Snow, Onsen and Crab!

[rbjhan]

So last day in Tokyo I went to the stationery fair in Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi, hoping to find some interesting pens! Unfortunately apart from this DIY Kakuno stand, not too many fountain pens


It is what it is....So I created my own Kakuno


The heart shape eye face you can only get in the DIY events in Japan, I believe.



Okay that's it. Promise, I won't talk about fountain pens again

 

[rbjhan]

I had planned to leave Tokyo around 2pm, arriving into KamiSuwa about 4.30pm, just in time for the sunset.
But since I finished with Mitsukoshi earlier than expected, actually managed to get on the 1pm Limited Express Azusa, just.
Problem! I was running to catch this one (one train per hour), forgot to buy a new bottle and the drink I got had only a little left. Train already departed so I couldn't go back to the platform....and didn't see any vending machines onboard....

Thank god there's the trolley! I haven't seen one in ages....saved me from dehydration

 

[rbjhan]

Arrived at Kami-Suwa station about 3.30pm.

There's a foot bath inside the station


Didn't book shuttle bus as I was unsure about arrival time.
Only a 10 min walk from station though.

Hotel Beniya.

【公式】諏訪湖湖畔のホテルに宿泊するなら｜上諏訪温泉　ホテル紅や

諏訪湖湖畔のホテルに宿泊するなら、上諏訪温泉「ホテル紅や」。最上階の温泉展望浴場にてアルプスの山々や長野県諏訪湖の絶景をご覧いただけ、別館にある岩盤浴やドライサウナなどで癒しのひと時をお過ごしいただけます。地元食材にこだわった信州の味や料理長自慢の信州そばに舌鼓。

hotel-beniya.co.jp

I booked a high floor lake view modern Japanese room.
*how to decipher the language: when they say modern Japanese room in a ryokan, chances are it's a tatami room but with beds - that's my favourite kind.

Entrance


Bathroom


Shower


Bedroom, see what they meant by Japanese modern?
Oh the beds were looking like that coz I already sat on them

It's on level 11 of 14.


Lake view!
Building on the right were apartments, I believe.

 

[rbjhan]

The highest level, 14F, is their public bath.
Picture from hotel website.


There's a lounge outside.


Oooh I love this ryokan!

 

[rbjhan]

Nice and relax, back to my room for the sunset.


Had some tea....
They also have the tea capsule thingy..


Ah but I very much prefer a more traditional one...


Sunset

 

[rbjhan]

You see, many ryokans only sell their entry level rooms to solo guests. Like the small ones facing the street if you check the floor plan upthread...
I am very grateful Beniya is not like that. This room plus breakfast for 17K Yen was a steal!
(It is in Kami-Suwa ofc, most guests were Japanese as far as I can tell...)

Didn't book dinner because I already had something in mind.
The following conversations were all in Japanese:
During check in I asked front desk staff to make a dinner reservation for me. She called the restaurant, it was all good until they asked for a number....she told them the guest was a foreigner and had no Japanese number....there were quite a bit of back and forth and her telling them it's a guest staying at the ryokan, clearly the restaurant was a bit reluctant...finally it was done, phew! (Exactly why I didn't do it myself...)

Oh man I hope the food could make up for the trouble.


Dinner was a 4500 Yen set meal.

Menu


Amuse


Salmon tartar


Carrot soup iirc....


Risotto, probably my least favourite.


Oh but the main was devine!


Dessert


Very very happy with my choice!

Fun fact for those who speaks Japanese:
This pork is local produce, called 信州十四豚, but pronounced しんしゅうジューシーポーク

Shinshu or 信州, which repeatedly appear in the menu, is the old name of Nagano.
For some reason, when it comes to local produce, they like to use old names! For example Echizen crab 越前がに from Fukui, Omi Beef 近江牛 from Shiga right next to Kyoto, Sanuki udon讃岐うどん in Kagawa...

 

[rbjhan]

Okay finally got the approval from ANA! Took their sweet time....

Let's back track to 14 Feb then...

I booked the 9.30 Tour because shops generally open at 11am, didn't want to waste the morning.
Yeah, forgot about the morning rush hour in Tokyo thingy
If anyone wants to try Yamanote line at 8am on a weekday, my advice would be: DON'T.

Arrived at Shin Seibijo Station just before 9am.
ANA building is about 15 mins walk. But there are two shuttle buses departing 9.05 and 9.15am!
Man, I love the Japanese and their shuttle buses



Note: all photos below were approved by ANA.
Videos are not permitted also commercial use is big no no.

Inside the ground level entrance there's a 711, apart from normal konbini stuff, they also sell ANA memorabilia.




Shuincho!
Sadly because of the wood cover they are quite heavy...I debated about this and decided against it.

 

[rbjhan]

Before the tour starts you can visit the museum.


It is smaller than the JAL Sky museum.


Sigh, I really wanted to see The Room...

 

[rbjhan]

Tour started with a lecture, by a real person! Unlike JAL where they played a video.
Inside the "classroom" there's also a first class seat demo


And if you are interested in whY....
Hold on, I'm looking at this again and it's a skycouch thing??


There were many special livery model planes...unfortunately the photos were rejected by ANA on copyright reasons...sadface....I really love the Star Wars ones....

 

[rbjhan]

Finally the hangar!

We were divided into small groups and led across the walkway into the hangar.


Lucky day! There was a 777.


Oooh such a beauty.


Where I think ANA did way better than JAL, is that you get an English handout and the guide would tell you which page to look!

 

[drron]

Funny I took a couple of pictures of ANA special livery planes at other airports around the world. they actually cant stop those and I believe one has made it into a TR.

 

[rbjhan]

Funny I took a couple of pictures of ANA special livery planes at other airports around the world. they actually cant stop those and I believe one has made it into a TR.

Oh obviously when the planes are out there it's fair game I think.
Just for the tour they are very strict....

 

[rbjhan]

Next to the 777 there were two 787s.


Happy happy, excited excited

Next we went down to ground level.

I did see one person rode on one of the bikes


Training plane.


It's called super dolphin.
I wonder why


You get really close to the planes here!
Looking through last year's photos I think we got way closer here than JAL.

 

[rbjhan]

Saw lots of planes come and go....for some reason all the photos I took were of JAL
Again, ANA is very strict and only allowed photos of their own aircraft, so no.

This is from the walkway connecting the hangar and the office building.


And the tour finished in the same place, the 711 time to start shopping!
I've controlled myself really well



Ah, this was the monorail after rush hour.


Summary:
I like the ANA tour better than JAL.
Apart from being more foreigner friendly, there's also the fact you come back to the 711 so don't have to rush to buy things. Plus, since it's a 711 you can pay with whatever, IC card, credit card, etc.
JAL is cash only.

 

[rbjhan]

Alright, where were we?
Ah yes, Beniya at Lake Suwa.

Anyone seen the movie "Your Name 君の名は" ?
It was really popular back in the day! Many locations in the movie are based on real life places especially in Tokyo. Mitsuha's hometown Itomori is a fictional place, but according to the author Shinkai Makoto himself Lake Suwa is the inspiration for Lake Itomori...

It was really lovely in the morning.


Went for a morning soak obviously!
Then head down to breakfast.
Just the normal things...


Ah but there's oden!


One more picture of the lake!

 

[rbjhan]

The next ryokan is at Sawando near Kamikochi. To get there one must take the bus from Matsumoto towards Takyama.
I've booked the 1pm bus (there were only 4 in a day!).
So there's some time in the morning.
I was debating whether to go to nearby Katakurakan, or go to Shimo-Suwa to visit Suwa Taisha...
Suddenly have this urge to see Matsumoto Castle again, don't ask why

So I took the shuttle bus back to Kami-Suwa station. Ah that's where Google Maps threw a curve ball at me....it said the next express train departure to Matsumoto was past 11am, so I took the 10am shuttle bus thinking I had plenty of time, even too much...
Arrived at station maybe 10.07? Anyways as I was walking towards ticket machines I suddenly heard the announcement "Next train to Matsumoto is Ltd Exp Azusa XX at 10.12" !!!
I was like WTF?!

No time to buy tickets because the queue for express train ticket machine was looooong
I quickly bought a 200 Yen ticket from a different machine (you can only buy cheap tickets from it, but no queue), entered the gate, got to correct platform, and the train came! Not a minute to spare.
Mind you, Azusa is 100% reserve seats, luckily they have this lighting system indicating whether seats were available or not.
*correction to my previous post, actually RED means available, GREEN means taken.

So I found one vacant seat and waited for the conductor to come, then I can pay the correct fare and book the seat. Errr but nobody came! I had no idea why since they should check tickets, and it was my experience they always do, 100% - well it's 99% now

So I took my 200 Yen ticket to the fare adjustment counter at Matsumoto, paid the difference and left. Later that night when I was doing the numbers, I thought this seemed really low?
Then it hit me, at Matsumoto they only charged me the basic fare between Kami-Suwa and Matsumoto. The assumption was I took a commuter train, becasuse on express trains you should have already been checked and paid the fare. Well whatever happened with the conductor on that Azusa ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[rbjhan]

Matsumoto Castle is my favourite castle in all of Japan, no question about it.

Sigh, they were cleaning the moat...just my luck!
So only one picture here.
All other angles were worse....you see a lot of machinery and workers....



Didn't enter the main keep, but I got one picture of Arupu-chan


I didn't exactly want to have soba, but try finding something else in Matsumoto was, challenging!
And I was short on time, so....

 

[Justinf]

Tour started with a lecture, by a real person! Unlike JAL where they played a video.
Inside the "classroom" there's also a first class seat demo
View attachment 434271

And if you are interested in whY....
Hold on, I'm looking at this again and it's a skycouch thing??
View attachment 434270

There were many special livery model planes...unfortunately the photos were rejected by ANA on copyright reasons...sadface....I really love the Star Wars ones....

Love this.
And here I am thinking what a star I was to buy some of the ANA beef consomme to take home from the ANA Festa.

 

[rbjhan]

Okay this is now officially the next chapter of the trip.
Expect snow, guys. A LOT of it!

The bus ride from Matsumoto to Sawando was quite uneventful.
But I could see more and more snow...
Took this one when I got off the bus.


I booked 2 nights in Keiryu-so Shiorie 渓流荘 しおり絵.
It's a rather boutique ryokan with only 8 rooms.
Layout as below


Courtyard


My room was 201.
Bed was already made when I entered.


Massage chair and an armchair by the window.


View


And this is.....dressing area?


There's toilet and sink, but no bathroom.

 

[rbjhan]

Lobby.
To the left where the blue curtains were, is the entrance to public bah. Next to it there's a door to the private bath (but you can't see it in this picture).
The stairs are to the upper level guest rooms. Corridor next to it are to the level 1 rooms.
To the right of the dolls is another corridor leading to the dining rooms.


I booked the private bath for 4pm.




There's a little corner selling drinks and snacks.