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Highlights for Obuse and Suzaka from Nagano City
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Joined 2019
You can visit some lovely places near Nagano Station, such as Obuse and Suzaka.
Obuse is a small but pleasant town where Hokusai, the ukiyoe woodblock print artist known for "The Great Wave," lived in his later years. Entering the Museum and eating delicious chestnut sweets will bring back good memories.
Suzaka is famous for its warehouses, which give a good atmosphere and are now used as stores and museums. Garyu Park also provides a beautiful sight in each of the four seasons.
Itinerary
This itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Send me a message with your requests!
Meeting Point
Nagano Station or your Accomodation
Nagano Station of Nagano Dentetsu Line
At 9:53 a.m., an express train will depart from the Nagano Station of Nagano Dentetsu LIne for Yudanaka Station.
Therefore, we should meet around 9:30 a.m. and board the train after a brief meeting.
Obuse Town
10:16 Train arrives at Obuse Station.
A: Hokusai Museum: Taste his life and delightful works at the Museum of Hokusai, famous for The Great Wave.
B: Eat sweets: Taste Japanese sweets at Obusedo or Chikufudo, famous for their chestnuts.
C: Ichimura Sake Brewery: If you are more interested in sake than sweets, try the delicious sake here
D: The appearance of Obusedo as you enter through the main entrance is calming.
If you like Obuse Town, take the later Train.
E: Ganshoin Temple: You can see a Hokusai's large ceiling painting there. Taking a cab is necessary.
F: Takai Kozan Memorial Museum: A supporter of Hokusai, a calligrapher and painter.
G: Obuse Museum: You can see Japanese paintings and festival floats.
Lunch
Would you like to try soba noodle or chestnut rice? A Japanese restaurant run by sake brewery is also delicious.
The train to Suzaka departs from Obuse Station at 13:55.
Suzaka City
14:02 Train arrives at Suzaka Station.
Enjoy the streets with warehouses, first.
A: The Former Odagiri Family Residence: an impressive building with four earthen storehouses featuring white plaster-finished clay walls and stone masonry.
B: Festival Floats Exhibition Hall: Suzaka Festival is held in July 21-25. Floats are main features in the festival.
C: Tanaka Honke Museum: visitors can enjoy strolling through the garden in each of the four seasons.
D: Garyu Park: many citizens visit the park and relax throughout the year.
Take the train of 16:12 or 16:39.
Ending Point
Nagano Station
Want to personalize this tour?
This tour can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Click below to send me a message with your requests.
Inclusions & Exclusions
guide fee
Please kindly cover my transportation, admission, and meal fees during the tour. My transportation cost from home to Nagano is 6,000 yen.
Admission fees for museum are necessary.
If you prefer, my compact car is available for a day with 5,000 yen. (Fees for expressways are excluded.)
And extra tour duration: 1 hour 5,000 yen.
Tour Important Information
*It takes 1 hour and a half for me to come to Nagano City from my home, so please note that I cannot accept a request for a tour of less than 5 hours.
* Please let me know in advance if you have any food allergies or other dietary restrictions.
*If there are less than 3 people, you can get around in my compact car.
In that case, going to a fruit farm in the area is a good idea. (Depends on the time of year).
Cancellation Policy
- Free cancellation - 8 days prior to meeting time
- 50% Refund - 3 to 7 days prior to meeting time
- No Refund - Within 2 day(s) prior to meeting time
Joined 2019
About Tour Guide Keiichi S.
Hello! My name is Keiichi. Please call me Kei.
I was born and raised in Joetsu City, located in the southern part of Niigata prefecture. Joetsu was the former capital city of Echigo Province until the mid 19th century. It has a lot of historic sites and scenic spots, and most of all good people. I love my city very much.
I worked for the Joetsu City office for over thirty years. During my time there, I was in charge of international relations for about ten years. After retiring from the office, I began working as a licensed tour guide. I am very excited to introduce my city to people all over the world.
Reviews
Nikki K.
“Snow Monkey Tour and more! ”
Kei was awesome. We met on time and he had planned our day well. He was informative and shared with us places we might not have gone ourselves. Snow monkey, Obuse Town, a traditional Japanese meal and a local museum. Highly recommend Kei! Thank you for the family photos. Arigato gozaimasu Kei-san
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Keiichi S.
Thank you so much for your wonderful review and the high rating. I truly enjoyed guiding you and spending the day with you and your two daughters. It was a pleasure to share the snow monkeys, Obuse, the traditional Japanese meal, and the local museum together. Japan has many interesting places not only in Tokyo and Kyoto but also in the countryside, so I hope you will visit Japan again and explore more regional areas. Thank you again for choosing me as your guide. Arigatou gozaimashita, and I look forward to seeing you again someday! Kei
Li H.
“Wonderfull Day Tour of Snow Monkey and Obuse Town”
We wanted to photograph the snow monkeys in snowy conditions and with help from Kei (and Mother Nature) - we had the perfect condition on the day we went. Kei provided suggestions with timing (getting there early and on a weekday), train schedules and also other places to visit while in the area. I appreciate that he responded to my many questions right away. He was very patient with us while we were photographing the snow monkeys for most of the morning and he very kindly photographed us throughout our day and shared the photos with us at the end of our trip. We went out for lunch and toured around the quaint town of Obuse before heading back to Tokyo. I also enjoyed the various facts Kei shared about the surrounding area and also fun to chat with him about life in Japan. I highly recommend Kei for your next adventure!
Keiichi S.
Dear Li, Thank you again for joining my tour and for your wonderful review. It really made my day. It was my first time guiding professional photographers, and I was so impressed by how patiently you followed your subjects and waited for the perfect moment. If you managed to capture some shots that you like, I’m really happy – and if you don’t mind, I would love to see a few of them! I also took some photos of the two of you while you were working. If you like those pictures, that would make me very happy. There are so many other great spots for snowy landscapes in this region, so I really hope we can explore some of them together on another trip in the future. Warmest regards, Kei
L L.
“What a wonderful experience!”
We were fortunate to be able to have Mr. Kei as our guide, He was personal, engaging and knowledgeable. Our main goal of visiting Nagano was to see the famous snow monkeys, we have first planned to use the public transportation but sincere there were only the two of us( husband and I) Mr. Kei kindly offered to drive us in his small car , it was great ! We were able to reach our destination earlier- avoided more crowds and also gained interesting tidbits of local information along the way. Mr. Kei was certainly very familiar with the Judokudani snow monkey park, he knew every turn and slippery slopes well , patiently cautioned us where to slow down - I appreciated it much because I was clumsy and already had an injured hand. He also knew exactly where to take some really fantastic photos. All in all the trip was even more wonderful than we expected, thanks to Mr. Kei for helping us to create a beautiful and lasting memory. Lulu
Keiichi S.
Dear Lulu, Thank you very much for your wonderful review and kind words about my guiding. We were really lucky to have such beautiful blue skies that day, which made our time together even more enjoyable. I was also very happy that we could take a photo together in front of your hotel at the end of the tour – it became a very nice memory for me as well. I hope the rest of your stay in Japan was safe, relaxing, and full of great experiences. Warm regards, Kei
$226/ per group
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