Monkeying around in Nagano

It's said that when Americans come to Japan to live for several years, there are several stages of feelings that we all go through. The first is an extreme sense of excitement and a yearning to do everything! Newbies may scoff at old timers, those who have been here a while, who suggest keeping your name on the list for on-base housing and maybe roll their eyes at folks who don't know the language or haven't yet found the time to take a class. The first couple of months are usually a blur of day trips and sightseeing. The second stage is a bit of homesickness. Not everything feels new and exciting anymore and you may miss the comforts of "home". Also, maybe the little quirks of Japan that were cute at first start to become really annoying. The third, being the last stage, is a sense of normalcy. You begin knowing enough about the culture, driving rules, food, etc. to get just about anywhere you need to go and get anything you need or want within reason. And the things you can't get, well, you learn quickly how to adapt without any, or maybe just a few, gripes. I think the last stage is where we finally are.

This holiday weekend, we decided to push the envelope a little bit and take a 5 hour drive up to Nagano, home of the 1998 Winter Olympics. Thanks to the advice of some friends and the friendly folks at the on-base tourist office, we found a good place to stay. With information in hand, we booked two nights at Villa Alpen (4th hotel from the right in the picture). Our accommodations were a bit rustic, and although we were hoping to sleep on futons (we still haven't had an opportunity to do that!), the fantastic hospitality made up for any minimal disappointments. Besides, we didn't travel over 5 hours to the snow-covered paradise of Nagano just to hang out in a hotel room.

Although we didn't do any skiing or snowboarding, the hotel is located literally about 50 yards from the ski lifts, right in the heart of all the past Olympic action. The hotel offered free sleds; so Josh, Mike and I had a grand old time sledding. The first day (Friday) was a bit short. We arrived at Villa Alpen around 4:00PM, so we had just a little time to get some sledding in before dinner. It was Josh's first time to really experience the snow and he had a blast. 5:00 rolled around quickly so with rosy cheeks, we all climbed up the stairs to our room to change for dinner and drink some hot tea. Like many Japanese hotels, meals are included with the price of the room. For dinner we had a western-friendly Japanese meal. Tonkatsu, rice, cooked fish, and miso soup. Afterwards, it was down to the Chu-hi & Beer vending machine to grab a drink before hitting the onsen. Our room did not have a private shower, but the hotel did have an onsen (group bath) downstairs. Although we were more than happy with this arrangement, we ran into several of the other American guests who were very bashful about stripping down in front of other people. No worries, as I ended up having the women's side all to myself. After drinking our beverages and soaking in a hot bath, we pretty much all slept like rocks.

We woke up (or rather Josh woke us all up) bright and early on Sunday morning to enjoy breakfast and to go see the famous snow monkeys at Jigokudani Yaen-koen. Mike took the snowy hike to our car to hook snow chains on our tires and then we took the treacherous icy drive down the mountain to the Monkey Park, or should I rather say, Monkey Spa. That's right. When the temperatures drop, these monkeys lounge around in the natural mineral hot springs in the area. This area is one of the only places that visitors can take a 1 mile hike to observe these monkeys up close and personal in their natural habitat. To Mike, the experience was a photographer's dream. To Josh and me, it was pretty darn amazing. Josh really had a great time, despite being surrounded by furry creatures as big as him. Near the monkey spas, there are also clusters of mineral baths/onsens that human visitors can enjoy.

After spending some quality time with our fur-covered ancestors, we hiked back to the car, then slipped and slided back up the mountain to our hotel. Back at the hotel, we took a nap, woke up again and did some more sledding. Before dinner, we spent time at the hotel bar and attempted to join in the conversation with a group of Americans from a neighboring base. Unfortunately, they were stuck in their own world (or maybe up their own... butts?) and after being cold-shouldered a few times (our only negative experience throughout the trip), we found ourselves closed off to the back corner of the bar... nothing a little sake couldn't fix! For dinner, we enjoyed another western-friendly Japanese meal of cooked sliced beef, wheat noodles, rice, pickled veggies and miso soup. Then again, off to the hotel onsen and bed.

On our last vacation day (Monday), we checked out of Villa Alpen and decided to take a last-minute detour on the way home to visit Matsumoto Castle. We've had the opportunity to visit several reconstructed castles throughout Japan, but what makes Matsumoto-jo so impressive is that it is one of the few original remaining castles in Japan. It was definitely one of our favorite castle visits to date. Much of the information had been translated to English and the explanations about the castle history, construction, and era were all described in an interesting manner. Also, the castle and grounds still had enough snow lying around to make for a beautiful view.

After spending about two hours in and around Matsumoto Castle, we hopped back into the car and headed back to Yokosuka. On a side note, we stopped at several of the many "rest areas" along the Japanese highways heading back home. Japanese rest areas are not like those on the interstates in the States. Instead, Japanese rest areas are like shopping centers, with brand name restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, and souvenir shops of all kinds. We stopped for a late lunch at one of these places and, after eating a tasty MOS Burger, took a few minutes to shop for some road snacks. One of the tasty snacks that we found was Kit Kat's Apple flavor. Nagano Prefecture seems to be a proud apple producing region, based on all of the signs and sights we saw during our drive through the region, so being able to try a new flavor of Kit Kat from the region really added to the experience. Long story short, we bought two cases of these things... and they are "oishi" (delicious).

All in all, we had a great adventure this weekend. There were a lot of firsts on this trip: I drove in snow for the first time ever, Mike got to put snow chains on tires for the first time, Josh enjoyed playing in the snow for the first time, and this has been our longest road trip in Japan to date (over 800 km round trip). And we can't say enough about the hospitality at the Villa Alpen. The staff made us feel right at home and the location couldn't be beat.

Josh was a fantastic traveller and kept himself occupied with his trains and books throughout the long ride. He took a few catnaps and pointed out all kinds of things outside as we past them by. I don't think we heard one gripe out of him the whole time. Even on the way home, he chatted away about the hotel, the snow, and the monkeys. I bet he's already planning our next vacation!

All of our pictures from the trip are now in the Gallery, dated 01/15/2007. Enjoy!