Nagoya is central Japan’s industrial beating
heart, home to various innovative technological companies including Toyota. Despite being sometimes overlooked as a tourist
destination, this city has much to offer visitors, and also makes for an excellent base to travel
to the breathtaking attractions located nearby. Upon leaving the big city and entering the
mountainous interior, visitors can experience a world frozen in time, with stunning natural
vistas acting as the backdrop to excellently preserved feudal
era towns, all underscored by enchanting traditional culture. I’m Sam Evans, staff writer for japan-guide.com
and for this journey, I’ll be enjoying a 3-day side trip from Nagoya, taking in the
city’s interesting technological attractions before going ‘back in time’ if you will,
to explore the beautiful and historically important old post towns of the Kiso Valley
before ending with a picturesque river cruise. Here’s the plan:
On day 1 we spend the morning in Nagoya before heading to the Kiso Valley, where we will
spend most of Day 2. On Day 3 we leave the Kiso Valley and end
our journey with a boat ride along the Tenryu river. So, follow along as we go on a “Side Trip
from Nagoya through the Kiso Valley” Day 1 We start our journey at Nagoya Station and
head to the south of the city to see the popular SCMAGLEV and Railway Park, one of the best
train museums in the country. After this, it’s back to Nagoya Station
from where we’ll head to a nearby restaurant for a lunch of tebasaki, chicken wings deep
fried without batter, and one of the city’s best-loved specialities. Then we will take a short train ride to Sako
Station to check out the nearby Toyota Techno Museum, and finally board a Shinano Wide View
limited express train from Nagoya Station all the way to Nagiso Station, where a bus
will take us to the town of Tsumago where we will end our day in a traditional inn. So we’re here at the SCmaglev and Railway
Park in Nagoya and this museum is dedicated to educating visitors on developments in Japan’s
high speed rail. There are lot of interesting trains on display
including the maglev over there and a ton of exhibits to keep train enthusiasts occupied. So we have arrived in central Nagoya and right
by Nagoya station we’ve ducked into a Tebasaki restaurant, now Tebasaki is a Nagoya speciality,
its deep fried chicken wings made without batter, and in Nagoya they’re typically
sprinkled with sesame seeds. They look absolutely incredible. This is the Toyota Techno Museum and this
large museum recounts Toyota’s history from its beginnings in the textile industry going
forward into the automotive industry and there’s so much cool stuff here. From here, we head into the Kiso Valley where
we’ll be spending the majority of our time from here on out. During feudal times, this scenic area was
incorporated along the Nakasendo, one of Japan’s five main highways. Back in those days, most travelers traversed
this important national route on foot, and so post towns were located every few kilometers
to provide food and accommodation. In the Kiso Valley a few of these old post
towns, including Tsumago and Magome where we’ll be visiting, have been excellently
preserved to resemble how they looked centuries ago. Our last stop is the town of Tsumago, one
of the best preserved post towns in Japan, where we will stay at a quaint inn for the
night. Upon checking-in we find our room and prepare for dinner. After arriving early I’ve enjoyed a lovely bath and now I’m about to enjoy this equally
lovely looking meal. We have tempura, we have sashimi, we have
rainbow trout and rice, and grasshoppers which I’m interested to try so I’m going to
dig in. Itadakimasu! Day 2 We’ll first spend the morning walking through
Tsumago’s pleasant streets, stopping at the interesting Honjin and Wakihonjin historic
building complexes. From here we’ll take a bus to the quaint
town of Ochiai, stopping briefly along the way at Magome to have a regional local specialty
for lunch, tempura soba noodles. At Ochiai we’ll try our hand at writing
Japanese in a calligraphy experience offered at Kofukuji Temple before calling it a day
and heading to our accomodation for the night. So now we are exploring the main street of
Tsumago. Now Tsumago rose to prominence during the
Edo period when it was as a post-town along the Nakasendo, one of the old highways that
connected Tokyo with Kyoto. We first take a quick tour of the Honjin,
a reconstructed building that in feudal times served as accomodation for the highest-ranking
officials when they passed through the town. A short walk from the Honjin stands the Wakihonjin,
who’s main building dates back to the 19th century. This complex was another inn that served high-ranking
travelers, secondary in prestige to the Honjin. Following this morning of exploration we take
the bus to Magome, where we will enjoy a nice warm lunch. So we ducked out of the cold into this traditional
Japanese restaurant and I’m about to indulge in a traditional dish: tempura soba. I can’t wait to get stuck into this coz
not only does it look delicious but it looks hot and right now I’m freezing so let’s
go for it. After alighting the bus at Ochiai we make
the short walk to the Kofukuji Temple, where I’ll experience the ancient art of
Japanese calligraphy. Following this we’ll make our way to our
lodgings for the night. So after the calligraphy experience earlier
today we arrived at our nearby accomodation for the night and we are about to enjoy another
amazing looking meal. There are local delicacies including wild
boar meat (inoshishi), sashimi and grasshoppers again, I’m beginning to see a trend here! Day 3 On the last day of this trip, we start off
with a 30 minute walk on the Nakasendotrail to Magome, where we will check out what the
town has to offer. We then walk to the Misaka parking area from
where a bus will take us to Iida station. From there we will visit the Iida City Kawamoto
Kihachiro Puppet Museum, after which we will board a local train and head to Tenryukyo
station where we will take a scenic boat ride along the Tenryu River to end our adventure. From Magome we make a 20 minute walk toward
the Mikasa Bus Stop, from where a highway bus will take us to Iida station, where the
puppet museum is located. The museum is a short walk from Iida station
and showcases the city’s history of traditional bunraku puppetry with some very well crafted
and detailed puppets. So we’re here on the Tenryu Line Kudari,
which is a river boat cruise manned and paddled in the traditional way and it offers absolutely
stunning views of the surroundings and what a great end to an amazing trip! And that concludes our exploration of this
beautiful region of Japan. Thanks for joining me, I hope this video has
been enjoyable and even inspire some ideas, should you be planning a trip from Nagoya. For more information about our itinerary or
to watch another video, click the links on the screen now, or head over to Japan-Guide.com,
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