The spectacular Atera Valley and emerald green stream!

The spectacular Atera Valley and emerald green stream!

Hello, I’m Ichiro 😊 Today, I’m going to take a walk in the Atera Valley in Okuwa Village, Nagano Prefecture. June 30, 2025. The cooperation fee will be used for the maintenance of toilets and walking trails in Atera Valley. Today, after walking around Magome-juku and Tsumago-juku, I came to Atera Valley. It takes about 15 minutes by car from Tsumago-juku to get here. It’s only a 15-minute drive, but you can see a completely different view from Tsumago-juku✌️ Atera River Bridge. Atera River. Fish are swimming upstream desperately. Many people seem to enjoy walking from here, but I’m heading upstream by car. If you want to take a walk, you can walk along this road. Welcome to Atera Valley. If you walk about 6 km along this road, you can see about 15 scenic spots, but today I will introduce a few of them. As you can see, the road is narrow, so during the summer high season, private cars are restricted. There are spaces here and there for cars to pass each other. Today is a weekday, so there are no oncoming cars, but on weekends, I wouldn’t really want to drive here 😅 I hope we don’t meet any oncoming cars on the way to the Akahiko parking lot.🙏 Driving in reverse.😅 The first scenic spot is a strange rock called Taishi and a forest railway bridge. It is no longer in use, but it is said to be Japan’s oldest forest railway, built in 1901.The strange rock is located under the iron bridge. There is a signboard with an explanation at the scenic spot. Racoon Dog Pool For some reason, the pools in this valley are named after animals. Let’s go down halfway to see Racoon Dog Pool. It’s not a raccoon, it’s a dog swimming!😮 The river water is cold, but it was a record-breaking hot day, so it might be just right. I feel like swimming 😅 Turtle rock. A turtle facing downstream. Can you see it? With that cooperation money, it might be better to cut down some trees.😅 There is a pool called “Dogs Turning Back Pool” right next to the turtle stone. Let’s walk to “Dogs Turning Back Pool.” In the days before the well-maintained roads of today, hunters’ dogs were afraid of the sheer cliffs and refused to go any further, which is how it got its name. The Akahiko parking lot is coming up soon. It was sunny just a moment ago, but suddenly it became cloudy.😱 It’s a weekday, but the parking lot is almost full.😅 There is a monument inscribed with a poem by the poet Akahiko Shimagi next to the parking lot. The suspension bridge ahead leads to a walking path, but it has started to rain lightly, so I think I’ll skip the walk today. 😅 The walking path is 1.2 km long. Akahiko Suspension Bridge. You can play in the water right below the parking lot. A dog chases a ball. I’ll name this spot “Dog Playground Pool”! ✌️ Rokudan Waterfall. If you walk along the path from earlier, you can get very close to the waterfall. But if you get too close, you might not be able to see everything 😅 It’s best to view the waterfall from a little distance away. Finally, Bear Pool. This area is often visited by bears, and it is said that it got its name because bears with their cubs were often seen enjoying a bath here. I hope I don’t encounter any bears as I descend.😅 I like the first one I saw, “Racoon Dog Pool,” and this one, “Bear Pool.” I think stuffed raccoon dogs and bears are cute, but I don’t want to encounter the real thing.😅 At Bear Pool, you can see the pool from the top of that rock. It’s pretty high, so it’s a little thrilling. 😅 It’s raining, so it looks slippery. 😱 How is it? This is Atera Valley. The red flowers blooming on the rocks are called Kiso River azaleas. I’m glad I got to see the emerald green stream and red Kiso River azaleas again this year ✌️ A fish is swimming. Did it swim upstream from downstream?🤔 Thank you for watching the video until the end. See you in the next video! 😊

Today, I came to Atera Valley in search of coolness.
The emerald green stream of Atera Valley is so beautiful that it is called “Atera Blue.”

I visited several famous spots in the valley.
It was a record-breaking hot day for June, and both people and dogs were swimming in the river.

00:00 Opening
01:13 Entrance to Atera Valley – Atera River Bridge
03:03 Car window (encounter with oncoming car)
04:53 Forest railway bridge
05:16 Racoon Dog Pool
07:02 Turtle Rock
08:13 Dogs Turning Back Pool
09:28 Car window (Akahiko parking lot is almost full)
10:12 Akahiko Suspension Bridge
11:50 Rokudan Waterfall
12:33 Bear Pool

Shooting date: June 30, 2025

Okuwa Village Official Website: https://www.vill.okuwa.lg.jp/kanko/shizen/aderakeikoku/precautions_atera.html

*Google Translate was used for the translation. The translation may not be accurate.
*The information in the video may not be 100% accurate.

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