Japan - Yunishigawa - March 09

The day after arriving in Japan we got straight into it and headed for Yunishigawa Onsen - past Nikko. We caught the subway to Asakusa Station, bought a Tobu World Heritage Pass and got on the train. The trip was about 2 1/2 hours to Nikko, however we had to stay on the train to Yunishigawa (another hour) and then catch a bus to Yunishigawa Onsen (half hour). Although the pass we bought only covered our travel to a few stations past Nikko it was easy to buy a fare readjustment. You can either get it from a guy on the train if he walks past - or at the station you get off. Note that when catching buses you pay when you get off, not before.

The bus trip to Yunishigawa was both beautiful and sad. The river and mountains are breathtaking, but slowly creeping around the river is massive construction of a dam, train line and a lot of bridges cutting through the valleys for the train. We also saw what looked like developers looking around the town and taking pictures which makes us think that it will change dramatically soon.

But for now Yunishigawa Onsen is incredible. It seemed fairly untouched (compared to other places), the people were beautiful and the scenery was amazing.

We stayed at Honke Bankyu Bankyu Ryokan which was a beautiful 300 yr old Inn, sitting beside the river with a vine bridge and a view of mountains. I wont go into too much details of the stay (no spoilers!) but our room was huge - we had a view over the river and vine bridge. Dinner was an event - it is held in a building across the river over the fire pits. There was a samisen performance on an ice stage. There are lovely public onsen & private onsen. We booked a private one & it snowed while we were in there - ultimate! The next morning we also used the public baths - first time for public nudity! For those who are scared, it is actually quite liberating. No-one looks at you, half of the other bathers are probably 80 so there's nothing to worry about.

Our stunning room right on the river

The mens outdoor onsen, with river running by and ice everywhere!

The rope bridge coming from the dining annex

View of Yunishigawa from our room at night

View from the room at night, a little show on the ice stage..

Each shop in Yunishigawa had a different snowman out the front, I'm assuming this was the liquor shop!

Breakfast is buffet style, sitting next to that river!

After reluctantly checking out we headed to Nikko and used the pass to explore the Shrines. You only need to catch the bus (from the front of tobu station) to the first shrine and then walk the rest - all of the shrines are incredibly close to each other, and then catch the bus back to the station.

We visited a fair few Shrines in Japan, and Nikko & Nara are at the top of my list. Toshogu is incredible. Note though that even with the pass, the shrines here can end up costing a lot more as they try to charge you extra entry fees for certain sections. We just went to the sections we were allowed entry to, and it was still excellent. Its good to check out the three wise monkeys carving at Toshugu as you will see merchandise of these monkeys all over Japan!

Hotel: Honke Bankyu Bankyu Ryokan

Price: 40,200Y for two incl kaseki dinner & breakfast

Web: http://www.bankyu.co.jp/en/

Ph: +81(0)288‐98‐0011

Travel: From Shinjuku, Tobu rail pass to Kinugawa onsen (you will need to buy an extra ticket on top of this to take you all the way to Yunishigawa station) Bus from Yunishigawa station to Honke Bankyu. Make sure you specify it is Honke Bankyu Bankyu Ryokan as there are two with similar names.