What you do with your free time is entirely up to you.
But let’s be honest...
If you’re not using it to ogle snow monkeys and roam Japanese samurai castles, what the hell are you using it for?
Show yourself to Snow Monkeys & Samurai, a four-day trip that involves warrior history, plenty of sake and seeing fascinating-yet-sort-of-eerie-looking monkeys splash around in the wild, booking now in Japan.
It all starts by taking the bullet train from Tokyo to the town of Obuse. That’s where you can watch macaque monkeys play in hot springs, take a soba-noodle-making class and go to the Masuichi sake brewery. Which, coincidentally, is owned by the same family that founded the hotel you’re staying in for a couple nights. Translation: your hotel has a sake tasting counter. See the slideshow.
Then it’s off to Matsumoto for a couple days. The main event: going to Black Crow, an ancient wooden castle that was secured by samurai when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogun. Note that it has black walls, when Japanese castles are normally white. Note that you get the name now.
And if that’s not enough Japan time for you, there are other short itinerary trips you can schedule on top. Like meditating in Kyoto, or visiting specialist cooking knife shops in Tokyo.
Knives or meditation. Knives or meditation...
But let’s be honest...
If you’re not using it to ogle snow monkeys and roam Japanese samurai castles, what the hell are you using it for?
Show yourself to Snow Monkeys & Samurai, a four-day trip that involves warrior history, plenty of sake and seeing fascinating-yet-sort-of-eerie-looking monkeys splash around in the wild, booking now in Japan.
It all starts by taking the bullet train from Tokyo to the town of Obuse. That’s where you can watch macaque monkeys play in hot springs, take a soba-noodle-making class and go to the Masuichi sake brewery. Which, coincidentally, is owned by the same family that founded the hotel you’re staying in for a couple nights. Translation: your hotel has a sake tasting counter. See the slideshow.
Then it’s off to Matsumoto for a couple days. The main event: going to Black Crow, an ancient wooden castle that was secured by samurai when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogun. Note that it has black walls, when Japanese castles are normally white. Note that you get the name now.
And if that’s not enough Japan time for you, there are other short itinerary trips you can schedule on top. Like meditating in Kyoto, or visiting specialist cooking knife shops in Tokyo.
Knives or meditation. Knives or meditation...
