Iseya minshuku
Narai gives the feeling that one has stepped back in time to the Edo period. Old wooden buildings with latticed doors, narrow overhanging balconies and eaves, names of ryokans and minshukus engraved on ancient wooden placards above the entranceways.
The streets were deserted that morning, too
There are 6 original water fountains that supplied water to Nakasendo travellers over the ages. Long-handled bamboo cups are used for drinking from these public cisterns.
The village retained its Edo flavour
Another look at the village without the village bums above
This is real
This was to be a slack-off day, as we decided to take a 5-minute train ride instead of walking for 1 hour. Yeah, essentially the whole 5-day walk could be covered in a 2-hour train ride, don't you know?
So we had time to explore the village, but the villagers were nowhere to be seen.
So we went to the local shrine and cemetery. No one there, either. Living ones whom we can see, anyways.
Finally, we settled for some drinks at a cafe, the Matsuya Sabo.
The place was run by an old couple, Imai-san and his wife, and their 2 toy poodles, Chopin and Piano. We ordered the tea and coffee, and matcha cake - yummy!
It felt like your grandmother's home with knick-knacks and mementos
Imai-san was dressed was dressed primly, and very curt. I asked for a photo and he gave me a gruff shake of the head, but almost at the same time, his wife smilingly obliged with several "dozo" and a bow, to which he turned to her and questioned her grumpily. I took the shot anyways :P
He warmed up afterwards, perhaps because he overheard my attempts to chat with his wife in my broken Japanese, and showed us photos of his high-school class reunion in Matsumoto this year, and told us about his friend who had just returned from an extended stay in Indonesia.
After that leisurely chat and stroll around the village, we caught the train to Karuizawa. It was bitingly cold and we were not quite sure where we had landed after we exited the station.
Italy?
Germany?
Austria?
Canada?
Karuizawa *is* really a Nakasendo post-town, but did not retain its post-town scenery due to the 1783 eruption of Mount Asama, and further affected by fires and famine in the following years. Now it is a popular Western-style summer resort, where even Yoko Ono and John Lennon had visited for 3 consecutive summers. It also became famous because the current Emperor of Japan met the future Empress at a tennis court in Karuizawa.
Our ryokan, Tsuruya, was at the end of the town, and a splendid example of turn of the century Western-Japanese decor.
Many famous writers have lived here for extended periods of time
Our first encounter with a kotatsu, a heated wooden table covered by a futon. You HAVE to try one of these things in the winter. It's an absolutely divine feeling to come in from the cold, legs tired from walking, to stretch your legs underneath and just feel the exhaustion melt away...
We were the only ones at the ryokan, as Sophie observed, and had the use of the whole onsen to ourselves.
Fugu was on the menu that night
Fried fugu
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