Onsen Town Togura-Kamiyamada Audio Tour KaraKoro

If you’ve made it this far into the Togura-Kamiyamada Onsen audio tour, you’re probably ready for a break. Stop 30 is the perfect place. Shiokawa makes manju – those ubiquitous pastries filled with sweet adzuki bean paste that you’ll find in onsen areas throughout Japan. Shiokawa also makes apricot sundaes, featuring our area’s tangy apricots that go so nicely with the smoothness of vanilla ice cream.

Take your apricot sundae and walk a block south to the Kara-Koro Footbath. Your feet deserve a soak after that long tour. Indulge in the wonderfulness of the ice cream as your feet rejuvenate in the onsen water, and reflect on all the new memories you made here at onsen town, Togura-Kamiyamada.

Stop 29 on the Togura-Kamiyamada Onsen audio tour is a shop called Fashion House Beniya. It is a clothing store on Kamiyamada’s main street, run by Saito-san who we hear in the background. He’s the third generation owner of the shop and while he mostly carries regular Western-styled clothes he also has a selection of Wafuku – traditional Japanese clothes.

Most foreigners probably picture kimonos when they think of Wafuku, but that would be like saying tuxedos are the main type of clothing in the West. There is a wide variety of traditional Japanese clothing, everything from padded coats called hanten down to the fundoshi loin cloths. One thing all wafuku has in common, and something that differentiates it from Western clothing, is there are no buttons or zippers For example, the yukata robes that guests at the ryokans get are given to wear are wrapped around and held in place by a sash called an obi.

Beniya does sell yukata by the way so if you end up liking them from your ryokan you can purchase one to take home. Beniya also offers “1-Point Wafuku Lessons”. You can make an appointment to have Saito-san demonstrate the basics of traditional Japanese clothes. Participants can try on some and have their picture taken with Beniya’s fine formal Japanese garden and koi pond in the background.

2 blocks down Shin-sekai Dori aka the New World Road, to the west of Kamiyamada’s main street, is Stop 28, a tea shop called Kimijima-en. With over 30 hotels and inns in the onsen town, all serving tea to their guests, it’s no wonder Togura-Kamiyamada Onsen has tea stores.

While Kimijima-en also sells traditional Japanese tableware, they specialize in green tea and offer a wide variety including their own original blend.

The proprietor, Yasu Kimijima is a certified tea instructor. With prior arrangements, you can take a lesson on the finer points of pouring a delicious cup of Japanese green tea.

Two side streets coming off Chuo-dori, Kamiyamada’s main street, are Omoide-dori and Shinsekai-dori. Literally meaning “Memory Lane” and “New World Road”, these two avenues form the heart of the bar district. Here you will find literally over a hundred bars and drinking establishments. At night time, the bar girls will be out trying to entice people perusing the bar district to come in for karaoke and for some lively conversation.

Also in the bar district you will find 3 shateki stands, which are cork gun target shooting parlors. When spending the night at one of the ryokans in town, after dinner go for a stroll in your yukata robe and slip on a pair of wooden geta sandals. It’s fun to go clip-clopping around town and trying your hand at shateki. If you’re a good shot, you may pick up some extra souvenirs to take home.

Chuo-Dori is stop 26 on the Togura Kamiyamada Onsen audio tour. This road is the main street for Kamiyamada Onsen. It is lined with many of the main hotels and inns of the onsen town.

Sprinkled amongst the places of lodging are a handful of soba restaurants and unique shops, such as a stationery store featuring Showa-era toys and candy, and a stained glass shop that offers hands-on activities.

On the corner of Ginza-Dori and this main street is a convenience store with its own onsen footbath in front. Of the thousands of convenience stores in Japan, this is the only one with a footbath, just another sign that Togura-Kamiyamada is an onsen town.

Thanks to being located along the banks of the Chikuma River, Togura-Kamiyamada Onsen has a rich fishing heritage. At Shimaya, stop25 on the audio tour, they have been specializing in preserving river fish in a sweet marinate, a food called kanroni, for 3 generations.

From outside Shimaya, you can smell the sweet aroma of the fish stewing in the huge vats. Step into the store past the tanks of live fish to the tasting room where you can sample the kanroni.

Shimaya also makes bottles of uruka, a salty seasoning made with fish innards. Uruka is an acquired taste, but it goes oh so well with sake.