December 17, 2015 • mccsokinawa.com
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agano, a mountain-laced temple town, is a wintertime wonderland. It’s a place filled with friendly locals offering a warm nod and sweet hello. A place to revel in fresh snow flurries, luxuriate in an onsen (hot spring bath), share a moment with a Japanese snow monkey, explore rich history or shred new powder at Japan’s largest ski resort, then end the day cuddled up to a bowl of piping hot soba. Escape to snow-blanketed Nagano with MCCS Tours+ for a four-day, three-night vacation from February 12 to 15. The tour arrives February 12 via train from Tokyo Station. After a day of travel, you can kick back in your hotel room and order room service, or get a head start exploring the city and try some local bites.
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Spend the first full day venturing off on your own, or join the optional MCCS tour to see wild snow monkeys, or macaques, at Jigokudani Monkey Park. Jigokudani, considered a mini Yellowstone, is bubbling with onsen. To escape the forest’s harsh winter, these silvertufted creatures soak in the open-air onsen. With steam curling into the frosty air and their beet-red faces glowing with relaxation— it is a photographer’s paradise. After braving the cold, steep in a nearby onsen yourself. While enveloped by the warmth, watch sleepy snowflakes melt into the steaming hot spring. On Valentine’s Day, create your own Nagano adventure. Carve the fresh powder on the slopes of the Japanese Alps, breaking only for hot chocolate. At the end of the day, soak your
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sore muscles in another onsen dip. Although host of the 1998 Olympics (leading to a new bullet train station opening the once relatively inaccessible Nagano to visitors), Nagano has retained its small-town feel. So, after visiting the auspicious Zenkoji temple and the six-story Matsumoto Castle (Japan’s oldest standing castle), go café hopping to meet the locals that make Nagano such a warm place, even in deep winter. Return to balmy Okinawa on February 15, thankful for a wintery getaway nestled in the Japanese Alps. For more information about this trip, please contact Tours+ at 646-3502 or stop by your local Tours+ office.
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