Inside Japan’s HIDDEN Mountain Villages (Tsumago & Magome)

Inside Japan’s HIDDEN Mountain Villages (Tsumago & Magome)

Imagine walking the same mountain paths that samurai, merchants, and travelers crossed hundreds of years ago. This week, we’re exploring the Japanese countryside and stepping into the historic post towns of Sumangujuku and Magomejuku. From tasting local flavors to wandering quiet streets, join us as we discover a side of Japan that feels like stepping straight into the past. [Music] [Music] Well, we took a wrong turn and now we are on a very very narrow back road. Oh no. Did I like end up I feel like I feel like I’m not supposed to be be driving on these roads like at all. Probably not. Feel kind of bad. This is beautiful though. Hopefully no other cars come because we can’t fit beside him. Shoot. I I should have just like taken us to the parking lot. I kind of messed this up. I brought us to like Oh my word. This is so bad actually. Where are we? Oh no. I can probably turn right down there. Okay. Oh, this is gorgeous. But we are in the tourist year by accident. I do not love this. No. And I definitely don’t want to like Okay, nice work. When you just when you think you have it all figured out and then you go into a place like this, it’s like, oh no. So, this is a little bit better. This looks like a proper parking lot. Okay. Well, we have made it to the Japanese countryside with uh not for lack of issues. It’s a little hiccup. A little hiccup. If you’ve been following along, you would have seen us last at Mount Fuji. And since then, we drove to Matsumoto. Spent a day there just chilling and working. And then we’ve just driven through the mountains to what’s the town called? Sumagago Juku. Sumagago Juk. Sumagago Juku. Sumagago Juku. Wow, this is so cool. [Laughter] [Music] Big eyes. [Laughter] Juniper is such a celebrity wherever we go. Both tourists and locals always just want to talk to us. It’s so cute. Hey, are you still popular, baby? Yeah. Everyone loves you so much cuz you’re so cute. [Music] So, this town is part of what they call the Nakasendo Trail. So this is one of the many ways that they used to cross from Kyoto to Edeto which is now Tokyo. So during the Edeto period from 1600s to the late 1800s there are only a few ways to get across the mountains from Kyoto to Edeto during that time period. And so this is one of the towns that they would stop. We’re going to another one later on called Magome Juku. And honestly this whole place is so beautiful. These towns are so well preserved. And Sumagagojuku was actually the very first town to be preserved from the Edeto period here in Japan. Man, this is the kind of Japan I was so excited to experience. I mean, Tokyo was so cool, but this right here, I’m just so stoked. This is why I wanted to come to Japan. Yeah, it’s so beautiful. I feel like this is like Yeah. When you when you look at Japan, like you look at videos, movies, anime, like I feel like this is it’s the um whatever I keep saying it, it’s like feudal Japan. You know what I mean? Like this feudal Japanto historical side of it. This is so cool. Yeah, I’m obsessed. Then we have a car. Oh, we made it back to the street that we drove down in our motor home. This was so bad that we did that, Eric. Now that Now that I’m like walking these streets, I’m like, this is insane. This must have looked so dumb. I’m so glad we were here so early that no one was here or here to witness that. That was so bad. [Laughter] You want to take her back? Byebye. Byebye. Byebye. Byebye. Byebye. Oh, every time they just love her so much. Are you a celebrity? All right, let’s get this baby out of the sun. Yeah, seriously. [Music] Hi there. Okay, we’ve got ourselves some I looked it up. It’s called mangju. It’s Yeah, these are pastries. Flour based pastries. Mine is definitely not like as cooked as yours, but Oh, yeah. these pastries. One of them is filled with meat and one of them is filled with radish. I actually don’t know which one is which. So, we’re going to have a little bit of a roulette situation here. Mine looks like a more of a cooked bun. I expected mine to also look like that. M. Wow. Look at that. That is delicious. That is so good. Can’t hold it any further. I’ll get a little bit closer for you. That is so good, though. I love that. I’m very pleased with this. Mhm. Good. [Music] One of the things I like most about this town is that it’s very clear that people still live here. You know, it’s not just preserved for tourist enjoyment. It is actually a place where people can live and work. Just think that’s really cool. [Music] Even this short little drive to the next town is just so beautiful. There’s waterfalls along the way. It’s so green. It is crazy windy, but this RV is doing great. Nice. That was tight. Plenty of space. That was tight. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] Don’t go too far over the edge with that baby. This is stunning right now. This is what we’re talking about on the drive. It is so so green. The trees are just amazing. So many different green colors. So lush. Amazing. Had quite a few people ask us and mostly like other travelers how it’s been going traveling with a baby. And what do we what do we tell them? Usually it goes a lot slower. We need to take a lot more breaks. A but you have some things to say about that. But it’s still very fun. Yeah, absolutely. We’re honestly loving it. I don’t think we could have picked a better country to travel with the baby. Um, Japan has been so wonderful. As you can tell, all these people are like over the moon, excited to see a baby here. And um, and so accommodating, too. As soon as we’re on a train, everyone stands up to get out of your way and let you sit and everyone Yeah. makes room for you. And it doesn’t feel like she’s an inconvenience to everyone. Everyone’s just stoked that she’s here. Totally. But I am glad that we gave ourselves so much time here in Japan because like Sarah said, it is a lot slower. Chloe, Magomejuku definitely seems a little more refined. If I had to choose, I definitely would pick this morning’s one as my favorite. I think this one is just more of a straight stretch. Also, we were there way earlier, so there’s less people, but I felt like this morning’s you could kind of go through these little alleyways and it just felt very maybe a bit more authentic. Yeah. Yeah, I think authentic for sure. But I mean like this is gorgeous. Like it’s still so beautiful. I think if we came here at like 7 in the morning, I honestly think we’d probably have the whole place to ourselves, honestly. A nice shoes off sitting on the floor kind of place. Love this. Nice. Not the most comfy with baby strapped to you, but I should probably wake up soon. I have keys in my back pocket. This Oh, that’s so uncomfortable. Oh yeah, this is wonderful. Okay, I’m thinking we got to get some soba cuz we have not tried that yet. It’s also uh a specialty of this area. Oh, of this area specifically. Okay, that’s why we’re supposed to get soba. Well, then we definitely need to get soba kake soba. Now, I got grated red radish soba because my radish treat this morning was so good. This looks delicious. Oh man. If you don’t know, soba is a type of soup made with buckwheat noodles. These brown noodles and I’m excited to try it. First bite. Amazing. I’m very, very happy with this choice. This is so good. Very flavorful noodles. Mhm. Very dark broth, too. Always like a dark broth on a soup. Cheers. Cheers. I’m very happy with this. Probably cuz I was just so hungry. Anything would have tasted good right now. Anything would have tasted good. But also, anything in Japan just tastes good. So, yeah. [Music] brought this little booklet to Japan because I heard there was stamps everywhere at all the tourist places, but I keep forgetting to bring it when we actually end up in stamp places. So, let’s try it. Getting a lot of ink on that one. Ink pad’s getting a little dry. Okay, ready? There you go. Majuko. Mango. Same thing. This is easily one of the most photogenic towns we’ve ever been to. We keep saying we’re leaving and then we just keep walking cuz it’s so beautiful. Like everywhere you look all it’s like, “Oh, there’s like this nice house.” And then it’s like, “Oh, there’s nice plants.” And then, “Oh, there’s a nice water wheel.” It’s like literally every foot every two feet. [Music] Another day well spent in Japan. We are now on our way to Takyama. So, we will see you there. See you in the next one. [Music]

Stepping into the past in Japan. This week we are passing through Tsumago-juku and Magome-juku. These well-preserved japanese post towns are part of the Nakasendo trail, where Samurai, Merchants, and travellers passed by from Kyoto to Edo hundreds of years ago. Join us as we enjoy what Japan was like during the Edo Period.

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Hi! We’re Eric and Sarah, a couple of Canadians currently travelling full time and looking for the best experiences around the world! Our passion is creating helpful and inspiring videos that makes you feel capable and confident to explore places you may have never considered travelling before! And if you’re not a traveller… we hope our videos at least provide you a little entertainment and make you smile as you experience how beautiful the world is 🙂 Thanks for following along and please leave a comment to say hi!

FILMED MAY 2025
#Japan #nakasendo #feudaljapan

CHAPTERS:
0:00 – Japan of the Past
0:41 – Accidents Happen
1:55 – Tsumago-Juku
3:36 – Nakasendo Trail
6:30 – Manju (Savory Pastry)
7:55 – What we love most about Tsumago
8:43 – Driving to Magome
9:08 – Magome-Juku
12:00 – First time trying Soba
13:54 – Japanese Stamps
14:49 – Japanese Alps

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