Weekend Trip to Nagano

I finally got the chance to leave Tokyo and experience some of "the real Japan". James and I went up to visit some of his friends (a British couple), who live out near Nagano. After fandangling myself some free days off from Nova (annoying process), we hopped on the Shinkansen (bullet train) for a 300Kph, hour long ride up to the mountains! The Shinkensen is amazing, totally smooth ride considering the speed, great service, and what a rush to see the countryside shoot past.

James and I spent a day wandering around Nagano. For a city that hosted the Olympics, theres a surprising lack of Olympic stuff. However, Nagano has no lack of incredible Buddhist Temples. The main one, Zenkoji, is one of the largest and most famous temples in Japan. Built in the 7th century, its famous for two really interesting things. One, it was the home to various Shogun clans in 1100's and 1300's. The other, is that is houses the first statue of Buddha brought to Japan (in 678 AD from Korea). The smallish statue is only shown to the public every 6 or 7 years. There is also a passage under the temple where worshippers, in complete darkness, try to touch a key hanging on the wall in order to gain enlightenment. James and I paid 500 yen to give it a try. I did'nt find the key, but I DID touch a whole bunch of strangers by accident in the darkness.

Later in the day, we found a small traditional resturant. There was an open wood burning firepit in the middle, and the people would sit around the fire on chairs. Incredible food.
The cook made small balls of dough filled with vegtables or sweet beens called Oyaki. I found out later from one of my students that Nagano was famous for its Oyaki, and I could see why. They were delicious, perfectly balanced flavour, incredible. The best food I've eaten in Japan so far. Each little morsel cost only $1.50 Canadian.

Nagano is only a small town compared to Tokyo, but for the first time since Ive been here, I finally felt like I was really in Japan, and not in a terrifying future world :-)

BTW. Happy Valentines Day everyone!