D3 Yamadera

Route: Zao onsen- Yamadera - Kaminoyama onsen
Bicycle: 86 km
Train: 350 km
Total ascent: 500 m
Average speed: 15 km/h (for the part wahoo recorded)
Riding time: unknown (Wahoo only recorded the ride up to Yamadera)
Weather: sunny, a bit windy, 22C

The day started in two different onsen tubs of my hotel. Between 21:00 and 10:00 the onsen are free to be used (privately) by the guests. When I woke up at 6:00 and went down to get a key there was none but around 7:00 I got a key to this tub:

Where I had a relaxing bath. When I came back to hang the key back at the board also an other key was available if one of the tubs with a view that I hadn’t been to yet. So I took the opportunity and had a second bath.

While taking the bath one actually doesn’t really see the landscape. Only if you sit on the wall between the two tubs. But then there was the famous “unkai” = “sea of clouds”. 

Sufficiently clean and relaxed I went back to my room and had my conbini breakfast (which I prefer over a Japanese breakfast) , packed my too big bag (definitely did bring unnecessary items: 2 jackets!) and then started the ride of the last day of this 3 day weekend.

When I planned this weekend back in August I only knew that Zao onsen itself is famous and that the crater above is a nice place. So I hadn’t a specific plan for the third day. And then decided to give Yamadera a second visit. I had been there already on my Tour de Japan back in 2017. Curiously nearly exactly 7 years ago on 11/Oct. Back then I went by train from Yamagata as I had gotten incredibly wet the day before and didn’t want to take an other chance. Turned out weather was totally fine. And I missed a very nice cycling path along a river. 

Today being a National holiday and perfect weather the temple was more busy than back then, but still reasonable.

But strangely the part of the temple I like most is the post box. Last time I even saw the postman coming up all these stairs to deliver/ receive post. 

Back down the many stairs I jumped back on my bike and down it was along the nice bicycle path until I took the turn to Yamagata, which week was on streets that weren’t that nice. I took a rest in the castle park had a snack there…

… and decided that by now it was too late to get to an onsen I had seen in the hills around Kaminoyama and instead cycled to the station directly where I am now in the waiting room with the bike packed up, a bento bought and waiting for my train. It wasn’t possible to change the reservation to an earlier train as it is fully booked. But sitting here isn’t so bad either. 

D2 Okama crater

Route: Zao onsen to Okama crater and back
Bicycle: 49 km
Walking: 2,6 km
Total ascent: 1480 m
Average speed: 12,2 km/h
Riding time: 4:02 h
Weather: sunny and early autumn temperatures. Between 20 and 10 C depending on height 

Today up to Mount Zao and its very photogenic crater. 

To get there even from Zao onsen which is already halfway up, it still takes a lot of more ascending. But no place crazy gradients. Thus slowly but steadily, I made it up there. From Zao onsen one first needs to go up to about 1000 m but then the road drops again down to about 700 m from where it is an up again to about 1600 m. And the same, obviously on the way back.

On the way up, I took a brief stop at the athletes Village, which seems to be a sport training center for various kinds of sports to get additional fluids from their vending machine.

From around 1300 m the koyo started.however, it isn’t an impressive arrangement of colorful leaves, probably because of the lack of maple trees and the food that you get the less trees there are anyway.

Probably the best koyo was just below the entrance to the lift to get up to the crater.

The lift was a typical flimsy Japanese lift. This one was lacking practically all kinds of safety measures. It was essentially only a place to sit without any backrest and one pillar to which to hold on. Luckily, it did not get very high above ground. And it wasn’t windy. I’m always surprised by these lifts in a country that is so risk adverse like Japan. A country that regulates every single river and creek so it doesn’t cause any destruction. A country that builds walls against the ocean blocking most of the view to protect itself from tsunamis. A country that closes hiking path for very extended times due to minor volcanic activity. But at the same time a country , where if you have a lift that was built probably before more stringent regulations came into place, you are totally welcome to keep it operating even when it is clearly is a rather dangerous affair. 

Before getting on the lift, I don’t all my clothes as it was already relatively fresh at the base of the lift and at 1700 m. It was a little bit colder and a bit more windy. But my cloths were up to the challenge. 

The crater itself can be accessed also by car, but not by bicycle, and the lift I took. With this being a long weekend and wonderful weather, they were quite a number of tourists up there. and thanks to them. There was also a small visitor center that did sell some easy food. I got a big pork bun which I ate on my way down.

After that, it was down first with the lift then 13 km or so by bike luckily it hadn’t been too steep on the uphill so on the downhill, there was no part that was uncomfortably steep. Then up again and over a pass and down again to Zao Onsen, where I bought in the conbini my dinner for tonight and returned up the hill to my hotel with the many different rotenburos. For today, I had reserved with a spectacular view, only that I was there after sunset. But still, if you switched off the light then you could look out into the darkness over the valley, see the mountain range opposite, the lights in the valley and along the hills, under the dark sky with a few stars.

 

D1 Zao ONSEN

Route: Kaminoyama - Zao onsen
Bicycle: 32 km
Train: 350 km
Total ascent: 983 m
Average speed: 8,2 km/h
Riding time: 3 h
Weather: very sunny but it is autumn now, 20C

Another long weekend, and for this one I had reserved back in August a hotel in Zao onsen. And ONSEN is really the right word for this trip. It was definitely more time in onsen today than on the bicycle.

This here is one of the free rental onsen in the hotel I am staying.

But the highlight of the day was the big Rotenburo onsen of Zao. In principle, a simple place, but wonderful. It is an onsen located right by the side of a small hot creek. They are channeling the water through a big stone pool, but one can actually even sit in the stream itself. Surrounded by trees in a relatively narrow valley. It is a famous place and was well visited when I was there today. But not too full. No pictures were allowed obviously, so I only took picture of the small creek a few meters downwards from the onsen. 

But I started this ride back down in Kaminoyama onsen, a railway station on the small Yamagata Shinkansen. I had come through this small city 7 years ago, when I cycled from the very north of Japan to the south on my Brompton. The not so old castle was still standing.

 

But for me, it was up into the mountains to the famous village of Zao onsen. I read about this place quite frequently on the Japan guide forum pages when people ask how to come here. it is a famous winter ski resort and specially famous for what they call snow monsters: trees, full of snow and frozen. But that doesn’t winter when I will not be here by bicycle. As for the previous weekend, I had actually reserved two different places, the other one in Yamanashi prefecture, but my main goal was to come here and when I checked the weather a few days ago, it seemed that it will be very good weather here.

Being a ski resort in winter, and obviously means that the village is halfway up on a mountain.On my way up, still at a pretty low elevation, I saw this khaki fruit stand. It did sell an entire basket for ¥200, but it also have some car kaki for free to taste right there, and a small knife to cut it down.

From there, it went up and up, but the elevation was generally OK even with my relatively heavy bag. I couldn’t really decide what weather it would be so I have a little bit of everything a warm jacket and cycling T-shirts.

At the entrance to the village is this very idyllic lake. It just doesn’t sound very idyllic because the road is relatively close by so one can hear quite a lot of car noise.

 

For koyo it is still too early, at least at a height of about 900 m. Let’s see tomorrow whenever I ride further up to this mountain if the autumn leaves have started to turn red.

D3 NAAF to a great artistic viewpoint

Route: Omachi - Art in the eastern mountains- Matsumoto
Bicycle: 73 km
Train: 220 km
Total ascent: 1224 m

Average speed: 14,2 km/h

Riding time: 5:06 h

Weather: cloudy, sunny, some drops if rain, 20 C

For the last day in the area to see the art festival I went to the most “inconvenient“ locations, spread out through the mountains opposite the Japanese Alps. 

Due to my early start - weather forecast had rain from about noon, maybe later - and I wanted to be safely back in the valley before the rain came in, I missed the first work of art, by 45 min. They only open at 9:30. 

At the second I arrived minutes after it opened, after riding up quite a lot and then down again. I have no idea what this work of art was supposed to tell me though. Surprisingly though it wasn’t in an abandoned building but in a very new production hall.

From here I had multiple options, the less climbing (and less art) would have been to ride downhill all the way to Omachi, but what I had planned was to visit the other 3 art projects in the area, including one on the top of mountain at 1130 m before dipping down again into a valley at 710 m and the next work of art, just to need to return back-up again over a mountain pass at 920 m. So yeah, a lot of up and down. But I went for it anyway, and did not regret it. The art work, actually it is a building that is permanently there was really great, although not thought provoking like the trees yesterday. 

I had seen a picture of the building before and thought that one must have a nice view from there (and that's true... although not so much today, as the Japanese alps for these 3 days did expertly hide themselves behind some low hanging clouds. Yes... you see mountains in front, but those are the low lying mountains. The real ones are behind, invisible. 

But when I entered the building I understood this is not about what one sees from the building, this is about the interior of the building. 

It is like a traditional Japanese house, even with a little bit of tatami on the second floor, with the wooden partitions where to put sliding doors, but a house that was filled by a white round mass. It's not fluffy, but somehow welcoming and round. It even has a second floor with a view point to below. 

It was probably a very good choice to come here on a working day Monday. I wasn't alone, but we were only about 5 - 6 visitors, so one could get nice shots of the building without people. If that's the number of visitors on this mountain top on a weekday... I can imagine that on a weekend it must be rather full. Maybe they are controlling at the entrance that there is only a limit number of visitors (there is a finite number of white rubber slippers they give to visitors). But still will be more than the people visiting today. 

On that same mountain top was a restaurant as well, where I had a plate of curry rice... and then down it was to the village behind which got their community center envolved in something. Well... after the architectural experience on the mountain top, this wasn't so moving. 

There was a great view from here though as well, over the mountains towards Nagano, and all those trees... this is what I meant with the post yesterday, that Japan has too many trees. Trees everywhere. Hardly any human activity can be seen. (I realize that these are not primary forests... but still) 

To get back to Omachi and ultimately to Matsumoto, I needed to make it over one last pass, which fittingly also was the last piece of art I visited... in a now abandoned tunnel. Yet an other piece of art that didn't tell me absolutely anything. 

So finally I managed to visit all the art works in the most inconvenient locations, except the one where I was too early today in the morning. The ones I did not visit are the ones conveniently located in Omachi itself, because I decided to prioritize riding my bike over seeing yet more art. 

And back to Matsumoto it was. Along the river in some places one could ride at a very nice speed, but closer to Matsumoto it got very windy and with a little bit of up and down (nothing enormous), progress was a little bit slower. But still I made it to a super sento very conveniently located at less than 2 km from Matsumoto station by around 15:45, with enough time to enjoy a good soak and even my first post-summer akasuri (= Korean body scrub). 

D2 NAAF Around Omachi

Route: around Omachi and up to Kuzuonsen

Bicycle: 60 km
Total ascent: 1012 m
Average speed: 
Riding time: 4:19 h
Weather: clouds and sun, no rain, 22C

Also today I saw one piece of art that was great. Unfortunately only one. Or one and an half. But that one was actually the best I have seen so far. Better even than the ones in Echigo Tsumari. 

Initially I thought that the second last art work was good, and it’s nice and all, but like yesterday the best was the last one.

A very cruel piece of art. In the forest some trees have been cut, prepared into wooden planks, firewood and even the branches are all there. Only a central column remains and the root still in the earth. While the neighboring tree hasn’t been mutilated and is still growing as if nothing had happened to his neighbor. Makes you wonder if one should be “lignio abstinent”. But at the same time I am thinking of buying a piece of land in Tokyo to build a house which will be made of wood… conflicted…

It’s also true that there are too many trees in Japan. Specially Japanese cedars (probably the tree in the picture) which causes hay fewer to what seems to be half of the population in Japan. Actually the government announced a plan to reduce these trees, but it is hard to see how this can be implemented due to the lack of manpower specially in rural areas and just the vastness of the forests and mountains in Japan.

The day started relatively late, because the art works don’t open until 9:30 and I used the full opening time until 16:30. The first art work was close to my accommodation around lake Nakatsuna. 

I’d say decorative, but mainly because the lake is nice by itself. The next two in an abandoned school did tell me even less. 

The third on my way to a dam was a video installation about hunters and the forth was a decorated but otherwise ugly wall of the Omachi Power museum… 

… a museum likely dedicated to the many dams that exist in the area. The most famous of them: Kurobe Dam, which is on a complicated but very popular route of many different transports (Trolleybus, cable car, bus, train…) through the Northern Alps. 

From there it was up and up to a first dam …

And a second dam which had yet another piece of art.

For me it was the place to eat my onigiri. Which felt a bit little but was all I had. As it was already 12:00 I decided against continuing up to the final dam but instead was tempted by an onsen in the area which had been highly recommended by the owner of the pension where I am staying. 

It was a nice onsen, but I confirmed that doing an onsen during a ride isn’t so nice as doing it at the end knowing thrrr are only a few kilometers left. 

Once down from the mountain I found a soba restaurant (in the middle of soba fields) , where I had lunch. Warm soba this time. 

Before heading to the last cluster of art works on Omachi onsenkyo a hotel village , now apparently popular by bus tours that do the Kurobe dam tour. 

In this old sake factory now a sake museum where small moving and sounding objects. 

Right next to what seemed to be a waste thermal plant was this art work, which didn’t tell me anything. Jus looked like wooden planks for walking, similar to the ones in the forest with the long poem above. It looks like a nice place to have lunch, but that’s about it.

Anyway even here I did get one more stamp for my passbook.

And off I went to the last but one piece of art, which gains an honorable mention.

But the best was the last, to which I arrived in extremis, barely minutes before they were closing. 

D1 NAAF Matsumoto - Omachi plus art

Route: Matsumoto - Omachi and art installations between 

Bicycle: 65 km

Train: 220 km

Total ascent: 659 m
Average speed: 15,9 km/h
Riding time: 4:04 h
Weather: cloudy, later on light drizzle, 20 C

I read recently in the Japan Times about an “inconvenient“ art festival in the Northern Alps, which picked my interest. 

The Northern Alps Art Festival (NAAF), curiously organized by the same person as the Echigo Tsumari triennial where I was a few weeks ago. Initially I had thought to come here next weekend which will be a long one, but it turned out that 2 weeks before there were no train tickets anymore available, and with me being busy most of the other weekends in October plus reasonable weather I decided to make also this weekend a long one. Although there is no koyo yet and it is not a long weekend, it was difficult (but possible) to buy train tickets. 

From Matsumoto I first needed to get out of the city and then went as a first stop to a point to buy the “passport” for the art festival. Had a quick lunch in a restaurant on the same parking lot and then went to the first art work, which left me a bit underwhelmed.

The second piece was behind a temple in a forest.  This seems to be a theme with this festival. A lot of the places I saw today are somehow within temple or shrine grounds. 

Also this one frankly did not impress me. But it was in a curious location on a kind of golf in the woods ground. 

At the third place were some video installations. One of them being story telling from what seemed to be old , Japanese tales. 

I didn’t stop in Omachi, where there is more art in the town but continued to lake Kizaki, that had also more art.

But the highlight of the day was this spiral of lenses. They were specially magical as by this time it had started to rain  slightly. 

Although this art festival is called “Northern Alps” those guys did hide today behind some big clouds, so instead of Alps, there were only some smaller mountains around.