The next place I was heading was called Nagano. I left my hostel in Tokyo and I went to the train station to finally get my JR pass. I tried to do this the day before, but I had left my passport at the locker in the hostel, and they needed it for verification. I finally got my JR pass, which would allow me to take most trains across Japan for two weeks. However, the pass was a bit wider than a credit card (so it couldn’t fit in my wallet), but still shorter than a credit card. And it was the exact same size as all of the other train tickets, so it was very easy to lose (and I’ve heard of this happening before). I got on the bullet train to Nagano and once I got there, I bought a 2-day Snow Monkey pass. This pass would allow me unlimited train and bus rides in the area, as well as free admission to the Snow Monkey park. I used that pass to take the train to Suzaka, which is where my hostel was (Guest House KURA). I got there at 3pm and was told that check-in wasn’t until 4pm (this seemed to be the case everywhere in Japan – late 4pm check-ins, and early 10am check-outs), but luckily they let me go to my room early. The guesthouse was a traditional Japanese house, and I had to set up my futon, which was a cool experience! I had booked a girls dorm, but since I was the only girl there, I got a room to myself. I decided to explore the neighbouring town of Obuse, which is famous for harvesting chestnuts. However, when I got there, it started to rain and most things were closed or were closing soon. I found a cafe called Cafe Saku G, which served chestnut parfaits, and it was so good! I didn’t think I liked chestnuts, but this was so tasty. After my dessert, I decided to head into Nagano. My gluten-free app only had one option in the entire area, so I decided to go to that. It was a place right next to the station called 信州十割そば てん, and they even had a sign on the window that said gluten-free. They had an ordering system outside, but it was all in Japanese so I just walked in. The chef had great English and said that they didn’t have an English menu, so I asked about gluten-free. He said that I could have the soba noodles cold, since the broth had gluten. Soba noodles are made with buckwheat, but some places still mix it with flour, so it’s difficult to find 100% buckwheat noodles. However, this place did them and they also did gluten-free tempura! I used my Google Translate app to look at my options, and decided to go for the cold soba noodles with lotus root tempura and chicken tempura. The chicken tempura was so good! I had never had cold noodles before, so that was interesting, but they were still good as well. I walked around the city for a bit, but it was so cold! I was in the mountains, and it felt like I was back in Canada – I couldn’t stop shivering! I got on the train and headed back to the hostel, where there was a guy from Israel and a guy from the UK, and they were hanging out with the three Japanese hostel workers. The hostel workers tried to figure out how to write everyone’s name in Japanese symbols. Mine translated into “attractive, calm flowing water,” but is still pronounced Janelle. We stayed up chatting until late, and then went to bed.
The next morning, I woke up and went to the convenience store to get coffee and breakfast. The guy from the UK (Ash) was also planning to go to the monkey park, so we decided to go together. We caught the train, which took us to the end of the line, and then we had to get onto a bus. After that, we still had to walk about 20 minutes just to get into the park. But we immediately saw monkeys! They were so chill, and fun to watch. I had developed a fear of monkeys after my time in Thailand and Malaysia, since the monkeys there were so vicious. However, these ones were so nice and didn’t even acknowledge humans. During the winter, there’s snow in the area so the snow monkeys usually hang out in the hot springs. We waited and waited for them to go into the water, but none of them did – they’d only dip their heads in for a drink. We must have stayed for a couple hours just to watch them. There was another hot spring (called an onsen in Japan) closeby, where both humans and monkeys could go, but I decided to pass.
We walked back to the station, which would take about an hour at a regular pace. But we were taking our time, so it took a lot longer. My gluten free app pointed us to a restaurant called Soba Yariya, but as we walked through the area, everything seemed closed because of the holiday. There was one place with a curtain and we saw that it was a restaurant, so we just decided to go inside. It was after 2 by that point, and we were just happy to find an open restaurant. It was covered with the most random figurines and artwork, and then I saw a sign that said Soba Yariya – we were in the right place! Another soba place, which the area is known for. I said that I was allergic to wheat, so she told me to get soba and I got it in a broth. When it came, I saw that the broth was a brown colour and I was skeptical – surely it must have soy sauce in it. But I just ate it anyway, and I felt itchy shortly afterwards! I should have probably just ordered cold noodles again, but we were already cold enough outside, so I was just happy to have some warm soup. We continued on our walk and came upon this little shop that sold onsen pudding. It was made with local eggs which are heated in the hot spring water, and it was basically like a custard. There was no one in the shop – it was just an honesty shop where you’d leave money. And there was one vending machine with a variety of puddings, so we both decided to try the original. It was actually so good! We continued to the station and then decided to stop back in Obuse on the way. Again, it was nearly 5pm so everything was closed or nearly closed, but at least it was nicer weather compared to the day before! We went back to the same cafe that I was at, and we each got another chestnut parfait – totally worth it! We went back to the hostel to relax for a bit, and we met another Canadian (Daniel) and a Polish guy (Adam). The four of us went out for dinner to an Izakaya restaurant 枠屋 (Izakaya is kind of like a Japanese tapas bar), and I ordered a variety of things. I knew it would be impossible to avoid gluten here and since I had already reacted from lunch, I decided to just go all in. I ordered a soft tofu dish, some gyoza, and some of the best (and cheapest) salmon sushimi I think I’ve ever had. It was kind of ironic that I had brought my own gluten-free soy sauce to dip my gluten-filled gyoza into. We went back to the hostel late, hung out for a bit, and then went to bed.
The next morning, the four of us all caught the same train into Nagano. I grabbed some coffee and breakfast to eat before leaving, and then we all headed to the train station. When we got there, we were all heading in different directions, so we said our goodbyes and separated. I was going to Kanazawa next, which I’ll save for the next post. Love always
Prairie Girl Abroad 