Last weekend of October I was wondering where to go, so I went to Kamikochi. This view was waiting for me when I arrived at 5 am by express bus on Friday night. Unfortunately, we couldn't see the sunrise, but in the fantastic fog, the Hotaka mountain range gave us a glimpse of our faces.

Went on a trip to Matsumoto during the Obon holiday. We arrived Friday and our first stop after checking in at our hotel was Matsumoto Castle. The statue in the first photo is of Banryu Shonin (播隆上人). Apparently he was a Buddhist monk and prominent mountaineer during the early 1800s. I thought it was interesting so I took a photo of it. Matsumoto Castle was really incredible. I think it's definitely one of the most beautiful castles in Japan. If I had a better camera, I would have been able to take some nicer photos, but I'm pretty pleased with the photos I took, despite having taken them from my smartphone. The inside of the castle was really awesome and I spent a lot of time looking at all of the different exhibits showing the weaponry used on the battlefield, etc. Most of the exhibits have English and Japanese too, which is nice if you don't speak Japanese but are interested in learning about the history of the castle. On Saturday we took a bus to Kamikochi. The bus to Kamokochi took about an hour longer than expected as there was a lot of people going there for the Obon holiday. The views were really incredible, and compared to the city of Matsumoto, the area was a nice cool temperature. One of the other bridges near Kappa Bridge (河童橋) was probably like 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the Kamikochi area too. We hiked from Taisho Pond (大正池) to Kappa Bridge in about an hour. It was pretty good exercise and totally flat, so pretty much anyone can enjoy the walking trails. There are a lot of scenic views along the trail from Taisho Pond to Kappa Bridge, and some of the views of the water were just magical. I wasn't able to capture just how beautiful the place is with my photos, but it's really gorgeous. Once we got closer to Kappa Bridge we started seeing a lot of monkeys walking around too, which was kind of neat. Apparently their population is increasing in the area because people keep feeding them, so make sure not to do that if you visit. On our last day in Matsumoto we decided to check out some other spots in town, and ended up visiting Nawate Street, a nice little shopping street with some cool shops and cafes. We got some ice cream and sat down by the river running through the town and relaxed for a bit. After that we headed up to Joyama Park (the last photo). The walk to the park was pretty long with how hot it was outside but the view from the top was pretty incredible. It was a nice way to end our trip. I think Matsumoto Castle and Kamikochi are definitely some of the best places to visit if you're sightseeing in Matsumoto, so definitely make some time to visit them.

Beautiful river and mountains at Kamikochi, Nagano. This photo was taken during the Golden week of 2017. It's spring but there's already snow around this place. If you love nature, this is one of the recommended places to visit here in Japan.

This photo was taken in May 2017 at Kamikochi in Nagano. My first impression of this place was, "it's a real-life painting". The beautiful Azusa river is surrounded by snowy mountains, and there are lots of Japanese white birch tree in the area. Since then, Kamikochi has become my favorite place in Japan. I often come here once a year before Corona happened.

Kamikochi, Nagano It is also popular as a summer resort in summer, and you can see a very beautiful scenery during the autumn foliage season.

Matsumoto City 🏯, Nagano Prefecture, an old castle town surrounded by the Japan Alps Popular tourist spots such as the national treasure "Matsumoto Castle", the nature-rich "Kamikochi" visited by 2 million tourists a year, and the post town "Narai-juku" are scattered ❗️. In addition, one of the famous places often introduced in the media, "Kaichi School", an old elementary school built in the early Meiji period Japan is also a historical cultural property that is also 🏫 designated as an important cultural property. In addition, wasabi grown in the clean water of Azumino is famous, but it is actually the 🍎 second most famous apple production area after Aomori. Let's 🚙💨 look around the popular tourist spots of Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture with online GoTo Travel

"Myojin Pond" in Kamikochi in Nagano Prefecture.