Yuzawa
From Wikitravel
Yuzawa (湯沢) * [1] is in Niigata prefecture, in the central Chubu region of the main Japanese island Honshu.
[edit] Understand
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Snow Country
The sentence loses more than a little in the translation, but "the train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country" is among the best-known opening lines in Japan. Written in Yuzawa, which has one of the highest snowfall rates in the world — up to 5 meters per year — and was all but cut off from the rest of the country in winter, the novel tells the sad story of a hopeless love between a rich Tokyo playboy and a poor hot-spring geisha, a species quite apart from those in Kyoto and essentially a euphemism for prostitute. |
The canonical backwoods hot spring and skiing resort, Nobel prize winner Yasunari Kawabata's classic novel Snow Country (雪国 Yukiguni, see box) takes place in Yuzawa. Or so the Yuzawans claim; to be quite strict, the novel never mentions the name of its setting, but Kawabata wrote the novel while staying in Yuzawa so perhaps it's not too big a leap to make.
[edit] Get in
[edit] By train
Yuzawa is easily reached via the Echigo-Yuzawa (越後湯沢) station of the Joetsu Shinkansen line. Trains run 2-4 times per hour from Tokyo station, taking 75-90 minutes at a cost of ¥6490 (no cost with the Japan Rail Pass). Toki trains generally make fewer stops and continue on to Niigata, while Tanigawa trains terminate at Echigo-Yuzawa after stopping at all stations on the route.
In the wintertime, most Tanigawa trains continue on to the Gala Yuzawa ski resort (see Do).
[edit] Get around
[edit][add listing] See
[edit][add listing] Do
- Gala Yuzawa (ガーラ湯沢), tel. 025-785-6543, [2]. Gala Yuwaza is a ski resort with 15 runs and nine lifts, but Gala's main attraction is convenience. Gala Yuwaza is also a Shinkansen stop 1 hour 35 minutes from Tokyo. In the station, you can buy a lift ticket and rent ski equipment. From there, take a gondola ride up to the ski area. Gala Yuwaza has a respectable dining area and a spa (Onsen & unisex swimming pool, so take your bathing suit) for soaking after skiing. One-day lift ticket, ¥4500 adults/¥2100 children; one-day ski and boot rental, ¥4500 adults/¥1500 children. JR East actively promotes Gala Yuzawa; look for packages which include round-trip Shinkansen from Tokyo, lift ticket and equipment rental discounts for about the price of the train ticket alone.
- Ishiuchi is a ski resort area adjacent to Echigo-Yuzawa, easily accessible by Shinkansen (Bullet Train) from Tokyo.
[edit][add listing] Buy
[edit][add listing] Eat
- There is a great food court at the base station of the central ski resort. Lunch at Yuzawa Gogen is one of the good choice. Taking the Ropeway at Yen 1200.
[edit][add listing] Drink
[edit][add listing] Sleep
Japan's only fully foreign owned and operated Austrian-style ski lodge, STI Ski Lodge in Isiuchi
[edit] Get out
| Routes through Yuzawa |
| Niigata ← Tsubame-Sanjo ← Nagaoka ← Urasa ← | N  S
| → Jomo-Kogen → Takasaki → Tokyo |
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