Day 16 @ Nagano – Shiga Kogen and Kumanoyu Ski Area

Day 16! And our last full day in Nagano prefecture. We’d booked through Klook a day visit to a highland for snow activities and also to visit that very famous snow monkey park. In a sense, this day trip was

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Day 15 @ Matsumoto – Norikura Kogen Snowshoe Hike

We’re not massive snow activity persons. Nonetheless, when wintering in the country, we’d necessarily need to at least do some of it — if nothing else, just to tick off the item on the ‘must-do’ list! Unfortunately, the daughter had

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Day 14 @ Matsumoto – Winter Illumination at Matsumoto Castle

This wasn’t in our planned itinerary, but we saw an information board during our visit to Matsumoto Castle yesterday that there is a nightly winter illumination show, and it starts from 6PM. The show repeats every 15 minutes and features

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Day 13 @ Nikko – Matsumoto – Matsumoto Castle and Nawate Shopping Street

While Central Nikko itself was a pretty sedate small town, we were loath to check out of Stay Nikko Guesthouse. Despite it not having the modern conveniences of numerous restaurants and cafes right at our doorstep — i.e. like at

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Chubu-Kanto – Japan Dec 2023 – Stay Nikko Guesthouse

We stayed two nights at the Stay Nikko Guesthouse, a small establishment owned by a lovely couple who look like they’re in their early 40s. I reckon most visitors to Central Nikko during winter won’t stay overnight unless they are

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Day 12 @ Nikko – Nikko Edo Wonderland – The Performances

The performances at Nikko Edo Wonderland are only offered in Japanese. Judging from the audience’s reactions, they were probably very entertaining. Of the four we saw, we all agreed the Ninja Theater (Ninja Action Show) was the best: it simply

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Day 12 @ Nikko – Nikko Edo Wonderland – The Place

One of the main reasons why we opted for two nights in Nikko was to visit Nikko Edomura, or Nikko Edo Wonderland — a theme park and living museum that showcases life and culture during the Edo period. The park,

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Day 11 @ Nikko – Toshogu Shrine and Shinkyo Bridge

We left the Tamozawa Imperial Villa at close to 2PM and slowly made our way to the Toshogu Shrine area. Our host at Stay Nikko Guesthouse had earlier advised that we should take the bus to get to the Villa,

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Day 11 @ Nikko – Tamozawa Imperial Villa

Our first place of visitation in Nikko today was the Nikko Tamozawa Imperial Villa. According to the venue’s guide, the Tamozawa Imperial Villa was built around the former Edo residence of the Kishu Tokugawa clan, which was brought from Edo

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