Private and Custom Tour of Japan | Kamikochi

Aug 11 | Evan | No Comments |

After short stay in Tokyo, the private (hiking) tour of Japan would continue onto one of my favorite places in Japan, Kamikochi.  Kamikochi is located in Nagano Prefecture and is only open from April through October and can only be accessed by bus or taxi, not private car.  It’s a great place to escape the crowds of Japan and get in touch with nature.  Though nature is about all that there is in Kamikochi and they intend to keep it that way with their five rules, or as I like to say, the Kamikochi Five (nice ring to it).

Basically, you aren’t allowed to feed the wild animals, you cannot take anything away from or bring any foreign species into Kamikochi, you cannot litter and keep on the paths.  Speaking of the paths, they are mostly flat either raised wood, dirt or gravel.  Easy to walk for all ages.

Kamikochi really is a photographer’s and perhaps hiker’s dream.  For this private tour of Japan, we stayed in Kamikochi for 2 nights, but easily could have stayed longer to take more photos of the mountains, lakes and streams as well as exploring by foot the natural surroundings.  While we stayed on the flat terrain, as that was enough hiking for us, there are more challenging paths up the mountains.

And did I mention there are monkeys?  Monkeys always make for some interesting observing and photographic opportunities!  A few more monkey photos from our private tour in Kamikochi and then a gallery of more monkeys and a few photos of Kamikochi.

Panoramic Kamikochi Photos

Jun 02 | Evan | No Comments |

Just a quick post today, again from Kamikochi.  After sharing my favorite black and white photos from Kamikochi, here are my favorite panoramic photos of Kamikochi.  All of these photos were simply taken with the iPhone camera’s panoramic photo tool and just cropped a little in photoshop.  If you have been looking around the blog recently, you will recognize places like Myojin Pond, Kappabashi and Taisho Pond, and if you have been looking around Japan Photo Guide recently, posts from May would be a good place to see more photos from Kamikochi!

 

 

Kamikochi in black and white

May 25 | Evan | No Comments |

From Myonjin Pond to Taisho Pond and all the wonderful places in between, it’s no secret I love Kamikochi!  I only wish I could have spent more time in this special place in the Japanese Alps to take more photographs and really explore the area.  I would have also been really happy with different kinds of weather, instead of the constant mostly sunny and barely any clouds I had for the short time I was there.  In any case, I picked 5 of my favorite photos in black and white of Kamikochi to share, but if you are just arriving to this post directly, be sure to check out the other posts and photos of Myojin Pond, Taisho Pond, Kappabashi and just walking around Kamikochi.

Walking Around Kamikochi

May 20 | Evan | No Comments |

When visiting Kamikochi, you will surely visit and get great photos of the famous sightseeing spots like Kappabashi, Myojin Pond and Taisho Pond, but also just by walking around the trails you will find spectacular scenery, nature and perhaps even some animals.  With my limited time in Kamikochi, I was always rushing from one place to the next and while I saw lot’s of places I wanted to stop and take some photos, or come back for different lighting, I didn’t have the necessary time.  When going to Kamikochi, I would highly recommend staying at least 3 days to see and photograph everything you want to and then to return to the places you need more time at.   Takezawa Marsh and Tashiro Pond are also worth checking but just walking from scenic spot to the next, you can find your own special part of Kamikochi to create art at or just to enjoy the scenery and fresh air.  Here are a few more of my favorite photos from just walking around, most of them snapshots in between the goals I was on my way to:

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