Nagano trip

In celebration of the end of exams, we went on an overnight bus trip to Nagano Prefecture with our entire cohort. In total there were 54 foreign students in our program, 4 teachers and 11 Japanese students.

Our first stop was the Suwa taisha, a Shinto shrine. What's a trip around Japan without visiting one of these. Some people went to try their luck at the lottery available at Shinto shrines which apparently tells you how lucky you are. We also saw many wooden plaques hung with prayers written on them, most of which were about academics or getting a job. There were some things explained to us about characteristics of this particular shrine, though for me overall it was mostly a time of just admiring the architecture, since I didn't have much to do with its religious aspects.

Wooden prayer plaques

Shingen Mochi, a delicacy in Nagano. It was very yummy :)

Next we visited a wasabi farm. This was a unique experience, since it was apparently the largest producer of wasabi in Japan.

Statue of a wasabi plant.

Wasabi require a lot of fresh water, and apparently several hundred tonnes of water are run through the plantation each day.

We walked around the wasabi plantations, and at the end some people tried some "wasabi ice cream" and "wasabi beer". I personally was disappointed that the beer was normal beer with shaved wasabi added into it, instead of being brewed from the wasabi plant. The ice cream was just vanilla with shaved wasabi added into it. Neither tasted distinctly of wasabi.

We then visited Matsumoto castle.

What was particularly meaningful to us arts students was the fact that we had just learned in history class this half semester about the Shogun who had this castle built. The narrow staircases that connected the five floors of this castle were also interesting. They were apparently specially designed to make it difficult for invaders carrying swords on their backs e.g. ninjas to climb, since their swords would get stuck between the handrail beam. Very strategic.

The fish in the moat were very friendly.

At night we stayed at a traditional Japanese inn, called a ryokan, and had traditional Japanese meals for dinner and breakfast. Aside from the sake wine being withheld from our meals, it was certainly an experience to behold.

Traditional Japanese dinner

Traditional Japanese breakfast

Japanese meals are famous for being not just pleasing to the palate, but also delectable to the eye. One saying we learned in class was Japanese eat with their eyes as well as their mouth. The variety was amazing, and so was the quantity of dishes they would have had to do afterward. Everything came in small quantities, but there was overall so much food that even I struggled to finish it all (but eventually did in the end).

The next morning, we set off again by bus, headed back home, making various stops along the way like the day before. Our first stop was the Zenkoji Buddhist temple. We weren't permitted to take photos inside the temple.

It was really beautifully decorated, which makes sense of why it's such a popular tourist site, but visiting a shrine and a temple in such close proximity of time once again got me pondering upon the syncretic nature of Japanese religion. The way they seek to bring the two into harmony instead of accepting one and rejecting the other reflects upon the Japanese culture.

Our next stop was having a crack at making buckwheat (soba) noodles.

Four were assigned to each table, and we cooperated in first making the dough from the pre-prepared flour, then rolling it flat and cutting it into noodle strands. After we had made the noodles which took about 40 minutes, we divided into four portions and took them home. We were advised to eat them as soon as possible to enjoy the freshness, but I didn't eat mine until lunchtime two days later, by which time a lot of water had evaporated and it started smelling differently to when it was freshly made. It wasn't inedible, but it didn't quite taste like the handmade noodles we had at the ryokan during dinner, haha.

Our last stop, was my personal favourite - apple picking! We were allowed to pick as many apples as we could eat on the spot. What was unfortunate was that we only had about 30 minutes to apple pick before we had to leave so I was only able to eat five apples. There were six varieties planted in that particular apple farm, so that meant I didn't get to try all of them. But the ones I did eat were certainly very tasty.

Overall it was a good break. Unlike my various holidays during the summer break though, this had a heavier emphasis on sightseeing. Though we theoretically visited Nagano, it felt more like just having fun in Nagano than getting to see Nagano itself.

In class today we learned about a certain village in Nagano Prefecture called Shimojo. What's interesting about it is that although Japan as a whole has been experiencing a continuous decline in the birth rate for about 30 years, Shimojo has actually seen an increase. We learned about the cost cuts made by the government to subsidise housing for families, and to build parks where mums with young children could spend time together, amongst other things in order to encourage childbirth. Taking some time out to visit somewhere like this instead could possibly provide a better perspective of what Nagano is really like, not just as a tourist attraction. Still, our trip to Nagano brought us closer together, and we got to know better both foreign students and Japanese students alike.