Matsumoto and Narai Juku

Our trips to Japan usually follow a similar itinerary that takes us back to favorite hotels and restaurants, seeing people we’ve gotten to know over the years. But there’s always more to see and explore, so on our last trip we spent a couple days in Nagano Prefecture, aka the Japanese Alps.

We took an early train from Tokyo to Matsumoto, where I arranged a guide for a day tour of the area.  It turns out that instead of one guide, we got a husband and wife couple – Edwin and Mayumi – who were a really fun and funny duo!

They met us at the train station and then we set off in their van to visit the Matsumoto “black crow castle”, one of only 12 original castles in Japan (we previously visited another of the 12, Himeji, the “white heron castle”). 

After exploring around the castle, I was getting hungry, so Mayumi suggested a local restaurant serving “bandit chicken”: marinated and flattened chicken thighs that are breaded and fried, served with rice and pickled vegetables.  I spotted an intriguing plastic jug labeled “homemade plum wine” so obviously had to try that (Dan had his favorite Asahi beer instead); unlike store-bought umeshu that I find too syrupy sweet, this had a balance of sweet and tart that made it really delicious.

While the cherry blossoms were a little past peak in Tokyo, Matsumoto’s blossoms were in full bloom so Edwin drove us to a hill completely covered with blooming sakura.  We had a quick walk around to enjoy the views.

Then we hopped back in the van for about an hour drive to Narai Juku, a preserved post town from the Edo period – essentially a rest stop, halfway between Kyoto and Edo (now Tokyo), where feudal lords and merchants could stop to eat and rest.

Unfortunately it started to rain, so when we arrived at Narai Juku it was wet and cold.  We walked for a bit and then thankfully stopped into a charming little cafe for hot amazake, a fermented rice drink that is naturally sweet.  This thawed out my hands and so we continued onward. 

Narai Juku is still a living and working town, though most of the buildings are cafes, craft shops, small traditional restaurants, or tiny ryokans – all very picturesque, especially in the misty rain!

Back into the van for the 80 minute drive to our hotel, during which Edwin regaled us with his (surprisingly numerous) stories of meeting yakuza either at the beach or while hitchhiking. 

Edwin: “The yakuza rebuilt this country after the war but they don’t get any credit for it!”

There was one more surprise for us: The area is known for grape cultivation and wine making, so Edwin and Mayumi took us to a long-established local winery for a quick tasting.  We arrived at 4:29pm and wine tasting was only offered until 4:30pm, but they kindly let us taste for 10 minutes.  The approach here was very casual – take your tiny plastic cup (and by tiny I mean one inch high!) and pour yourself tastes of whichever wines catch your fancy from the refrigerated case.

A celebratory ending to such a full day of adventure – the only problem is that I’ve now added Nagano to the ever-growing list of “places to return to”!