Obon D3 this time the “real” waterfall

Route: Karuizawa - Shiraito - Onioshidashi - Karuizawa
Bicycle: 52 km
Hiking: 5km
Total ascent: 1116 m
Average speed:12.4 km/h
Riding time:4:13 h
Weather: Sunny , some clouds, no rain (!) and not too hot

After the attempt yesterday that finished in a very different waterfall caused by a heavy downpour accompanied by lightning, today, the revenge ride. So again up to the way, crossing where the toll road to the official Shiraito waterfall starts. When I arrived on top, I checked the bus schedule and there was going to be a bus in a few minutes, so I decided to take the bus to the waterfall instead of hiking there. Being this a long weekend in the summer, they were a lot of other people aiming for the same goal. This meant that getting to the tollbooth took quite some time. But luckily, once the toll booth was behind it wasn’t too slow. The bus station is actually very close to the waterfall.

This waterfall is a major tourist attraction, even attracting a lot of foreign visitors. Probably aided by the fact that there’s relatively frequent buses from Karuizawa. It is a nice waterfall, but I would say that the homonymous waterfall close to Fuji is nicer.

To get back to my bicycle, I walked through the forest a nice hiking pass of about 3.5 kilometers. While ride around the waterfall, there’s an absolute craziness of tourist, most Japanese and foreigners, shortly after the waterfall I was pretty much alone and a nice Forest. The sun filtered through the three leaves creating a nice atmosphere. I had forgotten my bear bell on the bicycle, So that I played requiems of Fauré. A few days later on YouTube, I saw a film explaining some ideas how to keep bears away, and one of the ideas was to speak loudly. So probably it would have been better to put some podcast on rather than classical music. But it created a nice atmosphere in the forest.

Back at the road, Junction I had lunch in the same place as yesterday, before continuing to the second highlight of the day: Onioshidashi, literally: monster pushing out. Getting there by car would’ve meant yet another toll road and much less descending in ascending, but again this toll road was closed to bicycles. But I managed to ride about half of the distance through a very tranquil vacation house area with a wide road and absolutely no cars.

The Onioshidashi Park is a volcanic park on the slopes of Mount Asama. This mountain once upon a time was a Volcano as impressive as Mount Fuji. Until it suffered a catastrophic volcanic eruption and lost huge parts of itself. It’s still a pretty tall mountain, but the lava stones thrown around give testimony to its destructive powers.

Obon D2 Waterfall

Route: up to the entrance to Shiraito waterfall
Bicycle: 40 km
Total ascent: 819 m
Average speed: 11,4 km/h
Riding time: 3:31 h
Weather: nice until it wasn’t, not too hot, 25C

In Japan there are relatively frequently touristic toll roads that either go to some specific place or have especially nice views. Mostly these roads are closed to bicycles. I have no idea why and I’m pretty annoyed by it.Also around Karuizawa there is one of those toll roads, and it is the only way to get to Shiraito waterfall a famous local attraction. So as a cyclist, the only way is to walk from the entrance of the toll road through the forest to the waterfall. That was the idea for today. But I ended up with a very different waterfall.

The day started nice, not too hot. My last stop prior to ascending the mountain from where to walk to the waterfall was at Hoshino. The upmarket leisure area with a wedding church, an onsen and a lot of overpriced coffeeshops, bakeries, and restaurants along a small stream. It is a nice area, but also not very Japanese. As the rest of Karuizawa. I had hoped that I could stock up at a vending machine with a drink before cycling up the mountain, but that area is so upmarket that a mere vending machine is not in existence. Luckily, I found one a little bit further up in an onsen where I went later on on my way back.

Replenished with enough fluids, I started cycling uphill on a road with a little bit too much car traffic for my liking, but luckily most of the road had two lanes uphill. And so I arrived at the entrance to the toll road where a restaurant and a public toilet was located. Also, here are I simply wanted to stock up on more drinks before walking to the waterfall, but before I could start my hike, it started raining. Initially just a few drops, but after a minute, the floodgates of heaven opened. So, instead of walking to the waterfall, I took refuge in the restaurant and had lunch, still hoping that the weather would get better and allow me to get to the waterfall either by bus or walking. But the downpour continued for the next hour. Intermittently I checked on the weather app if the cloud would move away, and it seemed it would, but the time never seemed to arrive. I paid and waited a little bit longer outside already checking what the alternatives were to get down from that mountain.  Luckily there were actually alternatives as there is a bus stop going down to the train station. The buses are not very frequent, maybe once per hour. While I was still waiting and checking the weather app at a point the rain became a little bit lighter so I decided to get down.

This picture wasn’t even taken at the worst moment.

Slowly and safely, I made it down, keeping surprisingly dry under my rain jacket, at least the upper body. Legs and up to the waist soaked in rain and dirt.

I was uncertain if I really wanted to go to the onsen because it would mean to get into the wet clothes again after the relaxing bath. But once I was close to the onsen down in Karuizawa it had stopped raining. It probably still rained on the mountain. So I when for my soak. 

Previously when I was in Karuizawa the only public onsen I knew was the one built by Kuma Kengo in Hoshino area.  So I was curious to find out about a other public onsen actually, not too far away: Sengataki Onsen  

The answer is quite nice was too big outdoor pools one of them with a roof. What was creepy though was that I discovered a hidden camera that was pointing at one of the outside pools. I alerted the lady who was cleaning and checking on the onsen and she got rid of the camera and called the police. I hope they can investigate who put that camera there and that the onsen will not have negative impact. 

To get back to my hotel, I took a slightly different route through yet another vacation house area in the forest. Karuizawa is also strangely full of churches.It at least feels like they’re more churches than temples and shrines.

Obon D1 towards fresh air

Route: Yokokawa - Usui pass - Karuizawa
Bicycle: 28 km 
Train: 140 km
Total ascent: 999 m
Average speed: 8,7 km/h (not helped by all the walking I did)
Riding time: 3:15 h
Weather: Sunny and kind of warm but tolerable in the mountains and nice in Karuizawa (at 940 m elevation) 33-28 C 

While you’re up this year is baking in the heat with heat wave upon heat wave, in Japan, it is surprisingly fresh this year. I did write to the office until quite late in July and then again this week it became fresh enough to be able to cycle to work without melting away. So I thought that I would give it a try to have a long weekend away. Since several weeks, I’m kind of feeling that I didn’t take enough vacation this year and really need some time off. Next Tuesday is a local holiday anyway (mountain day), so how better to celebrate by doing a long weekend in the mountains.

Thus, on Thursday, I set out with the help of ChatGPT to check where around Tokyo it would be the best temperature. Initially I had thought about going to Nozawa onsen, A village have been already several times in Nagano prefecture. But the problem is getting there because unfortunately, there are no local trains from Tokyo that go towards Nagano city. You need to take the Shinkansen, which obviously was sold out weeks ago. After all, it is Obon, a traditional holiday in Japan, where many people take off maybe visit the mountains or traditionally visit the grave of their family. By pure luck I found one room at an agreeable price in Karuizawa. Karuizawa is the classical high class summer vacation spot of Tokyo elite. It was “discovered” by an Anglican missionary in 1886. From there, it quickly grew into the favorite spot for the rich and cultured elite of Tokyo to spend their summers. His own summer house has been well maintained and is now open to visitors.

As a exemplary missionary, he obviously also built a church:

Karuizawa is a very peculiar village. It doesn’t feel Japanese.I don’t really know what isn’t Japanese about it but the summer houses are scattered through the forest and it kind of feels like an ideal summer retreat from a 19th century novel.

Quite centrally in the village is also this famous pond:

To get here, I came by train first to Takasaki and then Yokokawa which is the furthest that the normal train line that once existed between the Tokyo area and Karuizawa is still running. Although this week, it was surprisingly fresh in Tokyo, it actually got hotter now. So I did decide against cycling up from Takasaki and took the train as far as possible, just to the base of the climb.

At the station, I went through my summer cycling routine, soaking my T-shirt, completely in water and holding my head under cold flowing water before starting the ride.

There are various roads over the pass towards Nagano prefecture from highway to small winding road over Usui pass. This road is famous for the train bridge that supposedly is evoking glasses:

As the train line no longer runs, one can now walk on the line and through the train tunnels. I have to admit a cycled until the bridge, also it was officially prohibited. But there were only very few pedestrians so really no issue. At the bridge, however there were many more pedestrians and crucially a few guards who insisted that I walk. 

The train road now ends at an abandon station. From there, I had to carry the bicycle over some stairs down to the road. That road is extremely curvy. Quite similar to this tree:

A few meters behind the pass, I found a vending machine and got some cold drinks and had one onigiri in the shade. Until here I had only written about 12 km and it would have been only another 2 km down to my hotel at the station. But I saw a tourist map on that pass and it called out a shrine that wasn’t too far and perfectly reachable from where I was.

A very nice road through the vacation house forest did lead me with many more curves to the shrine. When I first had lunch, some soba noodles, before visiting the actual shrine. The shrine itself to me seemed pretty normal. But it must be quite well liked, because it had a huge shrine shop. 

This was actually a shrine where you kind of needed to walk through the shop to get to the small devotional shrines to pray for the health of your dog or car. 

D3 - back from Kawaguchiko towards Tokyo

Route: Kawaguchiko - Otsuki
Bicycle: 29 km
Train: 80 km
Total ascent: 206 m
Average speed: 15.2 km/h
Riding time: 1:55
Weather: very sunny and hot, 29C

I had so many plans how to return from Kawaguchi to Tokyo:

• through Doshi michi to Hashimoto
• over Ashigara pass to  ShinMatsuda
• over Nagao pass and Kintaro Hakone line to ShinMatsuda
• ...

But finally none of them were put into action due to the heat. While yesterday the temperature was perfect for climbing up Mt. Fuji today it was definitely too hot to enjoy cycling. I got side tracked early on in my route to Yamanakako by the clearly visible Fuji and the pagoda... so I went first to the pagoda to get an iconic picture.

As an iconic place it gets a lot of tourists. But today at least there was a very clear view of Mt. Fuji. Yet some tourists complained that the place was overrated. Well, I guess if you are by train or by car, it is quite cumbersome to come here, just for one picture, but as a cyclist it is kind of okay. I wouldn't go out of my way to come here... but I was in the area anyway. 

But the better view I had on my roll down towards Otsuki at this rice field reflecting Mt. Fuji: 

Otherwise the ride was eventless. I have done this ride down to Otsuki already a number of times... So far I only managed once to cycle back from Mt. Fuji in a meaningful way (I cycled down to the city of Fuji on the Pacific coast), but else I always took a train or just rolled down to Otsuki. I really want to get over Mikuni pass some day. But today was not the day and I was happy with my decision to just get down to Otsuki and home early. It even allowed me to do some gardening tasks in the afternoon in Tokyo and some other things at home on my day off. 

D2 - Fuji Subaru Line

Route: Up to the 5th station of Mt Fuji
Bicycle: 68 km
Total ascent: 1509 m 
Average speed: 13,6 km/h
Riding time: 5 h 
Weather: Sunny , not too warm, not too cold, around 20C

Living in Japan means going up Mount Fuji. Hiking I tried once 31 years ago and only got from the 5th to either the 6th or the 7th station. But by bicycle today, I managed to get up all the way to the 5th station where the road ends.

I had some trepidations about this long climb, but finally it was easily rideable, just very long and I have to admit a little bit boring.

The gradient is relatively stable, I think the steepest section of 1 km was slightly below 9%. There are pillars every kilometer so you have a good idea where you are and they also tell you the expected average gradient for the next kilometer.

Although there are a lot of cyclist going up, and maybe this weekend even more than normally, because next weekend is the  big hill climb challenge… However, there is no vending machine or water up until to the fourth station at 2020 m of elevation. 

The bottle I bought down still in the village at the convenience store was empty after about 6 km. Actually, it wasn’t empty, but I tried not to empty it until I knew where I could find some water. I found on the map a glamping site and was able to get additional drinks from their vending machine. I also asked a cyclist on the route, if he knew some vending machine up, but it turned out that the machine he remembered didn’t exist anymore. Surprisingly, there was no vending machine at the toll gate, where even as a cyclist you need to pay ¥280 as entrance fee. Which is only a 10th of a car.

After that, the “stations” of Mount Fuji start. When I attempted to hike up Mount Fuji back in 1995 it was a very frustrating experience. I knew we started at the fifth station and the tenth station is on the top so you start hiking, and we hiked at night, and after a while you start seeing some lights in the distance and think “okay, great there comes the sixth station”. And so far so good. Then you continue and relatively swiftly after, you see some more lights so I thought “okay, well that’s going better than I thought that must be the seventh station”. But that is not true. It is simply that the sixth station has a lot of different accommodations. I don’t know if I would have managed to get all the way up if I had known in advance, but it was extremely demotivating to be still at the sixth station even after passing so many huts that I always thought “okay, now this must be the seventh station”. So finally, we spent the night on a bench in front of one of those stations. 

For the cyclist cyber this problem doesn’t exist. There are markers every 100 m how much kilometers are missing to the fifth station and also the 1st to 4th station are generally only one. However, really only at the fourth station there is a place where you can buy food and drinks. I actually don’t know about the food. The place was already closed.

I’m writing a lot about drinks rather than my cycling experience. But I have to admit I’m paranoid of running out of water while cycling. I don’t think I ever actually did run out of water and I always have two bottles which probably together are a little bit over 1 L. When the first bottle gets about half empty, I start with my paranoia where I can find some more water. Normally in Japan, this paranoia isn’t very strong, because there’s vending machines everywhere so there is really no risk to run out of drinks. But when I’m in more remote places or on climbs, but I don’t know yet where the vending machines are my paranoia takes hold of me.

Overall, I would say that the climb was relatively boring. It’s never really challenging, which obviously is nice, but except for the last few kilometers there are also no views. So essentially, it’s a long, long road with a median gradient, riding up through a forest. Plus cars, plus buses. While I was riding up, I wasn’t really enjoying it, between my paranoia for the vending machine and the relatively boring uphill. But maybe now that I know where the vending machine is, I would enjoy the ride a little bit more. The downhill was actually quite okay, while long (30 km), it’s not steep. Thus, once I was back at the foot of the mountain, I already wanted to climb up again.

On one of these stations, I ask some cyclists if they knew where to find a vending machine and their tip with the fourth station was correct. As they were already riding downhill, they even shared some of their water with me. Which was very reassuring.

Enough about water, vending machines, and boring climbs. Now some pictures of the day: 

Before starting the climb proper, I had a good view on the target: 

While climbing generally, you do not actually see Mount Fuji. Which makes sense after all you are on the mountain.

 

The second station was the only one without any amenities at all. At the first and the third there was at least a toilet and at the forth: a toilet, a vending machine and a small bar, which had already closed for the day.

Further up one could see the crater. 

And from the fifth station one had a view over the northern Alps, Tokyo, Hakone, etc., etc. it’s always impressive how high mountains can look so low if you are on a much higher mountain.

Back down from the mountain I passed through the Mount Fuji exhibition area. I wasn’t interested enough to actually dedicate some time to it, but maybe for a rainy day. It’s something to keep in mind. Although I wouldn’t really know why I would be here on a rainy day.

 

Before finishing the day, I wanted to have a last look on Mount Fuji and gave a quick spin around a small part of lake Kawaguchi. Before heading back to my hotel and soaking in the hot onsen. 

D1 - Fuji 4 lakes

Route: Kawaguchiko - Saiko - Motosuko - Shojiko 
Bicycle: 67 km
Train: 100 km
Total ascent: 392 m
Average speed: 18,9 km/h
Riding time: 3:32 h
Weather: very sunny, windy, 25C

My company gives an additional day of vacation during the month of your birthday. I can see in the weather forecast that from mid next week the rainy season seems to start, and it is going to get humid and then probably hot.well, this weekend it is very sunny no rain forecast at all and not yet too hot. So I took my birthday leave day on Monday 1st of June. I also still had some vouchers from furusato nozei for hotels in Kawaguchiko. Surprisingly, it was no problem to find a relatively cheap room at short notice in a hotel with a rotenburo right in Kawaguchiko.

I had originally planned to take the train only to Hashimoto and then to cycle on Doshi Street over the mountains to Yamanakako and then over here to Kawaguchiko. But when I arrived at the station close to my house to take the train and disassemble the bike, it was already relatively warm at 8 am in the morning. So instead, I decided to take the train all the way to Kawaguchiko, which is much higher and presumably a little bit colder.and I think that was a good decision. Not only because of the slightly lower temperatures but also because I could cycle today around four of the lakes around Mount Fuji and have absolutely splendid views of the mountain. While I actually don’t really like Doshi Street as it has its fair share of cars and trucks.

I have been here before around all these lakes, both with very good views of Mount Fuji, as well as on a very rainy summer day with absolutely no view of the mountain. Today initially at Kawaguchiko Mount Fuji was partially behind clouds, but as the day progressed the clouds were swept away by very strong wind and a naked Mount Fuji appeared in the distance over the lakes.

Recently on Netflix, there was a Japanese TV series about an alien  living and working in a simple hotel around Mount Fuji. I always suspected that the hotel was on lake Shoji. And today I passed in front of it. It’s a typical hotel of this area quite outdated, but in a beautiful location.

I had no idea that this television series was so famous, and that people come here to take pictures of the locations where it was filmed. But I was clearly not the only person taking a picture of that hotel.

At the lake in front of the hotel, I had my onigiri and then continued back to Kawaguchi to my hotel.

I didn’t only see this apparently famous film location, but also the much more famous Lawson with Mount Fuji in the back. I had always assumed that that Lawson was somewhere around Gotenba but instead, it’s a few meters from Kawaguchiko station.I did not take a picture, but took a picture of another Lawson much closer to my hotel where I got my dinner and breakfast for tomorrow.

For tomorrow, the plan is to ride up Mount Fuji. Let’s see how that will go. 

D3 Nozawa onsen back to Nagano

Route: Nozawa onsen - Kaesa - Tokyo
Bicycle: 35 km
Train: 250 km
Total ascent: 328 m
Average speed: 18.1 km/h
Riding time: 1:54 h
Weather: sunny and WAY TOO HOT!

After the rather cold day in the wet yesterday, today was my return to the valley and with that the heat.

Up in Nozawa onsen, there is skiing even in summer on plastic slopes. My mother always tells me that the one and only time she tried to learn skiing was on a plastic slope. And not even on a mountain, but in Frankfurt in a stadium where they had put a plastic slope on top of the tribune, some motor oil on top so that it would be nice a slippery and then it was time to learn skiing. Surprisingly she never got the hang of it nor enjoyed the experience. These snow(plastic)boarders in Nozawa onsen seemed to enjoy it more. 

There is a lake close to Nozawa onsen, but the direct road is closed since a long time (it was already closed all the previous times I came up here. As today I hadn't any special plans I tried if the closed road was passable for a cyclist... but it wasn't. So I went a long way downhill, just to cycle up again to get to the "famous" lake. And yes, it's a nice, serene, small lake on which people do some kayaking. 

On the shores was what looked like an old school house now transformed into a relaxed bar. Very relaxed indeed. Although there were hardly any guests, it took an eternity for them to scrape up two balls of ice cream. 

From this place it was downhill and then in the valley all the way to Nagano... or so was my plan. But with every loss of meter of elevation the temperature kept soaring and once down in the valley it was simply too hot for me in the middle of the day to continue riding. 

And instead of risking a heat stroke, I took a quick glance at google maps, found a nearby very small train station and was in luck that the next train would depart soon, but not too soon for me to reach the station and pack the bicycle up. I think I even had time for a quick visit to the loo and refueling the drinks. So a rather short day in the saddle... but after quite some time finally again a weekend away with my bike. 

I had planned a longer weekend away later in September, and while it turned out to be perfect weather, I also managed to catch a cold right in time to bind me to bed for the entire long weekend :-( 

D2 - above Nozawa onsen in a cloud

Route: Nozawa onsen - Uenodaira 

Bicycle: 32 km
Gondola: 3 km
Total ascent: 1139 m
Average speed:  10,6 km/h
Riding time: 3:05 h
Weather: cloudy and rainy, 20 C

The day started with a marathon and finished with some sumo. In between I went cycling. 

During the night and early in the morning it was raining but by the time I got on the bike it had stopped. However it only had stopped down here in the valley. Up in the mountain I was in one big cloud that left everything very wet. 

Initially there was a bit of a view of the valley. But later on there was nothing. Just gray rain. 

Anyway I made it up to Uenodaira where some valiant performers were trying to entertain a small crowd, probably of other people and their parents who where going to perform. 

I asked at the gondola if it would be possible to take it down to the village as riding down in the rain wasn’t really appealing. I already don’t like downhills. But cold, rainy, long downhills are definitely not my definition of fun. And yes, it was possible. Probably this doesn’t happen a lot, but they allow bicycles. Mainly the idea would be for Mountain (!?!) bikers to go up and the ride down. But they were happy to admit a road cyclist who wanted to go downhill. 

With that knowledge I road a bit more , probably up to the highest point. Which should be a bit below 1600 m of elevation. But then returned and took the gondola down back to Nozawa onsen, where it was not raining and comparably warm. 

Apparently this is the view from the gondola. Not today though. 

D1 - Maguse onsen and Nozawa onsen

Route: Iiyama - Maguse onsen - Nozawa onsen
Bicycle: 39 km
Train: 270 km
Total ascent: 899 m
Average speed: 11,9 km/h
Riding time: 2:55 h
Weather: finally not hot. Maybe around 26C and cloudy

Maguse onsen is one of the best onsen I have been to: An onsen with a great unobstructed (!) view of the landscape around. 

I have been to my fair share of onsen, including in the mountains, but more often than not even when theoretically they are in a beautiful landscape, you can’t actually see it while chilling in the bath as it is obstructed for privacy. Here they built the onsen on the hill in such a way that it is not visible from the street, so you get to enjoy this view while relaxing in the hot water. Paradise in onsen. 

Obviously taking pictures was prohibited, but I had a short time where I was the only guest and quickly took a few pictures. Before a group of Japanese elderly women and foreign young women arrived. They seemed to work in hotels in the area and used their day off for a trip to an onsen. 

I didn’t really have a specific plan for this weekend. I had reserved a room in “my” hotel in Nozawa onsen hoping for a bit of cool weather. And I wasn’t disappointed. First night sleeping with a duvet since several months. In Tokyo it was so hot this summer tgat I have given in to the temptation of air conditioning and even slept some nights with the a/c on. So sleeping under a duvet (even if only partially) was very refreshing. 

Due to lack of planning I didn’t have a reserved seat in the Shinkansen and even managed to somehow buy the wrong ticket and it took me an eternity to correct it. So while I should have been with 30 min + at Tokyo station to line up for the unreserved seat, I just made it in time to the platform and somehow squeezed into a full Shinkansen with bike and everything standing all my way to Iiyama. So when I arrived I assembled the bike calmly and then made a plan and saw nice pictures of an onsen at the station: Maguse onsen. So there I went. 

After the relaxing bath it was downhill, as that onsen is on a different mountain slope than Nozawa onsen , and then up again. 

I still remember the first time I came to this hotel in Nozawa onsen. I had booked it without checking the terrain. And it’s above the village at the bottom of the ski slopes. I remeber that the ride up to Nozawa onsen seemed endless. But not so today. It helps to have risen a certain route already and to know at which point one is nearly up. 

D3 perfect autumn scenes on small roads

Route: Saku Uminokuchi - Tatsuoka castle - Shimonita - Takasaki
Bicycle: 103 km
Train: 104 km
Total ascent: 1046 m
Average speed: 18.4 km/h
Riding time: 5:35 h
Weather: Clouds and some sun

When preparing for this ride I had seen a trip on Japan Guide in this area, where the writer visited the remains of a castle and a shrine in Saku. So I decided to ride down that way. From there I had also multiple options. Easiest would have been to just continue further downhill and take the Shinkansen either in Ueda or in Karuizawa... but the more interesting (and more challenging option) was to ride through the mountains to Takasaki... and that's what I did. 

But first to the castle... or well, the little bits that remain. Frankly from the ground it is not very impressive. Apparently there is a view point above in the hills... but although I tried, it wasn't accessible by road bike. Too much gravel on a steep road, so I gave up on it. What would be visible from there is the form: a five pronged star. One of only two castles in Japan with this form, the other one being in Hakodate in Hokkaido. 

However the koyo at the shrine in the same village was in full swing. Apart from this it was a normal temple (or shrine?), but with pagoda and all.

From there it was up through the mountains. Already until here I had managed to cycle on very private roads, but the road up here between Usuda and Shimonita was again one of these small mountain roads where one wonders why they have been constructed. But I am not complaining. Thanks to the Japanese tax payer (myself included), we have these small roads that connect minuscule villages through the mountains. And once there is a road it will get maintained. 

While yesterday on Yatsugadake koyo was way beyond peak... well, essentially all the leaves were gone, here in the lower elevations of this mountain range, koyo was at its best. Up on the pass a picture of a bike ...

With this impressive mountain range in the background. It must be somewhere between Takasaki and Karuizawa. I had also seen it in the distance when I went to Bessho onsen earlier this year. Definitely doesn't look apt for cycling. Probably not even for hiking. But for climbing. 

From there it was a very long downhill. Not only the downhill from the pass, but further down, as Saku on the Nagano side of the mountain is much higher than Takasaki and Shimonita on the Gunma side. Mostly  through very remote mountain forests. Only further down small villages came into view. 

Even quite close to Takasaki station (I think at about 7 km) this was the panorama: 

Definitely an other area of Japan to explore more. I will probably consider the same ryokan again, for it's good price, rotenburo and vicinity to a conbini. Next time a bit earlier in the season to see koyo on Yatsugadake... or maybe spring. 

So much to explore. But today's ride was already a treat with those small roads, no traffic (and no bears) and koyo.