Akiyamago Snow Country
- Dates: Feb 22-24
- Activities: See below
- Price: 30,000 JPY see what's included
Join us as we explore traditional life in the Akiyamago vally, a remote collection of farm villages scattered on the border between Nagano and Niigata, surrounded by steep mountains towering above 2,000 meters. The Akiyama Vally is famous for its harsh winters - just two years ago heavy snows made travel to and from the area impossible for up to a month, while Japan's self defense force and volunteers worked diligently to dig residents out.
This program offers an opporuniy to participate in a local event on Feb 22 and 23, including bilding a snow hut, participating in a "don-do yaki" farming ritual where local farmers burn kaya straw and pine trees to rid their homes of eveil spirits, hot baths in the onsen, and a night in a local farmhouse inn.
At the inn, we will have the opportunity to build your own traditional Japanese kanjiki snow shoes, under the watchful eye of a local hunter, to be used the next morning for a short walk in the deep mountain snow. Having worked up an appetite, we will make haya-soba or our second day's lunch. This is a traditional meal that settlers in the Akiyama Vally have eaten for centuries before the recent (this century) introduction of rice cultivation.
Akiyama Vally Snow Country Itinerary
Day 1
Participants will arrive on the night of the 21st, or early morning on the 22nd. A bus from Sakae Mura's Morimiyanohara Station will take participants deep into the narrow winding roads of Akiyamago. Here we will visit a local wood-worker, famous for his hand-carved wooden bowls, a museum depicting the local traditional life of farmers and roaming bear hunters.
After a lunch of hand-made soba noodles and mountain vegetables, we will join the other participants at the local Noyosa-no-sato Inn, rebuilt in the historic chumonzukuri style of architecture, which the area is famous for.
The local festivities start with building a kamakura snow-dome, which will be later used as a gathering place for late night drinks and snacks. In the meantime, we will make mayudama from rice powder, used in the dondo-yaki ritual as a traditional means to pray for good harvest and fertility.
While enjoying the warmth of the dondo-yaki (burnong of a thatch tower), we will enjoy warm drinks in the kamakura snow-hut before retiring to the local inn for a hot bath and dinner at the local inns where we prepare hand made bamboo kanjiki snow-shoes for the next days forest trek.
Day 2
Wake up early for a traditional breakfast at your inn, followed by a guided tour through the Akiyama forest on kanjiki snow shoes. With luck we will see wild rabbits, or kamoshika.
A lunch of hayasoba follows the the hike, giving participants an opportunity to taste what busy mothers have fed their children in centuries past while they tend to thier crops.
Following lunch, the local participants will depart, while we head to Yashiki village for a hot bath and a tour of the local Traditional Country Life Tools Museum. Here we will see the tools that have evovled in the vally since the first settlers came following the Heike - Genji wars. A dinner around the irori fireplace will hold us over for the one-hour drive out of Akiyamago, once again through winding mountain roads.
After a get together with locals at our home, we will have the choice to spend the night at the local community center, or at our own home.
Day 3
An early morning wake-up-call will give everyone an opportunity to see the sun rise over a traditional Japanese farming village. We will walk through the fresh snow (weather permitting) chatting with locals as they tend to their early morning shoveling.
A hot breakfast will get everyone warmed up for a walking tour of the more populated villages of Sakae Mura. We will examine local architecutre, and how it has changed over the years, and have a chance to pick the last remaining persimmon (kaki) from neighborhood trees. Along the way, we wil have a chance to see how modern day technology for handling some of the heaviest snow in the world, including imperssive avalanche prevention measiors at the site of a tragic avalanche that destroyed five houses, killing eleven villagers.
The program ends with a tour of the local gallery and site of the deepest recorded snowfall in Japan. You will have one last chance to buy local suveneers at the local michi-no-eki market before boarding a bus to Yuzawa, where you will catch a train home, filled with memories of the snow-country and dreams of white.
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Activities
Accommodation Options & Costs
Feb 22: Local Family-run inn
Feb 23: Village Community Meeting Hall (dormitory style)
Getting here
The best way to get here is by bus from Echigo Yuzawa Onsen station on the Shinkansen bullet train line.
Cost & What's Included
The basic cost for this program is 30,000 yen, including
| Base Price: Includes:
|
10,000 yen |
| Does Not Include | |
| Lift Ticket (12/22) | Free |
| Lift Ticket (12/23-26) | 1,500 |
| Ski / Snowboard Rental | 3,000 / day |
| Ski wear | 3,000 / day |
| Meals & Drinks | (everyone is expected to chip in for shared meals) |
| Join Village Year End Party | 5,000 (includes drinks) |
| Transportation to and from Sakae Mura | One way train from Tokyo: 6,740 / One way car from Tokyo: 4,750 |
| Some transportation in Sakae Mura | We will help to get people to and from group activities - however, we cannot offer rides to and from the ski-hill for those who opt to ski after 12/22. Taxi service is available, or you can rent a bike from us (20 - 30 minute ride on plowed roads). |
| Accommodation at Local Inn (includes 2 meals) | 5,500 / night |
| Hot Spring Bath | 100 - 300 yen |
| Accommodation at Our Home | Free (shared rooms with all guests / futon or sleeping bag) |
| Guarantee of deep snow | Sorry, I wish we could... |
Join Us
If you are interested in this snow-country Christmas event, please email the following information to info@onelifejapan.com
- Name
- Cell Phone
- Date you will come / leave
- Prefered Accomodation
- What activities you are interested in?
- Are you interested in joining the Village Year End Party? (5,000 yen all you can eat and drink)
- Would you rather have a Christams dinner on the night of 22nd, or take advantage of free night-skiing instead?
- Where you are coming from and how will you get here?
- If you are coming by car, are you willing to give others a lift?
- Show size (for ski / snow walking boots)