Day 10 In Japan : A Romantic Ride On The Bessho Line

Day 10 was a day for us to enjoy a relaxing day in a Japanese Inn and soak in onsens! Lovely.

Due to last minute traveling date change, we were unable to reserve the room we wanted at Tsurunoyu Onsen in Nyuto Onsenkyo so we decided to try and make a trip to Bessho Onsen instead.

Bessho Onsen is located in the east region of Nagano prefecture, almost in the centre of Japan. It is considered to be the onsen with the oldest history in Nagano with several important cultural monuments in the area. More info about the area in my later post. Wait for it!

Taking the Nagano shinkansen, we made a stop at Ueda station. Ueda is the home of the Sanada Clan, a powerful warrior family of feudal Japan. If you like samurais, you can even see several samurai armours at the Ueda station!

Ueda is also the location where a mang a series and also an a nime titled Summer Wars was based on. If you like to know more about the movie (and of Ueda's history), visit Ueda Convention Bureau site.

After a couple of hours walking around the Ueda Station and me doing some shopping at  a nearby Ito Yokado, we took the electric train on the Bessho line to Bessho Onsen.

Such cute motifs for the Ueda Electric Railway Bessho Line, don't you agree?

Raimie inside the train. The train moves at a leisurely pace so it was rather nice to look out and enjoy the view of the countryside. This line goes through residential areas and we passed houses that literally inches away from the railway track and train!

Me and Raimie with the stationmaster of Bessho Onsen. She had such a nice uniform, I couldn't resist complimenting her and asked her to pose for a photo with us.

Going to Bessho Onsen, we got on the train with lovely and colourful motifs. The train for our return journey was similarly visually pleasing but this time, the train has a retro vibe to it. Love the artwork on the train's ceiling depicting each of the stations from Ueda Station all the way to Bessho Onsen. See that old looking fan on the train's ceiling? It is fully functioning and not a speck of dust on it too!