The first major revision to our travel plan starts at Aizu-Wakamatsu (Aizu). Without a car, we are unable to make it comfortably to Matsumoto and then travel to neighbouring Gifu prefecture to take in the sights of rural postal towns like Magome and Tusmago-juku. These towns are not on the main train routes and require either travelling to a big transport hub like Tokyo or taking local inter town buses which is hard for us to navigate.
In what might be a stroke of luck, we are now going to adopt two cities as our base for the rest of our travel, giving us a chance to really get to know a place. We'll stay for three nights in Aizu and four nights in Nagoya. Aizu is a small rural town rich in history and Nagoya is Japan's third largest city with 2.3 millions people, home to Toyota. These are two significantly different types of cities with hopefully enough variety to make up for the change in plans.
Aizu is a city deeply involved in the economics, politics and warfare of Japan's history. However, you would not know that by walking around town. It is a sleepy little town with little traffic and few tourists. To be honest, our first impressions were not good. It was wet and cold. Nothing seemed pretty and inviting. The beauty of having more time during a holiday is that it gave us an opportunity to take a breather and gradually peel back the surface of a place.
Over the course of the next few days, we joined fellow tourists (primarily Japanese travellers) on the hop on hop off bus the, visiting the amazing Sazedo temple, Oyakuen Garden and Samurai residences. While the bus was useful, Aizu is a town small enough to walk. Unlike Morioka, distances here between sights were manageable. Apart from the tourist hot spots mentioned earlier, many traditional houses dot the inner city. Retail and hospitality business occupy the beautiful buildings, catering to locals and tourists alike. Unlike tourist hotspots, they are not in a any brochure and the only way to encounter them is by walking.
Tsurugajo Castle is the only disappointing venue we encountered on this trip. The keep of the castle was reconstructed following a traditional sacking by the victors in a battle. However, the rebuild was, in our opinion, not sympathetic to the nature of the site. The exterior retained the look and feel of a Japan keep but the interior was modern with clean lines. That is strange for a country like Japan, skilled in the art of preservation, ensuring the outcome looks like it was always there . It felt like Disney land. In fact, the best part of the historical site was the moat out front.
Regardless, the town really hit the right spot for us. We rate Aizu " Worth Visiting".
