Kamikochi – Japan’s Alps Stunning Views – Day Trip Nature Walk | Nagano | 上高地、長野

Kamikochi – Japan’s Alps Stunning Views – Day Trip Nature Walk | Nagano | 上高地、長野

Hello everybody and welcome to today’s video. We are here in the northern Alps of Japan at Kami Kochi, a mountain resort here in the western part of Nagono Prefecture. Kamio Kochi is located inside the Chubu Sanangaku National Park and is surrounded by Japan’s tall northern Appalachian Mountains. The area is only open from midappril to mid- November each year and is closed off to private vehicles. Since it is closed to private vehicles, you can only enter via public transportation or taxi. Since I traveled from Matsumoto, I drove to a nearby parking lot and then took the bus from there into Kami Kochi. [Music] We just got off the bus at Taisho Eik or Taisho Pond and here we are with our first big look at Kami Kochi. We have the mountains in the distance and this beautiful reflective water. But it’s great to see such lovely scenery here in the northern Alps of Japan. Due to the higher elevation of this area, it is relatively cool compared to other parts of Japan, making it a very popular summer retreat. So, today we are going to be on a leisurely stroll throughout the Kamikoi area. It will be a couple hours and just going to be taking in all of the sites around us. It is a three-day weekend holiday here in Japan, so it is quite busy. But even without the 3-day weekend, this is a popular spot. So, I think you can always prepare for some crowds. And we just left Taiisho Pond. And so, we are starting to walk closer to the center of the resort area. In front of us, we have Mount Yak. This is an active volcano at a height of 2,455 m. And there was a recent explosion in 1962, which is what created the Taisho Eek pond where we were at earlier. Up in the sky above us, there looks to be some kind of cotton dust floating from the trees. kind of like snow. So, in terms of time, we left our hotel around 7:30 in the morning, and it took a little over an hour to reach the parking lot, the Salando parking lot. And then we were able to get on a bus around 9, a little after 9. And today is a very busy day. So they’ve been sending lots of buses, but usually the bus comes only every half an hour. And then we got here to Kami Kochi. But it is now 10:15. We are continuing our leisurely stroll heading to the next part which will be one of the bridges. And the sound that you hear is a bearbell. There are bears in this area, so a lot of people come here with bells. So, you’ll hear that in the audio quite a bit. [Music] So, we are now at the Tashiro Bashi Bridge. Then we are going to cross it to the left side of the river and continue walking until we reach the popular and famous Kapabashi. And this sign over here is telling us that we had a bear sighting here on the 26th of June, right where we are. So I have to be careful. Now we are on the other side of the Azusa River and we are going to continue to follow the path as we are heading towards Kapabashi which will be in 1.5 km. And the weather is absolutely lovely here. Not too hot, not too cold. And you can see that there has still been a little bit of snow on the very tops of the mountains in the distance. So even though it is the middle of July, we still have some very nice temperatures here in Kamakoi. And now we have reached Kapabashi. This area with the hordes of people both on the banks and on the bridge itself. And this is also the part where there are more food options. So we can see that lots of people are lining up to get bites to eat. It is now 11:15. So, we’ve been walking for about an hour and got to this pretty busy spot. We’re going to grab a few photos and then fill our stomachs, too. So, we had a successful lunch near the Kapabashi Bridge. There were a lot of people and it was only 11:30 kind of when we started looking, but there was a soba restaurant, some smaller snack stalls, there was ice cream, but we ended up going to a place called Label Fore. It was on the more expensive side, but the place had a cool terrace and there was a lot less of a line there. So, enjoyed some bolognese and beef curry made with shinshu beef. And the beef there was really good. And one of my favorite things about this region is that it’s known for its apples. So, we had some delicious apple juice and apple pie. So now we are back on our nature walk heading towards the Miogene pond. We are adding in this little extra loop that will be about 2 hours perhaps and then we’ll end up back where we were near Kapabashi. There was such a great view by the bridge. You got to see the clear waters flowing through and then the tall mountain range in the background. But we are now walking again and going to be enjoying more of the nature here. [Music] We have 2.8 km to Minene Pond and the sites along the way have been phenomenal. [Music] We just saw su monkeys in the forest. I heard some sounds of leaves rustling and then there were these monkeys eating on the ground and they were so cute they had their young ones on their back. So check for seeing some nature on this walk. [Music] [Music] And alas, we have made it to Moene Bridge. That is the bridge stretched out in front of us. But first, we have 0.1 km and we get to go to the Neoene Eay pond. We are taking a little detour. It looks like we have a little shrine around here, too. There are restaurants here. Looks like they have soba and some grilled fish that you can eat these little outdoor huts. And we are heading more in to Haka Shrine. So, you have to pay 500 yen for adults and 200 yen for children to go see Majin Pond. Cash only [Music] So, you can enter the Muene Pond for an extra 500 yen. And there is a neat little view there as well as a little shrine on a dock that you can go to give your blessings to. But there’s a pretty long line of people waiting. So, I’m going to skip waiting for that. But it is right over here that you can see everyone lined up. It’s time to cross Moin Bashi. Oh, you can still see the stuff in the air. And this bridge moves. Now that we crossed the Mojene Bridge, we are now heading back to the Kapa Bridge area where the bus terminal is. But it has been a lovely little walk here. very flat for the most part, but lots of rocks to be careful of. The water has been spectacular to see, as well as the mountains that tower overhead. We’ve entered the area for the campers. You can see a lot of colorful tents pitched here in the distance. But we’ll just continue to follow this trail that will lead us back to Kapabashi. And we are coming up back at Kapabashi. Finished our big loop of the area. It is now almost 3:00 and had a great little time feeling the feet a little bit. We hiked or walked about seven and a half miles. I will put the kilometers below. But what did you think? It was fun. It was fun. Yeah, there are way too many people, but on the trail there are a little bit less, but the water and the view is pretty amazing. So, that is something to really look forward to. And I think if you’re able to come not on a weekend, not on a long holiday weekend, then you should probably be able to enjoy it a lot more. Also, something I’d love to do would be to stay overnight. That um requires getting advanced accommodation reservations and wasn’t a something I was able to do this time. But I think once all of the buses leave around 5:30, then this place probably really clears out and then you get to enjoy a sanctuary at the evening time and in the mornings. So that is something that I would look forward to another time. And here is the bus terminal. This is where you’ll get dropped off if you stay on the bus and don’t get off like we did at the pond. But we will be boarding our bus here to go back to the parking lot. But thank you for coming with me on this journey. I hope you liked seeing Kami Kochi on this day trip. It was a lot of fun and pretty accessible to get to, especially if you’re in Matsumoto or Toyama. But signing off for today. Thank you for coming with me on this adventure and I’ll see you again.

Today, we are in Kamikochi, a mountain resort located in the western part of Nagano Prefecture.

On this day trip from Matsumoto, I’ll share how to access the area and what it’s like to hike around the popular nature footpath.

Due to the area’s high altitude, the temperatures here are much cooler than in other parts of Japan, making it a popular place for a summer retreat.

And did I mention, the views are spectacular? The mountains, crystal clear waters, chirping bugs, and birds all made for a wonderful nature getaway.

Let’s explore Kamikochi!

Full daytrip guide coming soon on https://www.marisaroundtheworld.com/

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00:00 Intro
00:35 Access
01:03 Kamikochi Nature Walk
13:50 Outro
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