MATSUMOTO Travel Guide 🏯🤩 | Things to Do in Matsumoto, Japan + Japanese Foods to Try in Matsumoto! 🍱

Today, we’re exploring Matsumoto, a picturesque city surrounded by mountains right in the heart of Japan’s Nagano Prefecture.

In this video, we’ll visit Matsumoto Castle which is one of four Japanese castles designated a National Treasure, we’ll visit the Yohashira Shrine and see the floats on display for their annual festival, and we’ll check out the Yayoi Kusama at the Matsumoto City Museum of Art.

And because we’re major foodies, we’ll also take you out for dinner at an Izakaya-style food hall, sample oyaki which we obtained by knocking on the door of someone’s home, and try sanzokuyaki, which is a style of fried chicken that Matsumoto is known for.

If that sounds like your kind of adventure, we invite you to hit that subscribe button and join as we share some of the best things to do in Matsumoto, Japan.

🏯 11 Things to do in Matsumoto, Japan 🏯

01:00 – Nawate Dori
03:16 – Yohashira Shrine and Floats
04:11 – Matsumoto Castle
08:46 – Try Oyaki
11:40 – Matsumoto Tsunagu Yokocho (Food Hall)
22:27 – Matsumoto City Museum of Art
23:16 – Fukashi-jinja Shrine
24:29 – Day Trip to Daio Wasabi Farm
25:11 – Matsumoto Karaage Center
28:50 – MDI Ice Cream
31:45 – Yohashira Shrine Festival

#matsumoto #matsumotocity #japantravel

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Today we’re exploring Matsumoto a picturesque City surrounded by mountains right in the heart of Japan’s Nagano prefecture in this video we’ll visit matumoto castle one of four Japanese castles designated a National Treasure it’s like hurting cats there’s a lot of us visiting right now we’ll visit the

Yashira shrine and see the floats on display for their annual festival and we’ll check out the yayo kusama exhibit at the Matsumoto City Museum of Art and because we’re major Foodies we’ll also take you out for dinner at an isaka style food Hall make it to Sun time

Sample oaki which we obtain by knocking on the door of someone’s home so you’re kind of like is this the right place and try szok kuaki which is a style of fried chicken that Matsumoto is known for take a look at this guys put your hand over

There for this is my home this is my potito it’s really big if that sounds like your kind of Adventure we invite you to hit that subscribe button and join us as we share some of the best things to do in Matsumoto Japan all righty so our first stop this morning is

Nai or naat Street it is a pedestrian street and it is also a shopping street that’s just lined with antique shops restaurants souvenir shops so there is a little bit of everything we’ve got the stream just directly behind us and yeah it’s just really nice really peaceful

It’s slowly coming to life look what I just found there’s a little pamphlet available in various languages this one’s in English it’s a guide to the street and it also mentions that there’s free Wi-Fi here oh so look at that good to know it’s good to know

Yeah fun fact naori is a frog themed Street some say this is because the croaking of frogs can be heard from the banks of the matoba river While others say it’s because the Japanese word for frog also means to return home making it a homecoming symbol either way you’ll be

Seeing lots of frog sculptures along this [Applause] street all righty so this street is still waking up slowly however we did find a place selling tayak this is one of the classic japanese street foods that I always think of when I’m imagining Japanese street food in my

Head the tayak the tacoyaki now this is taaki is shaped like fish and the traditional one is for it to have red sweet red bean inside now I also noticed that the store had cream sausage chocolate and ice cream so there’s something to everyone’s taste um I can’t

Wait to try it yeah the custard cream sounded really good but this is a red bean so yeah 250 Yen guys yeah let’s try it I’m going sorry guys I’m going to bite his head off that’s delicious actually had a lot more filling inside than I was expecting

Sobly should have taken a smaller bite but that’s a good thing just loaded with a red bean sweet but not like overly sweet kind of just very tasty for some it’s an acquired taste but for me the very first time I tried um the red the

Sweet red beans many years ago I love them so this is one of my favorite street food snacks I have to Say as we walked down aori we also came across the yashira Shrine we just so happened to be in Matsumoto during the yashira shrine’s Annual Festival and that means there were lots of floats on display there was no actual parade but we got to see these beautiful floats

Lining the road all the way up to Matsumoto Castle Feces of pigeon is sometimes falling please be careful Overhead we then headed over to Matsumoto Castle also nicknamed The Crow Castle due to its black exterior this 16th century Castle is a six-story structure though at first glance it only appears to have five levels due to an extra hidden floor it was designed both for defense and as

A residence we wanted to tour the interior of the castle so we paid 700 Yen per person shoes have to come off when you enter the castle and I had read that it’s freezing cold if you visit outside the summer months so my tip is to bring your your hotel slippers all

Righty so we are now inside Matsumoto Castle very cool you have to take your shoes off so if I can share one tip most hotels in Japan give you free disposable slippers we brought hours because we heard the floor can be really cold especially in

Winter um I I have no problem but Audrey does yes you’ll be happier with slippers or bring socks they are comfortable go please go please go please don’t hold the trff like hurting cats there’s a lot of us visiting right now the second floor of the Castle’s

Main keep features a gun museum with a collection of guns armor and other weapons but I would say the castle really shines with its views of Matsumoto and the surrounding Mountains So we just finished our visit to Matsumoto Castle thoughts from Samuel the star of the city yeah it’s amazing the Japanese castles are a sight to behold I mean they’re so impressive from a distance and they’re even more impressive when you go inside you get to see the intricate details and that

Castle was mostly made of of wood the steps were all kinds of steep which is fascinating to climb up them but it’s well worth it because once you get to the top you have an incredible view panoramic view of the city mountains in all directions and uh also really enjoyed the displays that

They had some of the old pistols the samurai outfits infantry hats the different tools just a really good experience overall it is busy in there don’t expect to have the place to yourself by any stretch of the imagination but still well worth coming and it’s also really nice to walk around

The surrounding area and see the castle from as many Vantage points as you possibly can and something else really interesting is once you finish you can walk by this display of all the different Castles they have in Japan and Japan I mean you could plan a whole trip

To Japan based on castles it’s kind of it’s a country like Germany or also Wales where there’s so many impressive castles if you were really into that you could have an entire trip and maybe even several trips just to see them all Al righty as for me I really enjoyed the

The museum within the castle so basically they have all sorts of weapons on display uh like guns and pistols and rifles but what’s interesting there’s a section of secret weapons or hidden weapons that were disguised as as something else because apparently having weapons was quite heavily controlled

Like you weren’t supposed to so there’s some really interesting ones that look like the handles of a sword of a katana sword um but then they would pull it out and it would actually be a pistol where they could like kill their opponent so yeah they were meant to be concealed

Like in the sleeves of a kimono for example or things like that so that was really interesting and like Sam was seeing the staircases are super steep so just be prepared for that uh if you have some mobility issues going all the way up may not be an option also in certain

Sections the steps tilted forward so just be careful it’s very easy to fall and very easy to bang your head on the beams yeah I can’t I can’t believe I forgot to mention that yeah that was a that was a consideration the entire time I was there don’t get concussed don’t

Fall down cuz I’ve done that before okay so we just finished visiting Matsumoto castle and about one block west from the northwest corner of the park there’s a shop that sells oyaki oyaki are like these little baked dumplings and this shop it’s it’s very nondescript like you basically feel like you’re walking into

Somebody’s home and you just slide the door open it’s a wooden door and you are you are you are you’re just walking into someone’s home so you’re kind of like is this the right place is it not it’s the first house in the corner and then you

Go in there and they have all different types of oyaki you can get uh so they have the names of the different fillings I’m just going to quickly tell you what we got we got three each so six oyaki we have leak and misoi a zukie potato tofu PP tofu pulp

Squash nuts and raisins nuts and raisins so we got a nice mix of savory and sweet this is going to be our lunch today uh trying to keep it relatively light because we’re planning to have a bigger dinner and I can’t wait to try this and show you the different fillings oh and

The price was 220 Yen per each little oaki and this is something very traditional that you want to try here in Matsumoto oo they are dense and they are very dense and thick heavy in the hand so this is the oyaki with tofu pulp thoughts I really liked it beautiful

Texture on the outside interesting filling in the middle so dense so much denser than I thought they would be I think by the time we eat all six of these we’re going to be pretty full m yeah seriously leak and miso that’s an interesting one o la that’s the potato friends potato and

It’s marked with a walnut sweet a zukie bean look at that so this is nuts and raisins O so going in for the squash so sweet this is basically a dessert one if you ask me oh that’s exciting I’m like really pleasantly surprised beautiful like texture on the outside huh like the I love it they’re like they’re like Gourmet they’re like Gourmet dumplings bun like a little

Bread yeah sort of like in between a bun and a dumpling you know yeah and it kind of reminds me of an empanada and it’s only Japanese Empanada so tasty so yeah this has been a nice surprise I’m really glad we went to this lady’s home and

Just H can want yeah we had to we had to call her over so it’s even even more awkward now just you’re inside someone’s house and you don’t there’s no sign of anybody yeah worth it worth it was done how was done okay so for today’s meal something a little bit interesting we’re

Basically across from Matsumoto station and one block over at this place over here it’s kind of like a wehouse or it’s just like a large covered space and inside you have 12 different isaki and each one specializes in something different so you can choose if you feel

Like having okonomiyaki or sushi or guoa and like each one has their specialty so you come you sit down you grab a little stool you eat there maybe order some beer and that’s kind of the vibe now this type of place usually gets going later in the evening we’re kind of

Having a bit of an early dinner so a few people are already in there drinking after work but it’s not quite as Lively as it will get say 2 to 3 hours from now but well we’re going to show you our early dining experience here music to my

Ears I just Audrey I’m like oh I see a lot of people drinking beer I think we should have a beer and Audrey’s like we have to get a beer we have to get a beer it’s an isaka music to my ears let’s go

Let’s go okay so we chose a place got a beer a beer what’s the plan make it to S time is it oh it is well it’s a s glass I don’t know a s beer here’s the drop here uh our plan is to have fun period

We’re starting off with takoyaki one of our favorite Japanese Foods it’s delicious those delectible little balls with sauce oh those Bonito flakes too yeah exactly wow you remember well I remember well I remember first trying them in Osaka 5 years ago so nice to be having them again it’s the first time on

This trip that we’ve had them and I love the atmosphere here it’s festive it’s fun you have all these different eating stations we’ve got our eye also on Korean food later so this will just be round one of two and yeah we’re starting off with the beer and the food should be

Coming in 10 to 15 minutes yeah I think the girl’s going to cook it for us but it appears you also have the option of maybe making your own taco Yaki at the table you know we tried that once we were very bad at it we did not have an

Experience I’m glad it’s being made for us I’d rather I’d rather be eating something delicious than than trying to you know create it myself we’re better eaters than we are Cooks let’s be honest so cheers I’m having a a lemon sour yeah and let’s enjoy well guys the food is

Here three different varieties we’ve got this one with scallion here with green onion that’s a spicy this one it says spicy with tempora bits and this is the Mayo One it said men Tao on the menu of course we don’t know what that means but we’ll try them all we’ll try

Them all regardless so what are you going to start with I will start with the uh oh just your little plate look at that look at that I’ll try with the Mayo One why not a that up apparently it’s very hot so try to eat it carefully very

Plum M oh my gosh that’s delicious this such a nice moist beautiful texture giant piece of um octopus inside and a really nice Tangy sauce Tangy male sauce that’s awesome M now your turn to try one my turn already right oo that is steaming hot yep it’s also

Got some little sesame seeds sprinkled over top I’m going to try not to burn myself daer is very nice big chunk of octopus as well wow yeah seriously huh I need to let this cool down a little bit and you got one more to try here one

More you want me to try both yep try spicy spicy bits my favorite part about this is we each get we get two two each it’s awesome M ooh that is spicy that is fiery fire oh drink good thing I have my lemon sour tase it down with the lemon sour yeah

Well we’re enjoying this and uh round two is next round two okay so while we were having the takoyaki we got a recommendation yeah we had the friendly a server just such a kind person talk for a bit she recommended um we were talking about Matsumoto food like what’s

Unique here and she was telling us that this particular place is the only place in Japan right now where you can try the aorta of a pig the pig’s aorta part of the heart so we’re going to get the Cowan stew to try it and then also the

Cowan skewers and even says at Japan first only available here yes so very unique very interesting and yeah we’re open to open to trying anything new let’s do it Peach sour oh Peach sour C Peach sour oh and another very interesting thing on the menu that I think we’re

Just not brave enough guys pork we still got to make room for a Korean that’s my excuse Oh Come by yeah don’t Che come by that’s that’s better oh my bad high ball Kaku high ball is that whiskey sure yeah it sure is it’s been it’s kind of like a whiskey

And a soda I believe it’s it’s great you get the definitely get the taste of the whiskey but it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s watered down and it’s in soda flavor nice you have to try it too yes and here here we have the stew and we have spicy

Miso paste so I’m going to take a bit of that spicy miso paste and I’m going to just thunk it in there you can see the aorta right there yeah right there guys I’m going right for I know enough by all I’m going right for the good stuff aort

Going right for the aorta right in there we don’t we’re not shy here well I think only Samuel’s not shy here chewy chewy but tasty like we have experience eating this type of food in in Peru and also in Argentina well we have the antio that’s like the actual

Meat of the heart here you’re getting the aort we’re used to having like intestines and stuff and uh we’ve tried that in Peru and Argentina so yeah I I really don’t mind having this and this still comes in a nice rich very tasty broth I actually like it I mean would

Would I eat it over like nice tender morsels of beef no but it certainly does well it certainly is fine have it a stew and that’s unique so yeah let’s have another piece now in steer form yep and they’ve given some of the spicy Mis put that on there oh that’s even

Better oh that’s tasty you know what it reminds me of a of a squid consistency okay Chewy like squid chewy like squid that miso is just the best I could eat that all day long so if you have to choose between the stew and the grill

One yeah this isv better okay good to know very good and round three coming to you from a Korean little isaka we just could not resist having Korean food we’re starting we’re we’re moving to the traditional Korean drinks which is the maol Le and it’s a delicious kind of

Fermented drink fermented rice mhm exactly fermented rice it’s the Drinker of choice when you hike a mountain in Korea you go have your your Jun your P Jun your Korean pancake and you drink Mai that’s the way they do it but uh here they specialize in a couple other

Dishes so we’re keying in on those but for now we’ll enjoy this drink and then I’m really mixing it up with the whiskey the maie and the beer I’m hoping my stomach handles it okay but we’ll find out going in for the stck the the the

Rice cakes and these are spicy they are fried it looks like they added some walnuts no not walnuts it looks like they added some chopped almonds on top this might be sweet too might be sweet and spicy oh I like that sauce I think

It has a bit of go yeah for sure a sweet too yeah yeah the star of the show the star of the show it’s spicy Korean chicken with cheese and it looks appears to be maybe some gimchi thrown in there too for good measure try a bit of that who look at that Cheese yeah we’re going to have Korean food make sure your tongue is ready for the Spice it’s got a lot of spice and it mixes so well that GOI Jung that red pepper paste sauce mixes so well with the cheese and my opinion is the perfect combination this is just delicious food

And what a great way to end things off here in as we’re isaka hopping our way around this fabulous place eating and drinking so our heart’s content all righty so we just got out of there visited a total of three different iseka so much fun it definitely got way

More lively as the evening progressed we’re turning here yeah I mean we started at 4:30 guys which is ridiculous and we left at 6:00 so I mean it’s just starting to get hopping imagine what it’s going to be like at 7 89 :00 10 p.m. wow I mean just an incredible place

So much variety such a like a fun festive environment wouldn’t you say yeah I would say like the people who work there are quite extroverted and chatty and I don’t know it’s just very different from other restaurants we’ve been to so I enjoy that aspect yeah I

Kind of like the informal of it I don’t know just a lively environment you see other people having a good time and it makes you just feel relaxed and have a good MH having fun too yeah so then in terms of price point we spent between

1,500 and 2,000 Yen at each of the places we went to so roughly $15 to $20 you do have to get one drink per person at every place you go to and then you know you can order a couple of dishes so that is what we did that was our

Experience there would highly recommend right across from the train station so you can’t go wrong it’s fantastic we I mean we have a chance to go back we might Next we visited the Matsumoto City Museum of Arts to check out the exhibition by Yayo Kama a famous Japanese artist even if you don’t know her by name you’ve most likely seen her work which is known for its bold use of dots and primary colors filming in museums is tricky because all the

Artwork is protected by copyright but this is the one photo that visitors are allowed to snap no video the exhibition was pretty cool and one of the works was an immersive experience where we went into an Infinity room with mirrors and lights it was amazing but you’ll just

Have to take my word for it because I can’t share any photo evidence with You oh all righty so next up we’re at the fukashi ginger Shrine this Shrine is just a couple of blocks over from the Matsumoto City Art Museum so if you’re already in the area cool Shrine to check out very colorful lots of statues of animals so yeah we’re just having a

Little wander through here because it’s in the area and it’s beautiful and it’s nice discovering these little surprises I know I tried to befriend the cat but he ran away SC he he did a pee in front of me a scaredy cat scaredy cat marking his territory marked his territory has

Said get out of here get out of here I live at this Shrine not you this is a quiet Shrine complex with a Serene atmosphere fukashi Ginga entr shines the deity of scholarship to whom many Japanese students come to pray for Success on their exams and it also

Enshrines the deity of wind water and agriculture culture as well as Warfare we also went on a day trip from Matsumoto to azumino to visit the Dao Wasabi Farm the largest Wasabi Farm in the world this day trip was an easy 30-minute train ride from Matsumoto

Station and when we arrived we rented a couple of bicycles and cycled through the Japanese Countryside until we reach the farm it looks like a pretty chill Town not a whole lot of traffic so I think this will be easy the best part was getting to Great her own Wasabi at

The restaurant located inside the farm here it comes here comes the Wasabi that is real potent Wasabi yes if you’re looking for a taste of rural Japan I would highly recommend this trip we have an entire video dedicated to experience if you’d like to know more so next up we

Are trying chicken we came to a restaurant that specializes in sansuk kuaki so this is a type of chicken uh specific to Matsumoto they basically take either chicken breast or chicken thighs and they soak it in a garlic sauce and then they deep fry it to

Perfection I am told so we found a pretty well-known restaurant that’s actually located inside of the Matsumoto station I think we’re like on the fourth floor yeah we are yeah we had to take the escalator out several escalators and you have several restaurants and like little food shops in this area so they

Also have soba at another restaurant so you can have a look around we ordered chicken two different chicken sets I think I got the classic plate Y and you got a special sauce I did so I’ll just take a show you the menu here amongst

The ones so this would be like the more original one right and I’m going for the sweet and sour version so we have different varieties to suit all needs but it’s all chicken it’s all chicken at the end of the day it’s all chicken CH chicken okay so the chicken has a ride

Huge portion way more chicken than I thought we probably could have shared this let’s take a look at this guys put your hand over there for reference this is my hand this is my petito really big so it comes with a side of crispy cabbage miso soup I have rice and this

Looks like a cold pasta dish perhaps so no dipping sauce or anything so I imagine this is quite flavorful M how’s that is that some tasty chicken that is very good it’s hard I mean when you have really good fried chicken man that’s tasty so flavorful in garli Chien oh doesn’t need

Any sauce really this is going to be a good meal guys yeah and Sam’s is a little bit different see if yours is the Plain Jane version mine’s just got all the sauce in the world I’ve got loads of sweet and sour sauce covered in what

Appears to be something like a a Mayo as well too so exciting times let’s try that as much as I liked yours I I’m a big fan of sauce I’m a big fan of sauce so that is delicious all righty just leaving the train station right now stuffed beyond belief yeah way

More chicken than we were expecting those potions were huge I’m runding at the moment yes that was uh I I I ended up Audrey’s portion was bigger so I ended up uh we scooping a few pieces off of first you also tried mine too oh I’ll mention here’s another chicken Center

Yep outside the station if you don’t want to go all the way up to the fourth floor this is more like to go or you can sit at the bar yeah it’s more like like a small intimate isaka style um wow that’s a lot of food like we didn’t even

Really touch our rice no that’s how much we ate yeah that’s how much chicken was on the plate you could probably go and share uh One of Those portions with with with a buddy yes you know if you if you weren’t weren’t that that hungry but we

We came with a big appetite and we’re leaving full so that just kind of shows you and great valy too terms of the price point yeah so it was 2,300 Yen under 23 Canadian dollars or less than 20 USD yeah way less than 20 that’s it for today’s meal we’ll see you with

Another one soon enough yeah we sure Well all righty a little break for a a snack of your own there’s so much great street food out here and food that we just I just couldn’t resist even after all that chicken today um so I’m trying the ishi Miso butterscotch ice cream and a waffle cone there came with two spoons

So we can share miso butterscotch ice cream that’s not a flavor I’ve ever heard of before Oh it tastes like fantastic high quality butterscotch don’t taste a hint of of the Miso no it’s not like salty or anything well salty but yeah it’s like that SW salty sweet like you know that

Kind of caramel ice cream you would normally get like sea salt caramel or something okay yeah my do so the Miso is there lightly yeah I don’t think I want to have strong miso soup flavor the ice cream but this is great let’s see if

We’ll see if my my taste buds can detect the Miso my refined taste Buds isn’t that good m yeah that saltiness is there it’s very mild you’d never guess like oh this is miso the butterscotch comes through a lot stronger yeah which which is a good thing for ice cream that’s one of my favorite ice cream flavors you want it

To be sweeter not saltier yeah please sweet and salty guys if you want to come here this is MDI Ice Cream signs right there yeah highly recommend it we could have upgraded and got three scoops but we’re trying to show a little moderation that’s some really cool flavors they had

Some with beer very very creative very artisanal um this one was 550m and we could have I think got three flavors for seven maybe 700 something like that and it was it was hard to choose this one there’s some really good looking ones on

The menu I like this a lot more than I thought I would are we going get more we’ll see see how you got the castle Stout fudge what should I get then if you’re having gorgona and fig this ice cream was so good we went back into the shop seriously what did

You get I ended up getting one that is um like a it’s basically a stout beer and it also has fudge fudge and stout oh it’s just amazing and then below that is the Gorgonzola cheese oh Gorgonzola cheese and fig yeah I I picked that one it was

Amazing and then I chose apricot they make a lot of ice creams with local fruits so amazing amazing my gosh we need to come to this place MDI ice cream we’re obessed it’s it’s so so good so we couldn’t resist it’s one of the best ice creams I’ve had in a really long Time Oh wow how pretty Smoky nights in Matsumoto yes that was so worth it we were like sitting at home we’re to be honest we’re not the biggest nightlife people at this point and we’re like never you know we have to walk aways we’re a little bit tired so worth

It it was so cool I mean just a completely different uh atmosphere at night we came in the morning when the street was practically dead and then absolutely packed Street Food Galore jazz music jazz music it’s are really cool to be here during a festival

Like that um yeah and we didn’t plan it that way this was just a nice accident Randomness and um oh there’s more that was amazing it’s still going oh we thought it was over but it continues yeah it’s um it’s happening in different phases we had to wait for our

Section it was just uh amazing and yeah there prepared the fire department was out and everything and I know just so much fun so interesting here I’ll spin you around you see it behind the buildings yeah well I think that’s a that’s a good night for us then and we’ll see you and

I’m going to the onon in the hotel that’s how I’m finishing my night off see you tomorrow Oh