Hello and greetings from Nagano City in Japan! Today we’re visiting the capital and largest city of Nagano Prefecture. In this video, we’ll explore one of the oldest and most important temples in Japan, relive moments from the 1998 Winter Olympics, sample sake and amazake at a local brewery, feast on soba and tempura, and embark on a day trip to Togakushi to visit forest shrines and a ninja folk village. So let’s check out some of the best things to do in Nagano, Japan!
🇯🇵 Things to do in Nagano City, Japan 🇯🇵
00:53 – Zenkoji Nakamise Street
03:06 – Sanmon Gate and Zenkoji Temple
07:18 – Soba and Tempura Lunch
09:37 – Nishinomon-Yoshinoya Sake Brewery
12:34 – Nagano Olympic Memorial Arena M-WAVE
14:21 – Nagano Olympic Museum
16:32 – Togakushi Day Trip
16:56 – Soba Lunch at Okusha-mae Naosuke
22:13 – Togakushi Shrine
22:56 – Togakushi Ninja Folk Village
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Welcome to Nagano welcome to Nagano the home of the Olympic Games in 1998 hello and greetings from Nagano City in Japan today we’re visiting the capital and largest city of Nagano prefecture in this video we’ll explore one of the oldest and most important temples in Japan and you walk through this dark
Pitch black tunnel relive moments from the 1998 Winter Olympic Games super cool and unexpected but there’s actually a training session for scam skating sample sake and amazake at a local Brewery try it see how you like Feast on soba and tempura huge amounts of noodles and
Embark on a day trip to visit Forest shrines in a ninja folk Village if you dreamt of being a ninja as a kid you’re going to like this place so hit that subscribe button and let’s check out some of the best things to do in Nago Japan we are currently walking down senoji nakam street this is a historic Road lined with beautiful buildings and it leads straight to senoji Temple where we’re headed to next so yeah just beautiful day to be out exploring this area it’s just so lovely and can’t wait
To bring you along nakami street is the street that leads you towards zji Temple and it’s a place filled with cafes restaurants souvenir shops and stores Galore shortly after Crossing one of the Temple Gates we too were tempted by some of the delicious desserts on Display so we found a little shop it’s called Benny Benny and we were just so tempted by their picture of this apple pie with custard salted caramel and it looks like corn flakes on top so a little midm morning treat why not we need our energy
To visit the temple anyway so get a sugar kick going huh that’s so good that is really tasty love the custard and apple combo lots of Apple in there well worth it the cream is just oozing out show us the cream and I thought I’d mention the the apples for
This pastry are from Nagano prefecture they use lots of local ingredients they have a little display that explains like the milk comes from here the apples come from here the apples they have on display look Immaculate like they look almost fantasy like they look so interesting that’s a messy dessert
Though I got to say you’re going to need some napkins I don’t have any you don’t have any oh you’re going to have to figure something out let me just say this street is one Temptation after the next so many desserts so many sweets ice creams pastries custards so I think
Apple pie was enough for now but we’ll probably grab something else along the way cuz it just all looks so Good then it was time to explore the temple complex zenkoji Temple is a Buddhist temple that dates back to the 7th Century what makes this Temple special is that it is said to house the first Buddha statue to have been brought over to Japan however there’s a lot of
Secrecy surrounding this statue and no one is allowed to see it every 6 years a copy of the statue is brought out just for a few weeks so pilgrims have an opportunity to gaze at it this did not coincide with our visit but we were pretty content getting to climb the
Sanon gate and enjoy the Views So no filming allowed indoors but it’s okay once you’re out on the balcony and you just get some beautiful views not just of the temple grounds but the city the mountains off in the distance this Temple is amazing hands down the most impressive Temple we’ve been to on this
Trip and we’ve seen a lot of temples yeah it’s enormous like for us to explore everything just getting like just looking in all dire directions we’re going to be here for a while and that’s a good thing all righty one of us was a little braver at this Temple and
It was not me normally it would be you you normally do the more daring things you’ve done like tree pop walks and zip lining which I haven’t done but I was the one who went into the dark tunnel yes where you literally cannot see anything and you have to keep your hand
On the right side of the wall the entire time like you literally can’t even see the person in front of you or behind you so I’ll give a little background so so you guys understand like what is this tunnel so basically there is a tunnel underneath the temple it is called Idan
Migi and it’s considered one of the holiest parts of the temple and you walk through this dark pitch black tunnel because it’s supposed to represent um what life is going to be like after you’re dead and um Sam was able to do it I I couldn’t I I tried it’s a whole lot
Of dark nothing yeah but um yeah I’m going to tell you if you don’t like confined spaces and you’re not particularly fond of the dark you’ll be using up all of your courage points for the day and it does go on a little bit further than you think but uh I I’m glad
I did it it was it was an interesting experience and just one foot after the other don’t bump into the next person if you can just go slow some people might bump into you that happened to me I’ll add something else to to the tunnel thing it wasn’t the darkness that
Bothered me because I’ve done the dine in the dark where it’s like pitch black um it was the fact that it’s a tight space and there are lots of people going through the tunnel like obviously obviously you go one in front of the other um but still it was the amount of
People and the confined space like the size of the tunnel it wasn’t the darkness that was the issue so keep keep that in mind it’s more like claustrophobia it’ll Trigg it’ll trigger your claustrophobia for sure the other thing that I was worried about too because there’s probably no country in
The world where it’s worse to be over 6 feet tall I kept thinking I’m I’m going to hit my head so I was like crouching down hand on the wall like that but it was fun I’m glad I did it I’m glad I did it but the temple itself it is beautiful
Impressive I am so glad we went in there um it it’s just so ornate and elegant and dark wood and lots of gold it reminded me of visiting temples in Thailand and also the burning incense reminded me of Nepal so it was cool no I I’m even going to upgrade this
Attraction I think it’s the most impressive attraction we’ve been to on our entire trip it’s just like you could probably spend half the day here if you were going to dine in the restaurants eat the snacks and visit every site and take it all in it’s a it’s a massive
Place and um it way exceeded my expectations that’s for sure for sure well friends we sure worked up an appetite here walking around that amazing Temple and Nago I’m having some hot tea we were honestly looking around for a place to eat for a while and not really didn’t really find anything that
Particularly tickled our fancy but after coming down the hill a bit we found this kind of it’s a SAA and ramen and sake bar all rolled into one but I also noticed on the wall I’m not sure if we’ll do this but you can do sake tasting you can get three different
Varieties looks like they’re pretty big glasses with a some snacks to go along with it food has arrived and my goodness it looks amazing the portions are gig gantic take a look at how big my noodles are just a huge amount of noodles and then over here we’ve got a sorted
Tempera you can see this one is a shrimp um this one is one I’m really looking for to these are these look like forest mushrooms and uh looks like there may be some carrot some sweet potato oh some nice mix and instead of having like a a
Tempura sauce something to dip into they gave us all be salt so going to grab a bit of that sprinkle it on and try it think I’ll go for the mushroom oh no no this is a sweet oh it’s the pumpkin guys big pumpkin Fan nothing like PE and going to try the noodles of course m again really tasty this place was a real find like a little bit further away from the the tourist area around the temple so very happy to be here I also have a bowl of tempora that I’m very excited
About and to accompany or rather for my main I got the the SOA these are the the dipping kind take it for a swim you’ve seen us have these before this is the thing to eat in Nago prefecture oh it looks really good from here oh good job you finished them All Okay so we are currently at the Yoshino saki Brewery and the space is kind of divided into different buildings we’re currently inside their Museum and then we’re going to pop over to their other building you can do a sakeet tasting and they’ve got some really lovely helpers
That we’ve already met and they speak English so yeah looking forward to trying some sake but first visiting the museum seeing some old photos of what the brewery was like in its beginnings and also a cool building architecturally it’s fascinating there’s something else that’s really cool about this Museum that distinguishes itself
From other Japanese museums you don’t have to take your shoes off there’s no one really watching what you’re doing and it just feels like you can kind of openly explore it’s great yes take photos too and video after visiting the museum we did a free sake and amazake
Tasting we were already familiar here with sake or rice wine but amazake was something completely new for us this is a sweet drink made from fermented rice and it can be alcoholic or non-alcoholic so no sugar no F oo it’s it’s white got a Milky oh sorry I’m
Sorry try it see how you like oh it’s very sweet very tastes nice yeah I love the vitam oh yeah tour for you you’re welcome okay number three number three oh that’s nice too so it’s called amak amak amak well we went in for a little sake tasting and did some
Suvenir shopping yeah we’re so impressed by the the service and they’re just the friendliest uh people we tried five or six different ones yeah so we tried three amakes which is sake without the alcohol it’s like milky and then we had three other sakis and um I mean we could
Have kept going they were like do you want more we’re like we still got some stuff to do this afternoon but we ended up bringing one home this is the amake and it’s beautifully wrapped here in this box you see we actually had it’s got um inside it’s got bubble bubble
Packing and so we’re going to be taking home this amazake this will be one a gift for your mom since it doesn’t have alcohol and we got to taste it it’s um really nice and sweet yeah has a uh it has a delicious taste so friends something I love about
Nagano is that the station and the bus terminal are right in the same spot which means that now we’re going to a completely different part of the city we’re going to be visiting the Olympic sports center and we’re going to be taking bus number four and I think it’s
Going to be arriving in just a few minutes it’s going to mean that we can save our legs to explore inside of the complex [Applause] in 1998 Nago hosted the Olympic and Par Olympic Winter Games and many of the former Olympic facilities can still be visited across the city we decided to focus on Nagano Olympic Memorial Arena also known as the mwave since it is home to the Nagano Olympic Museum well here
We are at Nagano Olympic Memorial Arena Sam did didn’t have too many requests from his time in Nagano but this was one of them yes I remember this Olympics so well Friends 1998 it was really interesting because the Olympics were obviously in Japan so I had a
Fascination with that it was the first time anyel hockey players were taking part and it was Wayne Gretzky’s last tournament Eric Lindros was playing the US had a strong team but Canada ultimately lost to the Czech Republic yoger and hassk were just too good year wow you’ve got very Vivid memories
That’s a lot of details I remember that because I was waking up in like ridiculous hours back in Canada to watch the games as a kid so I remember really well and um it’s cool to be visiting here and also just shows how much time is fast since those games I ain’t
Getting any younger that’s for sure friends family participants from all around the world welcome to the Nago Olympics 199 98 [Applause] Games [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] this is super cool and unexpected but there’s actually a training session happening for Speed skating [Applause] guys the mwave is where the speed skating events were hosted and as you can see it still gets plenty of use we really weren’t expecting to see so many athletes in action but it just goes to show all the training and preparation that happens in the four years in
Between the Olympic Winter Games W look how fast they’re [Applause] Going The following day we decided to visit togakushi on a day trip from Nagano we boarded the Highland shuttle which departs just outside Nagano station and we enjoyed a 1-hour journey through the countryside the main draw to tokushi are the shrines Forest hiking trails and the ninja folk Village all of which we
Visited right break my eyes all righty good morning guys it’s it is the next day day two and today we’re on a little Excursion we decided to come up to the mountains and we’re going to be visiting some shrines in the forest the place we’ve come to is called
Togakushi and before we start our hiking uh we’re hungry so we had to stop at a restaurant it is around 11: 11:30 so you know better eat before we get cranky and then we can go for a few hours also there’s a ninja Folk Museum in the area
Which I’m hoping we get to visit as well so a fun and exciting day out in nature beautiful autumn colors out here can’t wait to show you we’re calling this the appetizer yeah so we wanted to get a few different Tasty Bites before noodles ared this one here is pumpkin filling
Look at that remember we had those in was it no was it Matsumoto was it the oaki it was matumoto the oyaki so this is the pumpkin oaki loaded with pumpkin absolutely Delicious he we got the same thing so we did today it is hot SOA a plate of piping hot soba noodles let’s try It I need to add this in there we go that’s more like it now we’re talking now we are talking we are getting fortified for the hike this place does only SOA don’t expect udon or Ramen it’s just soba is the specialty yeah those tend to be the best
Restaurants any in the world when you key in on one thing right Exactly So enjoying a beautiful walk over here and we decided to take a bit of a detour yep we’re not going to the temple quite yet uh we thought we would take The Road Less Traveled and Sam spotted a lagoon with ducks so we’re kind of walking in that direction yeah I think what’s
Interesting here is that we’ve lost a lot of the tourists the only other people we’ve noticed out here are kind of like more serious hikers and photographers yes and so it’s a much smaller uh group of people on this Trail and this particular section that we’re
At right now are the only ones here we are so we’re just surrounded by beautiful H colors a fresh Mountain Air and you know an adventure to be had I hope we can see some interesting Wildlife there’s a possibility of spotting Bears here um maybe we’ll see
Some birds maybe we’ll see some ducks at this Pond who knows we’re up for anything yeah I’m okay without the bears but everything maybe not the Bears or if we do see them from a nice comfortable distance distance yeah so we have spent a lot of time visiting little mountain
Towns over the past month specifically here in Nagano prefecture and one thing that we’ve noticed is that people here go hiking with little bells teeny tiny little bells that just make a little bit of noise to Bells spook the Bears if they are nearby that’s right so yeah we
Feel pretty safe we we haven’t actually bought Bells because I feel like every Japanese person has a bell so as long as we relying on local s basically yeah but no even though we’ve seen like warning signs for Bears I I really don’t think we’re going to spot them and that’s one
Of the things that we honestly I think Nago is one of my favorite prefectures because of all the nature opportunities the opportunities to get out on the mountains to go to Onsen towns to see snow monkeys to go hiking to go to cultural Villages there’s so much to
Offer and you can get the benefits of sort of Both Worlds staying in like Nago City you get the the entertainment the food options the accommodation availability and then like within less than an hour you can be out in a completely different area out in the
Mountains yes that’s so nice I love that love that aspect of here got little acorns here check this out this is probably some nice food this time of year some nice nuts what do you think Sam if you were a bear would you be munching on these be munching on it
If I was any form of creature they’re delicious any Forest creature any Forest creature then we visited togakushi Shrine which is the main draw to the area this Shinto Shrine complex is made up of five shrines and it involves a 2 km walk down a path line with towering
Cedar trees that are hundreds of years old it was a beautiful walk but you should also be prepared to share the experience with other people because this is a well-known Spot after visiting the Shrine we decided to check out the togakushi ninja Museum this is a really neat spot with a ninja Museum a ninja trick Mansion you can throw ninja stars and even chill out at a cafe it was the perfect way to end our little day trip adventure to togakushi Sam I got It you need hit five not not quite almost are you ready I wasn’t paying attention at the training like this yeah wait oh good release it like like release point where you want it to go release there you go almost oh nice that’s it that’s it so we are
Visiting a ninja house a ninja folk Village actually and we just did two very cool things the first place we went to was the ninja house which is a maze you are I don’t know you’re just put it put it this way this is the first room
Escape game that we actually got out of but it took us a while my favorite part well the the different trap doors were C certainly cool but my favorite part was the slanted room where you’re kind of like walking up the room that’s on a steep incline and it messes with your
Equilibrium like I was dizzy oh yeah it really does so basically we’re not allowed to film in there you can’t take any pictures no cameras no phones but you’re basically trying to work yourself through a maze of like sliding walls and trap doors and passageways that don’t
Lead anywhere um so lot of fun there a lot of those yeah it was so much fun I totally get why they don’t want you to film or take videos it would it would spoil the fun if someone watched it so but yeah definitely do it like come to
The ninja folk Village because it’s fun even for adults like I know there’s he it was great it was great you’re like living in the moment trying to get out of there okay and next up we are visiting the ninja Museum and we’ve come up to the second floor where they have a
Lot of photographs that show no I have hiccups they have a lot of photographs that show you the weapons they used how they use them so you can see their weapons and their tools but also the photographs demonstrating how are these actually used in practice right so yeah
Yes this is really fun if you dreamt of being a ninja as a kid you’re going to like this place [Applause] Ninja Okay you want to tell us what we got ice creamies we got green tea ice cream and chocolate ice cream yes we deserve it after Escaping The Ninja house right precisely and throwing ninja stars yeah we’re going to enjoy this before we get back on the Bus that’s my favorite ice cream flavor in Japan green tea actually I take it back well zi is my favorite flavor after I got to try that on the day trip from Matsumoto remember I do remember this is a close second though very tasty and I’m always happy with chocolate ice cream
Can’t go wrong with that can’t go wrong Right N
1 Comment
Beatiful.