A trip to Okuhida in Japan where you can hold and feed bears🐻🇯🇵（hot springs♨️and wagyu beef🐂too）

A trip to Okuhida in Japan where you can hold and feed bears🐻🇯🇵（hot springs♨️and wagyu beef🐂too）

This time, we will be bringing you a trip to Okuhida in Gifu Prefecture. Gifu Prefecture is located between Tokyo and Kyoto, and is an area visited by many foreign tourists. In Okuhida, we enjoyed Hida’s wagyu beef and hot springs, toured a bear farm, and one of the largest limestone caves in Japan.

By the way, this video is a continuation of my previously uploaded trip to Kamikochi in Nagano Prefecture. If you want to enjoy your trip to Japan even more, be sure to watch both videos. After about 25 minutes by bus from Kamikochi, we arrived at Hirayu Onsen Bus Terminal.

This is already Gifu prefecture. It’s about halfway between Matsumoto Station and Takayama Station. Hirayu Onsen is located at the foot of Mt. Norikura in the southern part of the Northern Alps, at an altitude of 1250m above sea level. Although we have descended about 250m from Kamikochi, we are still in the mountains.

This area is called Okuhida, and is said to have the largest number of open-air baths in Japan, with over 110. Well, today I’m thinking of going all the way to Takayama and staying the night… Today, before that, I’m thinking of going around the Okuhida area.

First, I took the bus bound for Shinhotaka Ropeway at 10:40. I won’t go all the way to the end, but I will take a short detour. Even so, the days are long when you travel by night bus.

Even though we had done a lot of sightseeing in Kamikochi, it was still morning, so I felt like we had gained quite a bit. Well, I rode the bus for about 7 minutes and got off at “Kumabokujou-mae”. We came to Okuhida Bear Farm.

Here, you can have rare experiences such as watching bears and feeding them. It takes about 5 minutes to get off the bus stop and go up the hill. Apparently there were stairs on the opposite side of the hill I climbed, so I took a slight detour. It’s a pretty big building.

First, buy a ticket. The entrance fee was 1100 yen. Although it is only available for a limited time, there is also a corner where you can take commemorative photos with the bear cubs. This building seems to be used as an office building or a souvenir corner.

It looks like they’re also collaborating with an anime that started this year. And the bear was just outside the building. Oh, there are so many. There are two types of bears that live in Japan: brown bears in Hokkaido and Asiatic black bears in Honshu. Everything here is a black bear.

Well, after seeing the bear once… Let’s take a commemorative photo with the bear cub! Since the time seemed set, I decided to go first. This year seems to be the year when quite a lot of twins were born, with two sets.

If you leave your smartphone with the keeper, he will put the bear cub on his lap. The keeper will take a photo of the bear cub while it is absorbed in the food that was given to it. The palm of the bear’s hand on my arm is surprisingly soft.

Then, at the signal of the keeper, you can pet the bear cub. Although it is a cub, its fur is thicker than other baby animals, and I felt it was a little stiff. The shooting itself takes about 30 seconds and ends according to the zookeeper’s instructions.

The bear farm’s top priority is not to cause stress to the cubs. It was a valuable experience as I may never be able to touch it again. Even a small bear had an outstanding presence. And there’s more to enjoy at the bear farm. You can feed the bears in front of the fence.

I bought a 100 yen biscuit that came in a cute box. They will appeal to you if you show them the food. Oh, good job! It feels good to reach the bear directly♪ Ah···. The bear below ate it. And bears are pretty laid back.

The way they scratch their feet is no different from humans lol. However, when you show him the biscuit, he suddenly starts to move. Try to stretch your neck and eat. The name Asiatic black bear originates from the white fur on its chest that resembles a crescent moon.

There are about 100 Asiatic black bears here. It is one of the largest breeders of its kind in Japan. It seems difficult to get it there though… Oh, nice throw on my part♪ If the bait bounces there, it tends to fall to the bottom.

Bears that don’t show much appeal are probably not hungry. Good! This is a master. This is the last one. There is no particular reaction when I show them the box. I think there were about 20 biscuits in there. I bought an additional one, but I think you can enjoy just one box.

The physical condition of Asiatic black bears is around 180cm at most. Moreover, the movements are quite leisurely, so if you look at it in real life, it looks like you could beat it in a sumo match. However, when I look at the photos, I don’t feel like I can win lol.

He’s faster than Usain Bolt, and of course he’s attacked people in the mountains. It certainly doesn’t seem necessary to hibernate here. This area is the largest and has the most bears. The bear fences seem to be separated by age and gender. Bears around here need practice catching biscuits.

In the back, a keeper was showering the bear with water. Apparently, they were collecting something that had fallen into the fence. It seems like they use water to scare away bears who show an interest in them so they don’t get too close. It looks like they were able to recover it safely.

This is a small bear area, but you can’t tell them apart from adults. At places like this, I always wonder if everyone is being fed equally. I also added bait. The shop outside sold other things besides biscuits. I bought an apple (300 yen) and dried fruit (200 yen). Let’s start with apples.

Apples are easier to throw because they are heavier. Ah, that’s scary! It’s quite impressive when it moves lol. Even if it’s high, you’ll definitely notice it when you reach out. So, aren’t you interested? It feels good♪ I feel like my throwing has improved.

I want to team up with this bear and participate in a marshmallow catching competition. Bears appeal, but they don’t get attached. I’ll eat it if I can reach it with my neck outstretched, but I don’t force myself to chase it. Okay, I guess I’ll save sumo for another time. Dried fruit is mango.

There were also walnuts in there. The problem with raisins is that it is difficult to track where they go with a camera. Okay, sold out! Since the amount was large, I spread it out at a good pace at the end. Well, I enjoyed it more than I expected.

Then, I discovered an energy drink called “Kumariki Drink”. I’ve been walking around since 5am, so I’m sure an energy drink will do the trick. Now you can get the power of a bear…! The design is also powerful. The raw material name has the characters “animal gastric exudate”.

It is said to be a herbal medicine derived from bears called “bear bile”. It’s said to be made by drying a bitter substance called gallbladder, but what does it taste like? Ah, it’s delicious! . It’s sweet and not bitter at all, and it might be my favorite flavor among energy drinks.

Even if it doesn’t have any nutritional tonic effect, I would still drink it as a substitute for juice. Personally, it was my favorite flavor among energy drinks. Okay, now that I’ve absorbed Kumaguri into my body, it’s time to go home.

By the way, the name of the bear cub I took a commemorative photo with earlier is “Hiiro-kun” I also received this card. It’s finally raining. I could go to the bus stop from the stairs here. The return bus will arrive at 12:20.

The stay was about an hour and a half. It was just a nice detour♪ I’d like to ride the Shinhotaka Ropeway someday, so I’ll see you next time. I returned to Hirayu Onsen, where the weather was slightly sunny. Now, after the bear, let’s fill our bellies! So, I came to Hirayu no Mori.

I plan to have lunch here and enjoy the hot springs as well. Let’s start with lunch. When I entered, I was surprised at the size of the building. The restaurant was a 2-3 minute walk from the entrance. We arrived at Restaurant Mominoki. There’s a sense of openness and it feels good.

Here, I would like to enjoy the luxury of Hida beef, a domestically produced Japanese beef. What’s more, I ordered the special loin (3,600 yen). The special grade is “Tobi Beef,” which has the highest meat quality among the A5 rank Hida beef. Oh, this looks delicious…

There is clearly more fatty meat than red meat. This is 100g of meat. What a luxurious lunch in the mountains♪ Then let’s bake right away! Just pinch it with tongs and the fat will ooze out. The fat splatters like a mist shower.

If I leave it like this, it will probably melt away lol. Okay, I guess it’s about time♪ Served with sauce. This is…delicious… It melts in an instant, so much so that it’s a waste. It’s full of fat, but you can eat as many pieces as you want♪ That’s exciting. The shine is irresistible.

Even 5 slices isn’t enough rice at all… I discovered “Tobigyu” when I ate Hida beef hitsumabushi in Nagoya some time ago. I wanted to try it next time I found it. I took the plunge and ordered it.

And when you eat it with this meat, you won’t feel the spiciness of the wasabi at all thanks to the fat. When I tried eating just the wasabi, it was really spicy. When you come to Takayama, you want to try Hida beef at least once.

I ate the highest quality meat with great satisfaction. Thank you for the meal. Now that my stomach is full, I think I’m going to take a bath. Apparently, there is a private bath in addition to the large public bath. Since it was a great opportunity, I decided to rent it.

Oh, the atmosphere is much better than I expected. The bathtub is a large iron pot. And I wondered why the bathtub was semicircular. It looks like part of the wall is a sliding door. This is also good… On the other side of the wall is an open-air bath.

It had an interesting structure with an open-air bath and an indoor bath forming a circle. Phew~ Paradise… I’ve been moving all morning, and I’m sure I’ll be sleepy right after I get out of the bath. There are five hot springs in this area called Okuhida Onsenkyo, including Hirayu.

Hirayu Onsen has the oldest history, and it is said that during the Edo period, various feudal lords of the Hokuriku region used to soothe the fatigue of their sankin kotai.

There is also an anecdote that a white monkey that appeared when Takeda Shingen’s army was exhausted in the invasion of Hida led them to this area. I was able to enjoy the benefits of this historic hot spring to the fullest. Okay, let’s get out of the bath then.

By the way, the fee for a private bath is 1000 yen per person for 45 minutes. After this, I went to the large public bath. Ah, it felt so good… The public bath was quite large, and there were many open-air baths in addition to the sauna.

It was surrounded by forest and I was completely healed. And the classic coffee milk after a bath♪ And as expected, I don’t want to move anymore lol. I was actually planning to take the 2:30pm bus, but I decided to postpone it by one.

If you have lunch and take a private bath, it will probably take about 3 hours. After finishing the coffee milk, I looked at the souvenirs and went to the bus stop. And while I was in the hot spring, the rain had stopped. I like the view of the mountain covered in clouds.

And before getting on the bus, I took a short detour. I came to Tsuruya Shoten, which is a short walk from Hirayu Bus Terminal. One of the fun things to do in a hot spring town is the hot spring eggs. This place sells a slightly unusual hot spring egg called “Hantai Tamago.”

The white is soft and the yolk is hard, which is the opposite of a normal hot spring egg, but… The portions that were prepared are already sold out… I was told that this egg would take about an hour because it had just been placed in hot water.

I should have stopped by before going to Hirayu no Mori. I couldn’t help but go back to the bus terminal. Then, before getting on the bus, I went to the store. I was curious about this yogurt ice cream and bought it (300 yen). Well, after this I will go to Takayama.

I bought two tickets here. I’m thinking of making one more detour on my way to Takayama. It takes about 30 minutes to arrive from Hirayu Onsen. And the yogurt ice cream I bought earlier is rich and delicious♪ The shock of not being able to eat “Hantai Tamago” has eased a lot lol.

The road to Takayama is quite difficult. When it’s foggy, you can’t see anything around you. After crossing several mountain villages, we arrived at our destination. Well, I got off at the bus stop called “Shonyuudouguchi”.

In front of the bus stop, a van will be waiting to take you free of charge to the Hida Great Limestone Cave. The shuttle will take you back and forth according to the bus schedule, so I’m planning to visit before the next bus to Takayama.

This time, I plan to arrive by bus at 15:59 and then take the next bus at 16:59 to Takayama. The shuttle van leaves here at 16:50, so you can tour for just over 40 minutes. Hida Great Limestone Cave is the highest limestone cave in Japan at an altitude of 900m.

The average temperature inside the cave remains stable at around 12℃ throughout the year. It’s pretty cool in the summer, but isn’t it quite warm in the winter? . I climbed the stairs and went to the passageway that led to the limestone cave. Now, let’s go inside the limestone cave! Wow! cool!

The temperature has dropped dramatically and it’s cold. The total length of the limestone cave area for sightseeing is approximately 800 meters. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes to reach the farthest exit. If you don’t hurry, it will be last minute. We will continue climbing up the cave, which has quite steep stairs.

The space in the limestone cave is carved out by rain that has seeped into the limestone buried in the mountain. It will take at least 10,000 years for a cavity to become this large. Today, I feel the scale of nature throughout the day. And speaking of how stalactites are formed…

Stalactites appear to be formed by rainwater that permeated the limestone and contained calcium carbonate, then hardened into stone again inside the cave. In the Hida Great Limestone Cave, many rare stalactites called helictites can be seen. It doesn’t look that big, but it’s hanging from the ceiling.

There are various types of stalactites other than helictite, such as icicles and stone pillars. It’s a space of several tens of centimeters, but I think it’s a stone pillar that connects the ceiling to the ground? It’s a natural tunnel, so there are some places where it’s scary to pass without bending down.

Each space is given a name. The stone pillars are made of rainwater that falls from the ceiling to the ground, solidifies, and gradually extends from the top and bottom. Depending on the environment, it can take several decades to several hundred years for a stone pillar to grow 1cm.

Also, inside the cave, the temperature is always stable and it is a dark place. Apparently, they built a storage room here because it is the perfect environment for storing various types of alcohol. There are exits 1 and 2 along the way, where you can also go outside.

Apparently this place is under the river. It seems that it is also a tunnel connecting the first cave and the second cave. After passing through the tunnel, you will be in a dark space again. We also grow Japanese Spikenard for the same reason as alcohol.

The Japanese Spikenard at my feet is short, so maybe it was just planted? It was my first time seeing him, but he was quite tall. And from here there are some pretty steep stairs. Water is dripping everywhere. The sound of water is also getting louder. There were also places where waterfalls were formed.

Oh, that’s so deep… Erosion is still progressing even now. Then go to the second exit. I don’t have much time, but I’ll try to get to the end. I’ve been walking all morning, so the soles of my feet are a little sore. And the slope gets even steeper from here.

There are some roads that diverge from the regular route. Be careful here by holding onto the handrails… I’m really grateful that they built stairs to a place like this so I could see it.

Hida Great Limestone Cave was discovered by Toyoshi Ohashi in 1965 and opened to the public as a tourist cave in 1968. The sightseeing area is 800m long, but it is said that there is also an undeveloped part of about 1km. Will this space also slowly change over thousands of years?

In front of the exit, there was also Kotakaura Shrine, where the stones of the limestone cave are used as a symbol of descendant prosperity. As I headed outside from Exit 3, the air became lukewarm again. Since we have climbed up the mountain so far, we will now descend to the starting point.

I don’t understand the concept, but there were also statues of frogs and the Seven Lucky Gods. Along the way, we encountered this summery spot. Cucumbers and tomatoes are 100 yen. I’ll buy this. After some hesitation, I decided on cucumber. Yes, it’s delicious♪

Since I didn’t have much time, I decided to eat cucumbers while walking. I returned to the starting point! You can see that various efforts have been made to route traffic in the narrow mountains and slopes. If you look at the journey to the limestone cave again, you’ll see that it’s a mountain climb.

How much difference in height is there in the total length of 800m? . I arrived at 4:03pm and returned at 4:40pm. If you have the time, I think it would be better to take two buses worth of time for sightseeing. There are other interesting spots besides limestone caves.

This is the “Japan’s No. 1 Sukuna Nabe” and people have actually cooked with this pot. Sukuna is an incarnation that is said to have appeared in this region about 1,600 years ago, called “Ryōmen Sukuna.”

On November 3rd every year, the “Hida Nyukawa Shukuna Festival” is held to remember the Ryōmen Shukuna who worked for the people. There are other places I’m interested in, but I don’t have time. I decided not to walk around too much and just wait for the van.

Get in the van and go to the bus stop. It seems that more people come by car than by public transportation in this area. However, on the way back, it was almost full, with about 8 people on board. I came from Hirayu Onsen and am now going to Takayama.

However, I think the other guests are coming from Takayama and going to Takayama again. It’s a perfect place to come from Takayama and sightsee for a half-day in the morning or afternoon.

The bus leaving at 16:59 will take you to Takayama, and the next one at 17:59 will be the last one on this route. The bus was full and some people were sitting in booster seats. After running for about 30 minutes, we arrived at Takayama!

That statue is also famous in Takayama. Let’s go see it again tomorrow. Get off at Kokubunji, one stop before Takayama Station. It’s been a while. It was my first time to go from the Matsumoto side to Takayama, but I was able to enjoy the whole day.

Well, there was a shop I was interested in near here, so I decided to stop by before going to my hotel. The store I came to was called “Chitose”… Ah···. Oh my God… this is the second tragedy today… Hmm, I had bad luck at the store today…

Well, I can’t help it. Well then, that’s all for now! Next time we’ll be sightseeing in Takayama, so please take a look.

🎞️ Click here for the previous video（Kamikochi trip）→ https://youtu.be/SwEe8YXsbtk

This time, we will be taking you on a trip to Okuhida in Gifu Prefecture.
Okuhida is an area located between Matsumoto City in Nagano Prefecture and Takayama City in Gifu Prefecture. In Oku-Hida, we enjoyed Hida’s Wagyu beef and hot springs, toured a bear farm, and one of the largest limestone caves in Japan.
This video is a continuation of the Kamikochi trip that I uploaded previously, so please watch it as a set if you like.

Also, in the next video, we will show you the details of our trip to Takayama. Please subscribe to the channel and wait.

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🎞️ Recommended videos
・Hokkaido Trip → https://youtu.be/II-Vfva3OgQ
・Hokkaido / Sapporo Food Tour → https://youtu.be/QgHBk7s0Oow
・Aomori Food Tour → https://youtu.be/iw-TQD3vFJM
・Kanazawa Food Tour → https://youtu.be/Pr2x2o_pi_A
・Tokyo / Asakusa Food Tour（vol.2）→ https://youtu.be/OEDnH_yrhXE
・Nagano / Kamikochi Tour → https://youtu.be/SwEe8YXsbtk
・Nagoya Food Tour（vol.2）→ https://youtu.be/4gyLKC3rWIg
・Kyoto Food Tour（vol.3）→ https://youtu.be/uIwv7daNbuo
・Osaka Food Tour（vol.2）→ https://youtu.be/y-Jm7ZxAcOU
・Okayama Food Tour → https://youtu.be/2mAw-5yPb6Q
・Hiroshima Food Tour → https://youtu.be/d-TtW-pZuPo
・Fukuoka Food Tour → https://youtu.be/42I9Jdyg3iU

💡Channel Introduction
I am Japanese and travel all over Japan every day on vacation and business trips.
In this channel, I will introduce the attractions of Japan through tourist spots, transportation, hotels, and meals that I experienced during my travels.
Also, this channel aims not only to introduce Japanese culture and provide knowledge, but also to have you relax and enjoy my travels and eating while walking, like a travel program.Be sure to watch the video and experience a simulated experience of an extraordinary and fun trip to Japan!
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🔶TIMELINE
0:00　Digest
0:49　Arrive at Hirayu Onsen by bus from Kamikochi：https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/alps
2:14　Okuhida Bear Farm：https://kumabokujyo.com
3:59　Commemorative photo with a bear cub（limited time only）
5:28　Feeding the bear
13:37　Hot spring facility “Hirayunomori”：https://www.hirayunomori.co.jp
14:17　Hida beef yakiniku lunch at the on-site restaurant
17:14　Enjoy the private hot springs in Hirayunomori
20:56　Tsuruya Shoten’s famous “Hantai Egg”：http://hida-turuya.com/en/
23:10　“Hida Great Limestone Cave” located at the highest spot in Japan：https://www.syonyudo.com/en/
33:36　Arrive at Takayama：https://www.hida.jp/english/
34:32　Next preview

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