To reach Tateyama mountain, we took : 1) underground electric bus to the Kurobe dam 2) an underground funicular, 3) a cable car, and then 4) another underground electric bus that crosses the summit of the mountain to reach the Tateyama resort. Unfortunately there was no view because of persistent rain on that day but we enjoyed some tasty instant rice backpacking meals on the floor of a nature conservation museum, priceless!

In the Nagano prefecture, you can visit a wasabi farm. The wasabi root has an extremely strong flavor akin to hot mustard and is it most commonly seen as a green paste used in sushi. You can walk freely in wasabi farm and observe how the root is cultivated. It basically grows directly in water in a system of man-made basins where water from a river is channeled to continuously irrigate the plants. At the farm, you can also taste many different food made with wasabi such as the teriyaki wasabi-croquette-burger and wasabi ice-cream.

Hakuba is a ski resort in Nagano prefecture where ski events of the 1998 Olympics took place. We didn’t see much that day because of the bad weather but we went all the way to Happo Ike (Happo pond) and shared a nice snack of cucumber and miso. We finished the day with a peek at the ski jumping facilities used during the Olympics. Athletes can practice their jump in summer on the special green surface but sadly nobody was practicing while we where there (would have made a nice video!).