossoms) in bloom. It's a great season where everyone comes out to hold picnics with friends under the trees, drink some beer, and enjoy the scenery. Sounds great! But! This year it started early, and by the time I arrived in Nagoya... the flowers were mostly gone.

So! We decided to take a trip to the mountains of Nagano. Nagano is like the Colorado of Japan. It's a beautiful prefecture completely found within the mountains of Honshu (the main island). Since the weather's a bit colder there, the sakura are just now at their peak. Absolutely beautiful!

The first place on our stop was Zenkoji, and old Buddhist temple upon which the city of Nagano was founded. And what a huge temple! It's considered one of the national treasures of Japan. And the day we arrived, the place was under police investigation. Someone had decided to spray paint it, most likely in protest of Zenkoji's declination to be the starting point of the Beijing Olympic's relay race. (Due to the pressure put on by the whole free tibet thing).

Hit the jump for the graffiti news.

Next on our list was Garyu Koen, one of the country's most famous hanami (flower viewing) parks. There are literally hundreds of cherry trees all over, and the day we got there was their big sakura festival. Totally awesome. Basically, the trees outline a small lake, with festival booths offering food, drinks, and games along one side. We got there around 4pm, and saw several groups that had been going at it all day long. Passed out or otherwise drunk people all over (including a gal dressed as a frog... yeah!)

That night, we headed to an Ryokan, a traditional Japanese style hotel with an onsen (hot spring) attached to it. Very different kind of hotel! First of all, you eat in your room, sitting on the tatami (straw mat) floor. No showers or anything in the room either! For bathing, you go public, old school! The water itself is fresh hot spring water rich in minerals that are good for the skin. Dinner and breakfast come included, and are of more of the traditional Japanese many many dishes flavor. (I unfortunately got very sick and couldn't eat dinner... more on that later!)

Anyway, other than the getting sick portion, it was a great two day trip. Shot a lot of video and photos, too.

Check out the photos here.