Nikko to Omachi.

November 5, 2025 - Transfer to Omachi and the foothills of the Japanese alps. Catch the bus to the Yunishigawa Onsen Station. There transfer to a local train to tochigi Station. From there transfer to JR trains - first to Takasaki where you transfer to Ueda. At Ueda you are met by a driver for a 2 hour drive to Omachi.

I realized I had just enough cash to change my ticket and get myself to Tochigi, so no need to race to the post office ATM this morning.  I ended up having Google translate wars with a rather gruff young man at the front desk trying to get some information.  At one point the answer to my question had to do with watermelons and I just broke out laughing.  He was not amused- I guess he lost face… don’t care- will never see him again.

Breakfast was the same as yesterday, so no need for more photos today

The bus trip to the station was the same, but a bit different than the first one. It was along the same road but I got off at a different spot.  The scenery was lovely- full fall colors. 

For some train fares you pay via the Suica card, but you also pay for an assigned seat.  I still don’t understand exactly what I did wrong, but finally got through the barrier and no one chased me for money.  Amazingly I was able to change the ticket and catch the 10:24 train within the 15 minutes available.  

The next train change was in Tochigi- a not-very-charming town.  I had enough time to get cash and my reserved seat ticket for the final leg of today’s journey.  I have to be honest that I was awake for over 2 hours worrying and doing contingency planning for today’s journey, just in case I missed a connection. 

The temperatures have been steadily falling as I increased altitude towards the foothills- glad I packed my down coat and will look into buying some crampons this afternoon.

Still love the bullet trains.  Had the nicest bathroom on a train I’ve ever used.  The same crazy toilet with a heated seat.  No photos because I thought that might be a bit creepy - taking photos of a toilet on a train…

At the station I met my driver, Susumo, for the 2 hour drive to Omachi.  The average speed was 50mph up to/through the foothills, finally arriving at the Hoshino Kai Alps lodge. 

The road was very windy and there were fewer fall colors as we made our way up in altitude.

We had a brief rest stop along the way - even the port-o-potties had fancy toilets - no, no photos....

I chose this place because the ryokan I wanted wasn’t responding to requests for reservations and figured it would be good because it was a sister property to the Hoshino Tokyo which I liked 2 years ago.  

I had a very bad impression of this place.  In all my travels, including to Las Vegas, I’ve never been asked to put a credit card towards a room in case of the following:  didn’t separate trash correctly, stole things, moved furniture, etc - see photo.  I had single beds (I could live with this), but didn’t have a choice for dinner time, only the 7:30 seating was available, so that was also disappointing. I understood later that these sort of requirements are due to Chinese tourists who appear to steal everything not bolted down.

On the plus side, my room had a private onsen which I enjoyed.

Before dinner I really wanted to go for a walk since I had been sitting since 9:16 that morning.  I was told there are bears in the area and I should bring bear bells - conveniently offered at the end of the front desk….  I did go for a walk, didn't have to pay for the bells and did not encounter any bears.

After the last few nights, this dinner was really disappointing.  The presentation was lovely, buy the quality was so much worse.  The sukiyaki, while presented wonderfully, was to be put into a bowl with a raw egg and milk (?) and the egg didn’t cook, so I just couldn’t eat that.

I fretted during the night because it was too late to get my tickets for tomorrow - I had to do it earlier in the day and didn’t realize it.  We’ll see how this goes in the morning and hopefully I don’t have to wait too long…..