Matsumoto Castle
Japan's Premier Black Castle
One of Japan's five National Treasure castles, famous for its striking black exterior and alpine ...
Tsumago-juku
Japan's best-preserved Nakasendo post town where cars are banned from the historic center, offeri...
Zenko-ji
Zenko-ji Temple
One of Japan's most important and popular temples, home to the first Buddhist statue ever brought...
Obuse
A charming small town in northern Nagano famous for the Hokusai Museum, beautifully landscaped st...
Jigokudani Monkey Park
Snow Monkeys Bathing in Hot Springs
The world-famous site where wild Japanese macaques bathe in natural hot springs, especially photo...
Kamikochi
Kamikochi Alpine Valley
Japan's premier alpine valley in the Northern Japan Alps, featuring the crystal-clear Azusa River...
Suwa Taisha
Suwa Taisha - One of Japan's Oldest and Most Revered Shrines
One of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan, spread across four buildings around Lake Suwa and famo...
Narai-juku
Narai-juku - The Best-Preserved Nakasendo Post Town
The best-preserved of the Nakasendo's eleven post towns in the Kiso Valley, with a kilometer-long...
Togakushi Shrine
Five-Shrine Complex with a Cedar-Lined Approach
A Shinto shrine complex of five shrines at the base of Mount Togakushi, with an Okusha approach l...
Karuizawa
Highland Resort Town with Shopping and Waterfalls
A highland resort town in eastern Nagano known for cool summers, outlet shopping, and nearby wate...
Utsukushigahara
Highland Plateau with an Open-Air Sculpture Museum
A highland plateau at about 2,000 metres straddling Matsumoto and Ueda, home to an open-air sculp...
Bessho Onsen
Historic Hot Spring Town Known as the Kamakura of Shinshu
A historic hot spring town outside Ueda City, nicknamed the Kamakura of Shinshu for its concentra...
Senjojiki Cirque
Glacial Cirque in the Central Alps by Ropeway
A glacial cirque at about 2,600 metres in the Central Alps above Komagane, reached by the Komagat...
Lake Nojiri
Lake Nojiri: Ice Age Elephants Dug from the Lakebed by Volunteers
Nagano's second-largest lake after Suwa, near the Niigata border, where Naumann elephant fossils ...
Lake Suwa
A Lake at 759 m Known for Its August 15 Fireworks and Onsen Town
Nagano's largest lake, about 16 km round, with the hot-spring town of Kami-Suwa on its eastern sh...