shinshu nagano-zenkojishita-nagano-tokyo

It had been over 20 years since I had been to Zenkoji

When I first came to Japan back in 2001, we went with Satoshi's co-workers by car from Osaka to Nagano

It was Golden Week and the traffic was so awful...

Anyway, I don't remember that much about Zenkoji, so it was nice to reconnect 

We were there early so it wasn't too krazy with people

This pillar looked like it was twisted...

The leaves were so beautiful

Glad that most of these areas were roped off so that there weren't hoards of people in there...

At about 11:00-ish the head priest (I think) walked through blessing everyone on one side of the walkway

Lunch was at Kado no Daimaru

Apparently they have been in business since 1703!

Kat had their tenzaru...while the soba was delicious

The tempura was disappointing...the outer coating was hard and dry

Satoshi had their sansai (mountain greens) soba...his looked way better

Across the street is Yawataya Isogoro...famous for their shichimi (7 spice)

They have a lot of variations to choose from, even an area to make a custom blend

Around the corner we saw their "so teeny" truck

From Zenkoji walking down to JR Nagano station, we saw all sorts of beautiful leaves

We tried kuri dorayaki from Sakurai Kanseido...they have been in business for over 200 years! so good! 

On the way back to Tokyo, we were lucky to see Mount Fuji as we passed through Saitama

We bought sauce katsu sandwiches for dinner from Meijitei...it turns out that we had tried them before when we were in Osaka.

Their katsu was so delicious, no fat, just tender pork

We ate a lot, saw a lot and walked quite a lot.

I hope you enjoyed this adventure as much as we did.

Kado no Daimaru

504 Nagano Daimoncho

Nagano, Nagano

Hours: 9:30-16:45

*cash only

Yawataya Isogoro

83 Daimoncho

Nagano, Nagano

Hours: 9:00-18:30

Sakurai Kanseido

1-22-6 Minami Chitose, Midori 2F

Nagano, Nagano

Hours: 9:00-20:00

Closed when Midori is