Tsumago

We left Tokyo on the high-speed shinkansen (bullet train) through Nagano then onto Tsumago. This is a remote town in the Japan Alps which used to be a stop on the trade route between Kyoto and Tokyo which now makes it trade offering tourists a taste of traditional Japanese rural life.


Being the off-season, the town was quite empty, and combined with a temporary turn in the weather towards cool and wet, this was a welcome change from the heat and crowds of Tokyo. Our hotel was styled as a traditional Japanese lodge with the standard paper walls, thatch floors, and low ceiling beams which Andrew head-butted (or chin-butted) at least twice an hour.

The next morning brought bright sunshine and heat as we hiked some 8km of the old trade route through bamboo forests and old rural villages.

Now back onto a few more trains and on to Kyoto.

P.S. Andrew loves the Japanese: they are organized, efficient, and polite. (Just like Andrew.)