11th May 2019: Narai

On this day, we took a cute two-car train to Narai.

Narai is a former post town: a place where travellers would stop for a break in their journey along one of the routes connecting Kyoto with Tokyo.

It is also exceptionally well preserved, with the appearance that a Westerner expects from “old Japan”: a quiet high street, low wooden houses, panels, and archetypal Japanese implements and ornaments everywhere you look at.

The fact that it is essentially perched on the mountain adds a lot to the ‘scenic’ feeling—I couldn’t stop thinking that we had somehow entered a painting!

We walked all the way along the main street, browsing the shops, deciding we were not “the target” (we have really no need for random knick-knacks), and taking lots of pictures.

But once we reached the end of the street (and the town), we were starting to get a bit hungry.

We had already seen lots of interesting, picturesque looking restaurants but it was hard to choose any in particular, so we just chose one almost at random: こころ音.

We removed our shoes as is mandatory in these places, and entered the dimly lit space. We were guided towards a big table in the dining room; there were some guests quietly eating their food in a table further away from ours.

I ordered warm soba noodles with mushrooms and mountain vegetables; I think this variety is called “Sansai”:

These were the first soba noodles I ate in Japan… and they were amazing! The stock had a really deep flavour, and the vegetables were so fresh and tasty.

I enjoyed this lots, lots, lots.

There was a half-open panelled door leading to the rear patio and its greenery on our left side. We could also hear the noises of the kitchen; it sounded very domestic, of vegetables being chopped, food being cooked, and kids laughing and playing drums with a wooden spoon on the hanging pans and pots.

Since we had “completed” Narai, we decided we’d come back to Matsumoto and find somewhere to have a coffee!