Mon 13 Hakuba - Nagano

The day started as every day - rise at 7,  dress, breakfast at 7:30.

Packing went smoothly. 

Henry had previously arranged Mountain Watch Travel to collect us at 9:40.  The same young Aussie lady driving as we'd met at drinks. She snow boards.

At the bus station,  a big queue and an enthusiastic fellow guiding us to line up on the footpath not the road.  Phoebe and I looked after the bags and held our place while Henry ventured inside and returned with tickets ¥10500 $105 for the three of us. 

Second back row had extra legroom. A very comfortable ride.  About an hour. 

LUNCH

TEMPLE

No photos allowed inside the temple.  It's Buddhist. Lots of gold.

I ponder the effect of religion. Some people argue theirs is the right way and will even kill for it. Others will kill because of it. Fear of difference.  Yet religion is blamed when in my view its people all the way. 

Looking back down the street.  Temple behind me. 

Silent reminders of a "great " moment in time.  When was that again?

just looked interesting 

DINNER

don't be fooled, it could be Keto but the glass is not water. It's Shochu.

¥201.84. $183.83

We had teppanyaki. The meat was amazingly tender. 

We didn't really know how to order. 

A bit of google translate but still we only got meat and had to order salad separately. 

SHOCHU

Shochu is a traditional Japanese distilled spirit, similar to vodka or brandy, made from ingredients like rice, barley, sweet potatoes, or brown sugar, using koji mold for saccharification before fermentation and distillation. It differs from sake (which is fermented, not distilled) and comes in two main types: honkaku (single-distilled, traditional) and continuous-distilled, with alcohol content typically ranging from 20-45% ABV.