Japan Hidden Gems

Tokyo Surroundings | Nagano's Narai-juku 🌿 🌿🌟 Nagano's Narai-juku A Post Town More "Kyoto" Than Kyoto Itself 🏰 🍃🌸Narai-juku, a charming post town in Nagano, feels like stepping back in time. The long street is lined with buildings from the Edo and Meiji periods, making for a delightful city walk. 🌸 🌿🌟Narai: A Retro Post Town In the afternoon, I left from Matsumoto JR Station and took the train to Narai. 🍃🌸The journey was bright and sunny. Sitting in the train, I dozed off to the sound of station announcements. The final destination was Nagoya, and Narai is a small post town along the way. The station is super retro, like something out of an anime, and they still sell paper tickets! 🎫 🍃🌸 Retro Train Station 🚂 🌿🌟Along the way, there are little cafes for snacks, lacquerware shops, windows selling botamochi (rice cakes), fruit and ice cream stores, pubs, and postcard shops. There's also a well that gushes fresh mountain water—I took a sip, and it was so refreshing! I even saw tourists strolling with their cute, chubby Shiba Inu dogs. 🐶 The day felt pretty warm for October, but once the sun set in the evening, it got chilly. 🍃🌸 Most people would probably finish exploring in one to two hours. 🌇 #TokyoSurroundings #HiddenGems 🌟