安曇野旅行Vlog｜穂高神社・大王わさび農場→明科駅近くに1泊｜翌日はなぜか軽井沢でランチ
It was too hot in the summer to go out. But it cooled down a little in September, so we decided to take a trip to Nagano for the first time in a while. We usually travel by bus or Shinkansen, but this time we’re taking the Limited Express Azusa. Most Azusa trains from Shinjuku terminate at Matsumoto, but there’s one 8:00 a.m. service to Hakuba, and that one goes directly to Hotaka Station. Whenever I ride the Azusa I always make sure to look at the “Old Tachibagawa Bridge.” It’s lovely today, too. We’re arriving at Okaya Station soon. I caught a glimpse of Lake Suwa. We’ve arrived at Hotaka Station. It’s about three hours from Shinjuku and roughly 7,000 yen per person. They’ve installed Suica ticket gates! They didn’t have them before, so I’m a bit moved. Unfortunately the upper part of the Hotaka Range is covered by clouds. This time our only goal is to stay overnight in Azumino, so we have absolutely no plan. Wow, even the manhole covers in Azumino are beautiful. It’s close by, so let’s go visit Hotaka Shrine first. It’s mid-September and the cicadas are still screaming like crazy. Last time we came on JR’s sightseeing train “Resort View Furusato,” and we stopped off here for about 15 minutes. “Resort View Furusato” is super fun—highly recommended. Whenever we visit a shrine, Asa always draws an omikuji fortune. Looks like it was “small blessing.” When we first came, this torii gate still had the fresh color of new wood, but after three years it’s changed quite a bit. It’s around 30°C, so the air feels like the summers of old. Are these Nagano sakes? All of the labels have such nice designs. This is my favorite spot in Hotaka Shrine. It’s the former shrine that was brought down when they renovated the old Mine-ogu remote worship hall at the summit of Mt. Okuhotaka. They say that by worshipping here, it counts as worshipping the Mine-ogu itself. The pond behind it has a wonderful atmosphere, too. Hotaka Shrine feels like it has a distinctive vibe unlike other shrines. Back to the station, then we’ll take a taxi to our next destination. The taxi to Daio Wasabi Farm cost a little over 2,000 yen. As we were about to go in, we saw fresh apple juice on sale and bought some. It’s insanely good! Only 250 yen—what a deal. It’s a weekday, but it’s more crowded than I expected. Even the Coca-Cola vending machine is wasabi-colored. This is our third time here. We saw most things last time, so today we’ll have lunch and then just zone out for a while. Before lunch, let’s check out the famous waterwheels. Those boats look kind of fun. Right next to the waterwheels, the rivers Manmizugawa and Tadegawa meet here, and on some days the water color of each river is different—it’s fascinating. The nearer one is Tadegawa, the one farther back is Manmizugawa. The colors are subtly different, but it’s hard to tell on video. It’s not just the waterwheels—the water is so clear it amazes me every time. These waterwheel huts were originally built as a movie set, so they don’t actually function. But the gentle turning and the sound of the falling water really ease the lingering summer heat. The water was so clear I forgot to film a wide shot of all the waterwheel huts along the stream. When we come here, we always want to eat wasabi-over-rice for lunch, so even though it was fairly busy, we got in line. There are other restaurants at Daio Wasabi Farm, but only “Daio-an” always has a huge line. Today they have 444 pieces of fresh wasabi. When they run out, they switch to tube wasabi. It’s not that late, so there should still be fresh wasabi left. We waited just under 30 minutes and finally got inside. We both ordered wasabi rice, so while we wait we’re reviewing how to eat it. Here it is. It’s simple, but it’s incredibly delicious. They did have fresh wasabi, thankfully. I should’ve taken a photo before mixing it all together, but it was just so good. How can rice with wasabi and condiments, just with soy sauce on top, taste that amazing? We don’t have any particular plans, so we’ll stroll around the farm. Daio Shrine enshrines the warrior “Gishiki Hachimen Daio,” who ruled the Azumino area in the Heian period. Under the black sunshades stretches a field of wasabi. No wonder the wasabi is so tasty—the water is unbelievably clear. This is what the wasabi fields look like under the shades. A waterside pond where rainbow trout swim. It’s hot, so let’s head back and get some soft-serve. We’ll have the Daio premium soft-serve. Last time we had the “Daio Wasabi” topped with fresh wasabi, but in the end plain milk is the tastiest. Of course, for first-timers I recommend the “Daio Wasabi.” Since we stayed home all summer and lost some stamina, we’ll head to our lodging now. We’re taking a taxi to Akasuna Station on the JR Shinonoi Line. It looked newer than I expected—apparently it was rebuilt three years ago. The old station sign is displayed in the waiting room. A bit from here, the former Shinonoi Line track bed from the JNR era has been turned into a walking trail, and you can enjoy a 6 km trek. This time the lingering heat and our stamina make it tough, so we’ll pass, but we’d like to walk it someday. Before heading to our lodging, we bought dinner at a supermarket near the station. They said it’s about a five-minute walk from the station to the place. Tonight’s place is “Yamamichi,” booked on Airbnb. The sliding door rail looks so cool. A mysterious space next to the entrance. We chose this place because the view from the big living-room window is wonderful. The dining area is stylish, too. There’s also a spacious deck. Here’s the full view from the deck; right in front is a certified kodomo-en (daycare/kindergarten). It’s hard to see now, but beyond the low hill in back you can see the mountains of the Northern Alps. Taking a break with the cola we bought. Honestly, I could watch this view forever, but since we’re here let’s visit a nearby park. As soon as we stepped outside, a friendly kitty came over. After plenty of petting, it wandered off. Here’s the lodging seen from the other side down below. There was a C56-class steam locomotive. Many locomotives of the same class are preserved in Nagano, and apparently there are some in nearby Hakuba and Omachi as well. As usual, the river is stunningly clear. It’s also used as a canoe competition course. We walked to the Sai River flowing right nearby. This whole area seems to be a fairly large park. We paid our respects at Ryujingu Shrine, which enshrines the dragon god Kuraokami no Mikoto. It stands quietly, but has a long history. What a beautiful place. It’s getting dark, so we’ll head back to our place. Spacing out while gazing at the view from the window. The setting sun makes the clouds glow with rays—so pretty. Now that it’s dark, we’ll have dinner. We’re laying out whatever we casually picked up at the supermarket. The Queen Rouge grapes—around 2,000 yen—were incredibly delicious. After dinner we took a walk to the convenience store to buy drinks. The road to the convenience store was dark, but not as bad as I expected. Since we’re here, I tried shooting a time-lapse of the window view with my iPhone. It came out more beautifully than I expected. Even the distant peaks that were hidden yesterday are peeking out today. As always, I still have no idea which mountain is which, but it’s beautiful, so that’s good enough. It looks like the kodomo-en has opened for the day and it’s getting lively. This place is so nice I don’t want to go home. Reluctantly, it’s time to check out. It really was a wonderful place. It’s still morning and we have no plans, so we’ll visit yesterday’s park again. Maybe because of the sun’s angle, the mountains are clearer than before. We ate the leftover bread from yesterday on a shaded bench. Some people here for a canoe experience have arrived and are getting a briefing. Back to the Sai River we visited yesterday evening. The water is unbelievably blue and beautiful. We’ll head toward Ayame Park, which we didn’t visit yesterday. There’s an athletic field too—it’s quite large. In season, irises bloom here as well. Fishing, maybe? This park is spotless and a joy to stroll around. I wish we had one like this in our neighborhood. This is “Ayame Park.” I hear it’s filled with irises in June. Thinking about our next plan on a bench. For now, we decided to go to Akashina Station. We found a mysterious gate. You can feel how lively it used to be. I love these old fire watchtowers. There was a half-bell hanging there too. We reached Akashina Station. After thinking it over, we decided to head to Karuizawa via Shinonoi. It’s hotter than expected today, and it’s cooler on the train and in Karuizawa—sounds good. The bricks at the bottom of the opposite platform are probably from when the station first opened. It seems it takes two and a half hours to Karuizawa, so I wouldn’t recommend it, but we enjoy being gently rocked on trains, so the ride itself is fun for us. On the Shinonoi Line it’s mostly tunnels or scenery like rice paddies and fields like this. Speaking of the Shinonoi Line, you can’t miss Obasute Station, one of Japan’s three great train views. We last visited here in November last year on the Resort View Furusato. You get a beautiful view over the Zenkoji Plain. We arrived at Shinonoi Station. We’ll transfer here to the Shinano Railway. It’s funny—this was supposed to be an Azumino trip and yet we’re heading to Karuizawa. The track running alongside is the Shinonoi Line we were just on. This is where it branches off. The Shinano Railway’s light-blue Chikuma River Bridge is one of the highlights. From the yellow rice ears to the green mountains to the blue sky—a lovely gradient. Between Shinonoi and Karuizawa on the Shinano Railway, you get scenery like this all the way, so just riding is a delight. We entered at Akashina using Suica, but the Shinano Railway doesn’t accept it, so we settled fares for both Shinano Railway and JR. And so, what was supposed to be an Azumino trip ended with us arriving in Karuizawa. We’re really hungry, so we’ll have a late lunch around Old Karuizawa. Before that, let’s grab a chestnut-paste soft-serve from Chikufudo. It’s clearly cooler and more comfortable than Azumino. Spending a ridiculous amount of time to get here was worth it. We saw open seats from outside, so we slipped into Sawamura. We’ve been many times, but it’s actually our first time using the restaurant. I was starving, so I got a hamburger. A hearty pick for a big eater. Asa got the breaded cutlet of Japanese chicken breast. It comes with bread and salad. To be honest, the cutlet was better than the burger. We ate slowly and it got later than expected, so we’ll stroll back to the station. Wherever we go, walking in this forest always feels the best. And as always, we took a short break at Kumoba Pond. It might be our first time coming here in the evening. Kumoba Pond is beautiful in any season and any weather. The elementary kids are heading home, so we’ll go back to the station too. It’s getting pretty dark. We’ve already reserved the Shinkansen to Tokyo (Ueno this time), so we’ll just kill a little time. We barely went out all summer and our stamina is low, so this was a relaxed trip, kind of like rehab. We hardly did anything, so we’re not very tired. Next time we’ll try something that feels more like a “proper trip.” Thanks for watching until the end.
残暑の残る9月中旬。
夏の間引きこもってどこにも行かなかったので、旅行のリハビリに安曇野に1泊旅行に行って来ました。
初日は安曇野をゆるく観光した後、明科駅近くのAirbnbに1泊。
2日目はなぜか軽井沢に移動することに。
【Subscribe】
チャンネル登録・高評価いただけると励みになります🙏
https://onl.la/sq7eZTv
・････━━━━━━━━━━━････・
【Time Stamp】
00:00 Intro
02:29 穂高駅
03:31 穂高神社
06:44 大王わさび農場・昼食
14:21 明科駅・今日の宿
18:01 散歩・夕食
23:00 DAY2 龍門渕公園近辺
28:14 明科駅→軽井沢駅
31:18 軽井沢・昼食
33:32 森の散策・雲場池
36:22 Outro
・････━━━━━━━━━━━････・
【Info & Links】
– JR乗車券（えきねっと）
https://www.eki-net.com/personal/top/index/
– 穂高神社
https://www.hotakajinja.com/
– 大王わさび農場
https://www.daiowasabi.co.jp/
– ベーカリー＆レストラン 沢村 旧軽井沢
https://b-sawamura.com/shop/28/
– 山道
https://www.airbnb.jp/rooms/974810642441928272
・････━━━━━━━━━━━････・
【Gear】
SONY VLOGCAM ZV-E10 II（https://amzn.to/40wwxDW）
iPhone 16 Pro
Editing : Final Cut Pro / Music : Artlist.io（https://x.gd/ij2Dx）
・････━━━━━━━━━━━････・
#安曇野 #穂高神社 #大王わさび農場 #軽井沢
#Azumino #Karuizawa #NaganoTravel #JapanVlog
#長野旅行 ##信州Vlog
#週末トリップ #神社巡り #自然界隈 #自然