Hi guys,
This week, we finally try Japanese Sake and it was not what we expected!
Lake Suwa is located roughly in the centre of Nagano prefecture near Matsumoto City and is surrounded by mountains. From what we learnt this town is the ideal place for brewing Sake plus trying fresh eel Unagi.
With this knowledge we visited the Five breweries, called the Suwa Five! The great thing about Suwa Five Sake Breweries Tasting is that they are all located roughly within 500 meters from each other, it's a great way to explore the diverse range of Sake. There are two ways you can do this self guided tour, either buy a Suwa Gokura tour pack that comes with; Stamp card for each brewer, Sticker Map, Sake Glass and a Tote bag which cost 3300 yen per person.
We did not do this as we both weren't sure if we'd actually like Sake or not so we went with just pay as you go, which ended up being cheaper for us at 300/500 yen for tastings per brewery. The servings were about 20ml each which we shared, in some spots. Let's just say, Serena was not a fan as you can see, but Andy took them all like a champ!
We didn't film this bit but, after Lake Suwa we found a car park near an amazing Onsen called Hayataro Onsen Komakusa-no-yu Hot Spring, this place was awesome and had amazing food! The car park we stayed at was on the other side of the river near the Komakusa Bridge.
The following morning we made a pit stop at a local brewery called Mars Shinshu Distillery and my gosh, we purchased a bottle of Ryukyo Umeshu Komagatake Barrel Aged, it's a plum wine that was in a barrel previously soaked in brandy and then in whiskey. We don't have the most sophisticated plate for taste, but this wine had so many delicious levels of tastiness that left your mouth watering for more! Best served over ice!
From here we went to an area that was an inspiration for Studio Ghilbi movies called Hoshakuzan Kozenji Temple, Kozen-ji Garden and Koke-no-komichi.
The photos and videos just do not do this place justice. The sound of flowing water, chirping birds, the sense of stillness and being surrounded by lush greenery leaves you breathless.
The Hoshakuzan Kozenji Temple, a Tendai sect temple founded in the 9th century, is renowned for its legendary dog, Hayataro. As legend goes in the 14th Century there lived devilish monsters in the town Fuchu (now Iwata City in Shizuoka). These monsters caused destruction and the people had to offer a maiden to the monsters every year as a sacrifice to calm the violence caused by these monsters.
A vision was given to a priest about a dog named Hayataro who lived in the Hoshakuzan Kozenji Temple who was very big and strong enough to stand against the monsters. The priest visited the temple and seeked help, Hayataro came to the village and at night a long battle was fiercely fought! Hayataro did it, he bravely killed all the monsters but sadly, at the cost of his own life. The town was freed from the violence caused by the monsters.
Since then the towns people believed Hayataro was the incarnation of Fudo Myoo that could get rid of all the world's miseries. A statue at Hoshakuzan Kozenji Temple was erected in honour of Hayataro which can still be seen to this day.
We then made our way towards Tsumago-juku a Historic town with restored 18th-century homes, a 12th-century shrine and a 16th-century temple. Then visited Otaki & Onataki waterfalls with the last stop being at Magome-juku a beautiful restored town in the Japanese Alps.
These towns are an absolute must see if you want to have the sense of traditional Japanese homes. While all the stores may not be open (off peak season) it was just unreal walking the streets and taking in the amazing architecture of the older homes, we both could not stop taking photos. We were very lucky with the weather and it was hot, sunny which gave us beautiful views from Megome of the alps surrounding these towns.
After this we left the area and headed towards the bigger cities again.
First stop was the city of "Toyota" where we visited the factory where our car was built 32 years ago (1992)! We only wanted to take a quick picture, but a lovely man waved us down and invited us to see their showroom and two beautifully restored Land Cruisers! Serena fell in love with the yellow FJ45.
After Toyota we drove to Nara to visit the many temples and the well known cute bowing deers! Then something magical happened, we were in luck and observe the beautiful moment in which a mother deer gave birth. To top it off, we waited and our patience got rewarded! We witnessed the breath, first feed and watched little Bambi take its first steps! Truly magical!
We hope you guys enjoy the video!
P.S. We finally found some good microphones and the audio will improve considerably very soon!!
#travelvlog #vanlife #japan #japantravel
6 сен 2024