Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine February 2019 | Page 81

Travel | Nagoya
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1 On the Nakasendo route
between Tsumago and
Magome, a one-time inspection
post has been turned into a
teahouse – and this gentleman
may be there to happily serve
you a free cup of tea and to
chat about the Kiso Valley.
2 A flower display in Tsumago.
3 A rickshaw runner passes
Hokanji Temple in Kyoto’s
Higashiyama district.
The Kiso River flows past Inuyama and is a mercurial pathfinder through
the mountains, boulder-strewn valleys and thick forest to the north.
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main attraction, its castle. The central
wooden tower was erected in 1537 and is
largely untouched, making it one of only
12 ‘original’ castles in all Japan (and the
only one that’s privately owned).
The Kiso River flows past Inuyama and is
a mercurial pathfinder through the mountains,
boulder-strewn valleys and thick forest to the
north. What remains of the Nakasendo inland
route follows the Kiso for about 120km, and
though on the map it may seem an age away
from Nagoya, the direct Shinano express
train stops at Nagiso, a small valley town
on the historical path, after just an hour.
Catch the 7am departure, for example, and
you will be strolling along the well-trodden
cobbled path when the air is still pine-fresh
and heavy with dew. A morning’s hike south
along the well-signposted Nakasendo route,
which meanders through hamlets, over
streams and up hills, will first bring you
to the antique post town of Tsumago
(time for a local speciality: the chestnut-paste
sweet called kurikinton at Sawadaya), and
then on to Magome, a hillside village where
you should slurp a delicious lunch of soba
and mountain-veggie soup at Masuya noodle
house followed by a reviving espresso at
hipster Hillbilly Coffee, a little further down.
And so back to Nagoya, where sleek,
glossy modernity is a constant reminder
that this city is built on planes, trains and
automobiles. But with a little effort – and
perhaps via a journey on vehicles made in
nearby factories – it’s not too hard to
uncover the past, hidden beneath the
21 st century shimmer.
4 A must-try local dish, miso-katsu is topped with a
local variety of rich, savoury and mildly bitter miso sauce
– traditionally served with cutlets, the dish is widely
available with chicken escalope or prawn tempura.