Nagano – Onsen town

Nagano – Onsen town

I think I owe you a bit of an elaboration on what I was doing in this small town near Nagano. I wasn’t there just for the tea.  Although it was very welcome. It wasn’t even the roasted apples (yaki ringo) which were actually not 

Nagano – a temple, a ryokan and a kaiseki dinner

Nagano – a temple, a ryokan and a kaiseki dinner

So after Matsumoto it was time to visit Nagano. When travelling near the big new year holiday, you learn that food is hard to come by… Had to queue up for 30 minutes for this bowl of ramen, not because it was especially good (it 

Matsumoto – A visit to a wasabi farm

Matsumoto – A visit to a wasabi farm

So just had the new year holiday in Japan.  This is the big holiday in Japan as its when everyone goes home to visit their family.  They don’t celebrate Christmas here, so also had the fun of working Christmas day :(.  Anyway, while everyone else 

Honkawagoe – A Christmas Eve adventure

Honkawagoe – A Christmas Eve adventure

So had a friend visiting Tokyo, so time to visit the Tokyo suburbs.  And its also Christmas Eve, so time to travel back in time.  Not exactly like Scrooge because it was rather less painful for me. So before embarking on our adventure.  Time to