Japan Itinerary: Experiencing the Countryside

For our first three days, we've had quite enough of Japan's modernity and historical sites.
On our fourth day, it was time to experience Japan's idyllic countryside.


As scheduled, an hour past midnight of March 23, we were picked up by Luvley's cousin, Ate Lala, from our hotel in Odaiba, Tokyo. After three days of traveling on our own- meeting and reconnecting with friends, we finally got to meet her. She was the first person who knew about our trip and was really excited about it. She even made it her personal 'mission' to make our vacation worthwhile.

After a two-hour road trip, we arrived at the modest town of Suwa, Nagano. With much more to explore in the morning, we were pumped up and looking forward to the exciting day ahead as we would be accompanied by Ate Lala, her JaPinoy daughters (Ai-chan and Mia-chan), and Ryu-san in experiencing the countryside.

Off to an early start

Suwa is not a popular destination among foreign tourists. But during summer, it's a hotspot among local tourists. The Japanese converge here for the annual summer festival at Suwa Lake: The historical and somewhat mythical body of water gets lit up with thousands of hanabi (fireworks).

SUWA LAKE
The peaceful surroundings of Suwa Lake are perfect for an early morning stroll.

We were not fortunate enough to see the lake in either of its two seasonal highlights:
1- During Spring, it dons its ethereal beauty because of Sakura Trees that outline the lake.

Unluckily, all we got was this: Barren Sakura Trees with no hint of blooming any time soon.

2- During Winter, it becomes an ice rink-- the water surface becomes completely frozen and the 'Omitawari' phenomenon happens. Omitawari (god's crossing) is what the locals superstitiously believe as marks of the male god's footsteps as he crosses the lake to visit the female god.

Among the permanent features around the lake are the foot therapy/reflexology walking path, foot bath, and geyser center.

Our Japanese fellows enjoying their foot massage and foot bath

The Geyser Center, which was not operational during our visit

OUR FIRST SNOW EXPERIENCE

The good thing about visiting Japan in early Spring is that you still get to experience remnants of the Winter, at least at the northern part and the mountainous regions.

It's every tropical inhabitant's dream to see snow, run on snow-strewn fields, play and throw snowballs, and maybe even build a snowman.

As we went higher and higher to the mountaintop, our excitement was also building up.

Pine trees and snow-covered grass welcomed us along the way.

Finally, we reached our second destination: the Kirigamine Heights.

We lied down on crushed ice and pretended we were swimming. It was a dream come true.

Thinking we were not yet satisfied, Ryu-san brougt us to Kurumayama Skyplaza for even more snow, more freezing temperature and more fun experience.

With higher elevation, snow at Kurumayama is thicker. Terrains are sloping steeper. And chairlifts take a longer course. It's a skiing hotspot.

On the way up and at the Skyplaza itself, views are even more stunning.

The chairlift ride was definitely the highlight of our day. It's one of the moments in my life I would like to keep coming back to.

The entire stretch was nature and beauty, fun and relaxation, all put together for an incredible, unforgettable experience. It's one of the things you should do when you want to forget the rest of the world and just live in the current moment.

Our dropoff point was halfway through the summit with a perfect view of the snowfields and the surrounding mountains.

A GLIMPSE OF MOUNT FUJI

To complete our countryside experience, Ryu-san brought us on another road trip to the neighboring prefecture of Fukushima to catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji's summit.

It was a clear day, so we were able to see Mt. Fuji's summit in its full glory- covered in ice, perfectly sloped, standing out behind the mountain ranges.

YAKINIKU AND ONSEN

To cap off the day, we ate at a Yakiniku restaurant.

And to add more legitimacy to our Japanese experience, we also tried one of the onsen establishments in Suwa. Due to presence of natural hot springs, Onsen is quite popular in the city.

Onsen did not come to mind while we were still planning for our trip. But since we were with a Japanese guy, it was something that we had to try.

The experience was weird and liberating at the same time: weird, because we had to be naked; liberating, because it was a relapse into our primitive behavior of being carefree and not giving a damn about being naked.

Given the hype about onsen among foreign tourists, it really is a must-try. It's perfectly normal among the Japanese, so there's no need to worry. And the best etiquette would be to just mind your own business.

More photos of our Day 4 in Japan here.