Nozawa Onsen

First picture of Nozawa

After spending 4 days in Shiga, we finally left for Nozawa, one of the other many ski resorts in the Nagano Perfecture. Got there by bus from Nagano, but not without stress as per the previous post.

By the time we got to Nozawa and lugged our luggage to the hotel, it was fairly late and we contemplated doing the night ski in Nozawa but decided against it when it was fairly pricey. In addition, we managed to get a refund on the day's ski pass that was included in our accommodation. *We booked our accommodation with Lodge Nagano but as they did not have any more rooms, they've booked us into Mitsubachi Maya*. When we got to the lodge, which by the way is managed by Australians, it was delightful to be in the place. For once, in almost a week, everything seems to make sense. Conversations that is! I forgot how nice it was to understand what everyone else was talking about!

Mitsubachi Maya was a little of a disappointment in comparison to Chu Hotel in Shiga. There was not ensuite, meaning we had to use the communal bath - which was very small (!!), not to mentioned hot water shower in the morning was a bit of a battle with the taps, and there was no internet facilities. *We were probably very spoiled in Chu, I got to admit*. But the breakfast on day 2 and 3, that was fairly good. No more sweet eggs for breakfast, YAY!!!! Our rooms were the Japanese style rooms and they were fairly small, but then again, we hardly spent any time in the rooms so I suppose that was okay.

As we decided not to ski on our first night, we got directions from the Lodge and wandered into the village's town. Nozawa is very famous for it's onsens and I think there was 13 public onsens in the village itself. There was one just near where we stayed, but the famous onsen was called Oo-yu, and that was located on the main streets of the village, about 10-15 minutes walk from our place. On our way there, we saw a few other public onsens (and we peeked in almost all of them just to see how they look on the inside) but weren't too keen on using them. It was very different from the hot bath we were used to in Shiga so we were really hesitant. But because it was Nozawa onsen that we are in, we decided that we should go to at least one of them.

Main street in Nozawa

Oo-yu

So, we decided to to go Ooyu which was a fairly small place, but probably one of the bigger onsens in the village itself. Since it was our first time in an actual public onsen, it was a pretty funny and daunting experience. Daunting for me, funny for locals. I can still remember so clearly the shocked and concerned expression on an old lady who was trying frantically to warn me not to use the freezing cold water off the tap in the onsen ( for fear that I might freeze myself to death), and to use the water from the tub instead. Thank god for the 2 local girls who could communicate in some English who translated for the old lady AND taught us the right way of doing it :). Although we have been to the public baths quite a few times, what you do in a public onsen is quite different! It was a priceless experience, one that I am going to keep with me for a very long time. *After all, embarassing moments are hard to forget (>.<)*

More skiing :)

After the first night of using the public onsen, we were hesitant to go to another the next night, given that it is not as comfortable what we thought it was. But on the second night, after a whole day of skiing again and longing for a hot soak, we came across a much bigger public onsen while we were on the search for okinomiyaki. Being bigger, less crowded and aching legs, we decided that we should try going to an onsen again. And boy, was I glad!!!! It was a much better experience than our first and we were hooked. So, after the next day of skiing again (and my body was truly aching at this point), we decided to pay an outdoor onsen a visit and was told that Nozawa Grand Hotel had the best as their onsen overlooks the village from the hillside.

So, off we go to Nozawa Grand Hotel on our last night. The hotel's onsen cost 800 yen to use, but had to areas, one the public bath +soak and the outside onsen. We were only directed to the public bath and had to look for the outdoor onsen on our own which wasn't easy at all. It was actually located on the floor above the public bath and was only accessible by a certain lift at the corner of the building. The signages toward that lift weren't all thatavailable. Let's just say, we did finally used the outdoor onsen (which is great, as I can actually breath properly! Public/closed areas are too humid and steamy to be breathing normally) and we definitely made full use of our 800 yen. The thing about these onsens that you pay for - they come really well -equipped. All the toileteries and moisturizing lotions, the hairdryers etc.. it felt so good to have all these available at your fingertip :)!

As dinners weren't provided in our hotel, we went into the town fairly often to hunt for food and of course, took more pictures of the area. The about walking in Nozawa is that the roads are really really small, and the cars are really really quick! One has to be really attentive and careful on their streets. Anyway, on our first night walking back we saw a place that served yakitori and decided that we should return the next night to have some. And so we did. And it was the absolutely best yakitori I have ever had!!! We returned again the next time for more, and we couldn't find another place serve such great tasting yakitori for the rest of our trip!

Clockwise from top left : The YAKITORI & Oden, Yummy dinner, Okonomiyaki!

On our second day there, while we were rushing to Ogama Hot Spring to take some photos, we stumbled upon a really pretty temple, Kenmeiji Temple. It was a fairly big place and still covered it snow, which made it really pretty. Ogama Hot Spring was marked as an outdoor onsen on our map, so we decided to pay it a visit on our first night there, only to come up to a place that looked like it had hot springs but was walled off to visitors. We were later told that that particular hot spring's water can go up to 90 degrees and is mainly used for cooking by the villagers. Hence, walled off to visitors and no one was using it to soak!

Clockwise from left: Road signs, Kenmeiji Temple, streets of Nozawa, Ogama Hot Spring

By the time we left Nozawa, we've already done 5.5 days of skiing, 4 public baths, 3 onsens :). I was aching from the skiing, both muscular and bruises, and was looking forward to sightsee. So, on our last morning, after having an early breakfast, we rushed off to take some last photos in Nozawa before catching an early bus to Matsumoto.