Nagoya Side Trip to the Kiso Valley | japan-guide.com

Nagoya is central Japan's industrial beating heart, home to various innovative technological companies including Toyota. Despite being sometimes overlooked as a tourist destination, the 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 a backdrop to excellently preserved feudal era towns, all underscored by enchanting traditional culture. I'm Sam Evans, staff writer for japan-guide.com and on this journey I'll be enjoying a three-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 historic post towns of the Kiso Valley, before ending with a picturesque river cruise. Here's the plan. On day one, we spend the morning in Nagoya before heading to the Kiso Valley, where we will spend most of day two. On day three, 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 one. We start our journey at Nagoya Station and head to the south of the city to see the popular SC Maglev and Railway Park, one of the best trained 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 specialties. Then, we will take a short train ride to Sako Station to check out the nearby Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology, and finally board a Shinano YView 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. We're at the SC Maglev and Railway Park in Nagoya, and this museum strives to educate visitors on advances in Japan's high-speed rail. There are a lot of interesting trains on display, including the Maglev over there, and there are tons of other interesting exhibits to keep train enthusiasts occupied. So we've arrived in central Nagoya, and right by Nagoya Station, we've ducked into a Tebasaki restaurant. Now, Tebasaki is a Nagoya specialty. It's 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 travellers traversed this important national route on foot, and so post towns were located every few kilometres to provide food and accommodation. In the Kiso Valley, a few of these old 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 are led to our room, and then we prepare for dinner. After arriving earlier, I've enjoyed a lovely bath, and now I'm about to enjoy this equally lovely-looking meal. We've got tempura, we've got sashimi, we have rainbow trout and rice, and grasshoppers, which I'm interested to try. So I'm going to dig in. Itadakimasu! 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 accommodation for the night. So we've woke up this morning, and now we're exploring Tsumagojuku's main street. Now, Tsumagojuku rose to prominence in the Edo period, when it served as a post town along the old Nakasendo, one of the highways that led from Tokyo to Kyoto. We first take a quick tour of the Honjin, a reconstructed building that in feudal times served as accommodation for the highest ranking officials when they passed through the town. A short walk from the Honjin stands the Wakihonjin, whose 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 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. Not only does it look delicious, it looks hot, and right now I'm freezing, so let's go for it. After a light in the bus at Ochiai, we make the short walk to 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 have arrived at our nearby accommodation for the night, and we're about to enjoy yet another amazing looking meal. There are some local delicacies, including wild boar meat in Oshishi, salmon sashimi, and grasshoppers again. I'm beginning to see a trend here. Day three. On the last day of this trip, we start off with a 30-minute walk on the Nakasendo Trail 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 Tenryu-kyo 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 Misaka 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 and traditional bunraku puppetry, and some very well-crafted and detailed puppets. So we're here on the Tenryu Line Kudari, which is a riverboat 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 this concludes our exploration of this beautiful region of Japan. Thanks for joining me. I hope this video has been enjoyable and even inspired some ideas, should you be planning a trip from Nagoya. 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