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At the beginning of the Gondo arcade street is Hakata Tonkatsu Ramen, a ramen speciality store that serves some of the best ramen in town. The style of the ramen is from the south of Japan, from the d...

Susobanakyo Hot Spring Uruoikan or simply 'Uruoikan' (うるおい館) is an onsen facility - including hotel and restaurant - within walking distance of Nagano Station. Offering both indoor and outdoor ba...

As the largest city in Nagano Prefecture, Nagano City is the most convenient point from where to explore the many attractions of the region. The city itself is best-known for its near-1400 year old...

As we head toward summer in Japan, it means one thing – festivals, lots of them! Japanese love a matsuri (festival) and whether you are a visitor to Japan, or living here yourself, there’s no better ...

Lying around 40-minutes drive outside of central Nagano City, the forests of Togakushi are home to some of Japan’s most important Shinto shrines. In association with those shrines, the region is al...

Bikura is a restaurant right in the city center of Nagano. You can find it on the 10th floor across from Nagano Station. Because of the height, it has some of the most spectacular views over the city ...

Overlooking the courtyard of Hotel Kokusai 21 is a lounge cafe called Bayberry. The cafe is has large windows from where light spills into the cafe. The interior of the cafe is made to be light as wel...

If you plan on seeing much of the center of Nagano City then the Jizokan Matsuya ryokan is the place to stay for you. It is located right next to the Zenkoji Temple complex. The ryokan is all in Japan...

With over 15,000 individual fireworks lighting-up the crisp autumn sky, Nagano’s annual Ebisu-ko Fireworks Festival attracts over 400,000 people to the city to watch this amazing spectacle. As Japan’...