Second trip to Japan: report (Tokyo – Matsumoto – Hirayu – Kanazawa – Kyoto -Tokyo)

This was our second Japan trip the first two weeks of November last year.

These are some things we learned the first time.
Spend at least a full day in Tokyo to charge up the batteries, then start the rest of the trip. Return to Tokyo for the last couple days to sightsee and load up on souvenirs for ourselves, friends and family so you’re not dragging that shit through Japan.
We’ve never used luggage forwarding since we tend to travel lightly. We brought one suitcase with our luggage and two extra suitcases that fit into one other with a large extra empty bag to drag back the loot (best idea ever).
Suica all the way. We had one issue during the first trip (entirely our own mistake) we’re we booked a train trip from Shinjuku but we entered the station with our Suicas not our train ticket. We spent a couple of days in the mountains so we didn’t use our Suica cards and we wanted to use them on our first day in Kyoto, we noticed they were blocked. Like two days later we were back in Shinjuku, we walked into one of the offices and it took like 2 minutes to fix it. So we’ll definitely not make that error again, but even if you do, it’s no biggie.
Cities are fun but Japanese nature is underrated with a lot of tourists. Matsumoto and surroundings were my personal highlight from our first trip. I found Osaka to be underwhelming. So the plan was to spend more time in the countryside.
Restaurant food is good wherever you are. Focus on things you want to eat, rather than specific restaurants you want to eat at.
First visit was end of September, so it was very hot and humid. We would be packing for colder (and possibly wetter) weather this time around.
Two years ago we didn’t do a lot of izakaya because of the language barrier we were expecting but this year we went all in, both cheaper and more premium.
If you’re going for the full ryokan experience (private bath, kaiseki dinner) it can be expensive, but one night doesn’t break the bank and you can easily save on your other stays. And it’s a must.
Room sizes: 12 square meters is not enough. We need at least 16 and a decent bed.
Don’t knock mall court food. Quick, cheap and probably delicious.
Japan makes some very good wines. Try them.
Always get an ekiben (on longer trains, never on local trains), just pick any.

I’m not going to do a day-by-day but location by location.

First day was arrival in Narita, dinner in Sushiro and early to bed. First morning was the classic konbini breakfast. My wife’s go-to is a(n) (ice) coffee, juice, fruit cup or yoghurt and a pastry. I’m going for a spicy roe onigiri, a sandwich (egg or tuna) and a cold unsweetened tea. We visited the temple flea market in Yanaka Ginza and bought a couple of old prints. We had a tempura dinner in Nagasaki Tempura Kouten Ebisu with the all you can drink selection. A recommendation although jet lag and alcohol are a difficult combination.

Next day, off to Matsumoto. They say that the Azusa train to Matsumoto is one of the most scenic train routes through Japan and I’m sure it’s not far from it. Matsumoto was sunny but chilly. Since we would be doing a couple of hikes, we went looking for a bear bell (also a great souvenir). Matsumoto has a couple of outdoor goods shops and there were several options for bear bells. We had dinner in Matsumoto’s AEON Mall food court. I went for fried rice and beef, my wife for curry. We hit up the large supermarket downstairs for a picnic for next day’s hike, some cans of sake and beers for the hotel room.

This took a lot of research and planning beforehand, but the next day we would be hiking part of the Nakasendo between Yabuhara and Naraijuku. From Matsumoto you can take a couple of morning trains to Yabu, and in the afternoon/evening there are trains back from Narai. Buy your tickets the day before in high season ‘cause when we got on the train it was packed. We thought we’d have a lot of company during the hike which would help to scare away bears, but basically almost everyone got off in Narai. There was only a handful of people left that got off in Yabu and only 4 of us that started on the hike. We quickly lost sight of those people, though. The bear bell was very annoying. The first people we met on the hike was a very cool older Japanase couple that came down the mountain from the Narai direction that were blasting classic rock from speakers. I asked them if we should be afraid of bears and they laughed and said ‘no’. Didn’t see any bears. Although we had hail and rain when we started the hike, it cleared up almost immediately and we hiked in t-shirt seeing some of the most beautiful sights ever. We didn’t stop to picknick because of the bears so we arrived in Narai just past 14h. A lot of restaurants were already closed or sold out, but we had an amazing cold udon and tempura lunch in the main street, with a well deserved cold beer, of course. Narai is a beautiful village but it gets crowded. Luckily most of the people were leaving already when we finished our lunch so we could take some decent pictures.

We didn’t have dinner plans after arriving back in Matsumoto but there was a wine bar and we had pizza and a very expensive but absolutely delicious bottle of Japanese rosé wine.

Two years ago, we took the bus from Matsumoto to Takayama driving through Hirayu-onsen and so this time we decided to book our ryokan there. We stayed at Mozumo with a full kaiseki dinner and a private bath on the porch just for the two of us. Timings for ryokans are strict. We arrived early because we had planned to walk up to the waterfall in Hirayu before dinner. 
We had to wait a couple of minutes and walk through the ryokan before we could find someone who could take our luggage. The walk up the waterfall isn’t exactly amazing (it’s an old road), but we passed a close ski resort that offered a nice view up the mountain. The waterfall itself is quite a sight especially with the lightest touch of snow covering everything and there was basically no one else there. After getting back to the ryokan, we checked in properly and soaked in the hot bath. Our ryokan had four rooms: dining room (low table, of course), bed room, bath room, and a separate toilet with loads of space to stash bags. 

The kaiseki dinner is an experience. They had a handwritten but laminated sheet with instructions so we weren’t completely lost. The food was simply amazing. Simple but so good. Hida beef shabu-shabu was the headliner but honestly, everything’s worth it.

So room service closes after the kaiseki dinner, but the room had a big fridge and you could fill it up beforehand so you had enough drinks to spend the night in the hot bath. Onsen bath are really an evening/night sorta thing. With a private bath, you can totally do what you want, of course.

We also had the traditional breakfast with the room and again, timings are very strict. It’s served between 7h30 and 8h or something like that. We set an alarm to enjoy more of the hot bath before breakfast. We opened the old glass and wooden panels and it was liking sitting in a hot spring in a pristine forest. Japanese breakfast might be a challenge for some people but it had enough for everyone. Fresh roasted miso, natto and rice, but also egg, fruit and a smoothie.

We checked out and brought our bags to a hotel just down the street (Hirayu is positively tiny). It was an old ryokan and it showed its age. Clean, yes, but sort of worn out. We just needed something close by so we didn’t have to carry our bags around. We took the bus from Hirayu to Kamikoshi. Again we bought our tickets the day before and depending on the season, you totally need to. The bus fills up fast and if you haven’t booked in advance you might be waiting for the next bus or even the one after that. The walk from the dam and lake is fairly quiet if you run ahead of the crowd and walk a bit faster than average. It’s even calm. But as you get closer to the bridge, you’re entering fucking Disneyland. A lot of tourist groups take the bus up to the bridge and sort of wander around there. So our goal was to take the bus back to Hirayu as soon as possible! There will be a line and you will be waiting, maybe even for a couple of busses. If you’re on a schedule, be early!

There are not a lot of food options in Hirayu, although you could get some noodles and other things at the busstop supermarket or the one in the village but things close early in the mountains. There is one izakaya, Rokuji. It opened at 6pm and we decided to go early since we didn’t make a reservation (only possible by phone) and we wanted to make sure we could get in. Good decision as it turned out to be. We were second in line and they told us we were lucky because most of the other seats were already taken. We saw a lot of people getting refused throughout the evening. The food was really, really good. Don’t forget the handwritten notes with suggestions. Hard to translate by app so I accidentally ordered a whole grilled fish but worth it.

Sleeping on a traditional futon takes some getting used to… It was not a success.

The year before that we took the bus to Takayama, and then from Takayama to Shirakawago where we got off. That bus continues to Kanazawa. Bookings open 1 month in advance but even after just a couple of days it was almost completely sold out. So we took the first bus to Takayama, spent a couple of hours there, and then we got on the train to Kanazawa via Toyama. Takes a bit longer, but on the other hand you’re also a bit more comfortable.

Kanazawa is a very beautiful city. A lot less busy than the Golden Route but I’m sure it’s getting there. Must see: the Nomura-Ke samurai house (go a couple of minutes before opening), the Castle grounds are magnificent, Kenroku-en garden is beautiful but so busy (still go, though). We had lunch in the fish market but if you don’t like crowds, go somewhere else. All sushi in Kanazawa is delicious. My wife wanted gyoza so we looked around and we found Gyoza Kachan. We booked the same evening for the all you can eat and all you can drink set. It was just a couple of minutes from our hotel. You go into an apartment building, take the stairs to the 2nd floor and just walk in. It’s clearly a local student hang-out (really decent, very affordable food) that still allowed smoking (and ye be warned, if it says smoking allowed, people will be smoking). It is very spacious so it’s not like you’re breathing in smoke but nevertheless. Everyone was superfriendly, you could order through a screen and service was quick. Sixteen takoyaki is too much but that’s the only size they serve. Wanted to try something weird so ordered the chicken sternum and that’s exactly what you’re getting, a whole plate of the one part of the chicken you would probably throw out. Very tasty, very boney, so it’s a texture thing, but I finished most of it. I would have eaten all of it, but I was already a couple of plates of gyoza, some mapo and twelve takoyaki deep. Choose the battles you want to fight. Geisha village mostly tourists, no geisha. I don’t think we took any public transport in Kanazawa, it’s very walkable if you stay around the center. 

We took the train to Kyoto for two days since we hadn’t done most of the touristy stuff during our last visit. We finally hit up Fushimi Inari and the hike up the hill but after 7pm. We walked until halfway, I’d guess. Then we got some CoCo Curry, walked through Sannenzaka (basically empty at this point, and you can take some beautiful pictures at night) and off to bed.

Back to Tokyo for the final four or five days. We did a trip to Kamakura and Yokohama hoping to see Fuji, but no such luck. Had a couple of drinks next to the sea and almost saw one of the hawks grab the food out of some girl’s hands. Luckily her bf had good reflexes. I had Googled Chinese restaurants in Yokohama before arriving and I’d made a reservation but the restaurant was a lot fancier than we’d expected. Food was really good of course. We ate way too much. The last day is souvenir and essentials shopping. I remembered a great sake store in Ginza from our first year that helped immensely and even wrapped my bottles for travel so I just went back to the same one. We did a Pokemon Center from some friends and kids but mostly focus on regular things you can't find here. A lot of beauty stuff, some houseware, small decorative items, etc.

The final night we had an amazing dinner at a really upscale izakaya. We were the only tourists and still everyone was friendly (that’s sort of a recurring theme). We make sure we’re quiet and polite and try to speak a bit of Japanese if possible. 

Flying back from HND was a bit of a nightmare though. Even though we arrived early, the automatic check-in process was all but automatic. Not really well indicated and checking in our luggage was a slog. Although we used standard sized suitcases and nothing was over the weight limit, staff had to unblock the machine with every suitcase we put in. This meant that the breakfast we had planned in the airport went out of the gate. We simply didn’t have time for a sit down breakfast.