Matsumoto 松本市 - Nagano

9/17/2014

Matsumoto Castle 松本城

I would describe Matsumoto as the common Japanese town that doesn't have much to offer in terms of sights, but its location makes it an ideal base for exploring the Japanese Alps that are literally a stone's throw away. In so many ways this was just the most convenient town - from getting there with the train to getting out to the mountains. There's only one station and it has all the connections needed, plus you could walk basically to any hotel from there.

Other than that, the town surprised us with couple of really good restaurants, a beautiful castle and generally easy-going vibes; it almost felt as if it would've been a "small" town (and I guess in Japanese scale it is) with its almost quarter million people. Another thing that really took us by surprise was that the majority of hotels were booked out, and we literally had to go around the town to find any available rooms. After running around for an hour or so, we ended up in a Super Hotel (a hotel chain in Ikea colours) next to the station...initially not too inviting but like always in Japan, very clean and neat for a "budget hotel". Although there was nothing budget about the price actually. A lesson learned: Always book in advance for Matsumoto, since it's quite a popular place for weekend expeditions.

So, what you can expect from this place is amazing nature around it and interesting places to discover in the vicinity (in case you like wasabi, check this out), a beautiful castle and an authentic taste of life in a mid-sized Japanese city with notably less foreign tourists and good connections to pretty much anywhere around it.

THE MATSUMOTO CASTLE

EATING OUT

We actually had a couple of out-of-ordinary eateries here, so a quick word for those. First one was across the train station in this local "fast food" hub. We ordered and paid the food in this vending machine type of thing that spit out a ticket, which we then passed over to the counter. Few minutes later we got your food and sat across the semicircle table eating our noodle soups. And I'm guessing it's not very often that foreign tourist end up here judging by the amusement we evoked in fellow customers.

Another completely different type of food scene was in a very traditional restaurant where we were taken to our own secluded room that had a ring bell on the table for calling in the waiter. In short, we rang the bell whenever we wanted something and aside from the waiter, we didn't really see another person during that dinner. And the food, especially the sushi, was some of the best we had had so far!

The third encounter was in one of those popular local pub / brasserie type of place where you order bunch of different foods that come in small proportions. Very good food but unfortunately there was and is a major issue with smoking in restaurants, as a matter of fact, in all Japan. The ironic thing is that you'll see often signs "no smoking" on streets (!) and furthermore it's not only allowed but preferred inside the buildings. Sometimes if you're lucky, you'll be taken to a small non-smoker corner of the restaurant...yea, sounds like the total opposite of what we're used to. However, the point here being that depending on your budget you can find all kinds of places to eat in Matsumoto - all the way from top notch places to the street food stuff...and it all tasted pretty good to us. Oh, and last but not least (or maybe the least Japanese alternative) there are these French bakeries (can't recall the exact name) at many stations that has seriously delicious pastries, both savoury and sweet, you can indulge in when missing something "homely"...