Map of Nagano Prefecture

We live in Kamisuwa, to the east of Lake Suwa. Alison works at high schools in Kamisuwa, Shimosuwa and Fujimi. Darius teaches in Kamisuwa and Chino. We have friends in most of the towns in Nagano, and visit Shirojiri, Matsumoto and Nagano quite frequently.

Nagano is the home of the Japan Alps, and is famous for excellent hiking and outdoor sports. In fact, that's the main reason we picked Nagano as our #1 choice!! Mt. Yatsugatake is a set of 8 mountains that are super beautiful and popular for climbing. We've been there several times. 'Yatsu' means 8 and 'take' means peaks, so it's a fitting name!

When we go to Tokyo, we take the Chuo line south east past Fujimi. It's about two hours to Tokyo, and about US$80 per person.