11/11/2013

Visiting Tsumago, an age-old town in Japan.


 Before the winter comes, I visited Tsumago, a town located in the Chubu region in Japan. Since it's on a mountain and hard to get in while snow covers there, I decided to head to see it :)


 Prior to embarking on a trip there, I ate this :) What do you think it is?! Actually this brownish thing is kind of sticky rice with a sauce based on soy and sugar, which means it's not sweets like cakes yet sweety. Many Japanese foods are cooked with sugar and I like it a lot ;) Oh, the name of this food is "gohei-mochi". You can't find it in Tokyo or other regions but there, it's a local food :D


 Okay, we're here :)


 Unlike last time I was there (I think it was 2009 or so), I found many tourists including people from other countries. Plus, I saw  a  group of coverage for TV, they seem from Europe. It stunned to me such a rural town is now featured.


 Beauty was everywhere, indeed. It's not as-is, they keep maintaining houses and stuff. Most Japanese architectures are made of woods so we can't keep it like forever. That's why we repair it every now and then. Personally, I think it's a good way to do it, elders give their skills to the children like taking over.


 The weather was good enough, but a bit cold due to its high elevation. I regretted coming here with T-shirt like everyday, haha.


 Woods. There is a whole bunch of woods surround the town. So naturally, they make many kinds of things, from box to paper by wood ;)









 What's that?! It was hung up under an eave of a house. Let's look what it's like...


 You can see them along the eave. I hit one of these when I tried to enter the shop, haha.



Sweet chestnut is widely gathered and eaten there. I bought a pack of them of course :D


 They have a place to eat it with green tea though, I didn't eat there since it was getting dark and colder than arrived at Tsumago.


 The sunset, I enjoyed mountains changing their color from green to bright orange.




 By the time I finished seeing, the sun had already gone and became dark. "Next time," I said to myself, "I would like to visit warm and calm season". I drove back to my home by using google maps app :)

6 comments:

  1. such a beautiful place! I enjoy walking around the city with my friends..but that place is perfect to spend time alone... very refreshing! and what I like about places like that is there are really nice people : )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Megu-san!
      That's right, it's the perfect place to drop by and spend alone :) And people are nice as well, not like in a city, haha.
      Oh I like Goka-yama too! I've been there twice or so, waiting for the sun disappeared, then I enjoyed watching lighting-up :D
      There are so many places around northern Japan ;)

      Delete
  2. 久しぶり!いつも通り綺麗な写真ですね!!!!またね!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. お久しぶりです!
      ふふふ、ありがとうございます^^
      最近はバタバタしていますが、またご飯食べに行きましょうっヾ(=^▽^=)ノ

      Delete
  3. はい是非!どんな料理いいんですか今回?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 以前おっしゃっていた、フレンチのランチを是非食べに行ってみたいです〜っ!^^
      ナイフやフォークの使い方、教えてください!
      初心者なので・・・(^▽^;)

      Delete