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KARUIZAWA AND ONIOSHIDASHIEN |
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On the eastern edge of landlocked Nagano-ken, and lying on the
slopes of Asama-yama (at 2568m Japan's highest triple-cratered active
volcano), is the ever-fashionable summer resort of KARUIZAWA . From here
you can visit nearby Onioshidashien , an incredible landscape of lava
frozen in black clumps as it pursued a wide and destructive path down
Asama-yama. The town itself is pleasant enough, though, with a low-key
old district, Kyu-Karuizawa , where Crown Prince Akihito (now the
emperor) met his future wife, Michiko, on the tennis courts in the
1950s. Things can get very hectic in summer, when a mass of clothes
shops and giftshops open their doors to the temporary residents of the
thousands of hillside villas, but there are still traces of the natural
tranquillity that made Karuizawa so appealing to nineteenth-century
visitors.
Karuizawa's sights are widely scattered, so the best plan of attack is
to pick up the good English map and guidebook of the area from the
tourist information hut (daily 9am-5pm; tel 0267/42-2491) at the station.
The most enjoyable way of exploring is by bicycle ; you can rent one
from the many nearby outlets (¥500 an hour). Otherwise, hop on a bus
from in front of Karuizawa Station for Kyu-Karuizawa and the Old Mikasa
Hotel .
Heading north from the station, past the row of shops, brings you to a
pedestrianized street dubbed "little Ginza", but more resembling Tokyo's
teen-scene Takeshita-dori . At the end of this street, you'll emerge
into a forest; look out for the quaint wooden Nippon Seikokai (Anglican)
Chapel with a bust of Archdeacon Shaw, who helped popularize the area as
a retreat, standing in front. Services are held in the church every
Sunday and in the priest's old house, behind the church, you can see
photographs of the man and his family. If you have time, it's a nice
two-kilometre cycle ride or hike up to the secluded Old Mikasa Hotel ,
an elegant wooden building dating from 105, which now houses a small
missable museum. Follow the main road, Mikasa-dori, due north from the
chapel.
The fastest route to Karuizawa is by train on the Hokuriku Shinkansen
between Tokyo and Nagano. Other services only go as far as Yokokawa
Station, from where you have to travel up to Karuizawa by bus from the
valley below. Karuizawa is the kind of place you would likely enjoy as
the guest of a Japanese business associate, and better deals on
accommodation can be had elsewhere, but if you are stuck for somewhere
cheap, there's the Kokumin Shukusha Karuizawa Kogen-so (tel
0267/48-2111; ¥5000-7000, including two meals) a publicly subsidized and
rather basic holiday lodge, fifteen minutes southwest of Karuizawa
Station by taxi. The three Prince hotels (tel 0267/42-1111;
¥15,000-30,000), in their sprawling compound just to the south of the
station, offer tennis, golf, ice skating, and even their own small ski
area; opt for the comfortable cottages in the east complex. The Mampei
Hotel (tel 0267/42-1234, fax 42-7766; ¥20,000-40,000) established in
1894, has a quirky rambling elegance, and its food and service are
first-rate - John Lennon spent several summers here. While good deals on
accommodation are hard to find in Karuizawa, reasonable restaurants are
plentiful, especially in Kyu-Karuizawa, where soba shops abound, and
many fashionable Tokyo restaurants have branches: try the Ajanti Indian
Restaurant , a good place for vegetarians, at Kyu-Karuizawa near the
fire station.
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