NOZAWA ONSEN: Where to Stay and Where/What to eat

Alright, so over the last few days, apart from working, I've also been very busy trying to plan our January Niseko trip. And it's very energy and time consuming because we've never been to Niseko so we really have to start researching everything from ground zero.
And sometimes you really wonder " where do I start? "

For me, I always start with " what to eat in ( insert place) "

So because I'm feeling extra nice today, ( actually know la, I just like being helpful :p ) I shall
type this concise post introducing Nozawa onsen to you, so that you don't have to go thru what I went thru last year, trying to piece together information from everywhere while I research Nozawa.

This is a very useful self explanatory picture. Essentially tells the the schedule of the shinkansen you can take from Tokyo, what time it reaches Iiyama and the nozawa liner schedule that will take you to nozawa chuo station.

Stay 
I highly recommend the family runned ryokan we stayed at - Nakajimaya Ryokan ( click).

The reasons why I really like this place, and will definitely stay here again if I'm ever back in Nozawa are:

1) It is really near the nozawa chuo bus terminal ( about 10 mins walk). However the hosts are really nice, they offer to pick and send you to the bus terminal in their mini van for free ( that black van in the background on the left)

2) It's located on Bear street which is a quick 5 min walk from the main shopping street - O yu Dori

3) It's a family runned ryokan, both husband and wife speak really good english.

4) They serve REALLY yummy and filling breakfast - perfect energy booster before you hit the slopes. There's 4 different breakfast menu and it rotates everyday so unless you stay more than 4 days, you'll never eat a repeated menu.

5) There's an onsen in the ryokan itself, but if you like bathing with many people, there's a public onsen/bath located just opposite the ryokan 

6) There's a taxidermied bear just as you enter the Ryokan. 

hehehhe, I've never seen a taxidermied bear before. Don't recall seeing any taxidermied animals before actually hmmm.

Whilst it's aesthetically alright to place the bear facing the entrance, however, if I were them, I'll have the bear standing upright and just beside the entrance.  I'll also install a motion activated sound sensor, such that when someone passes the entrance there'll be a growling bear sound.
Can you imagine, if you're a burglar and it's dark at night and you come into the ryokan and suddenly instead of a guard dog you see this HUGE grizzly bear just towering over you growling?! 

WAH, SO SCARY. 

Eat

1) Wagyu Tei ( read here ) 

2) Toyo Ramen ( Read here) 

3) Hamachozushi ( Read here) 

4) Daimon Soba ( Read here) 

5) Haus St Anton  on oyu dori street

I highly recommend going to this place for dessert after dinner. They serve the BEST ice cream in town! my favourite is the buckwheat ( soba) flavoured ice cream. 

If you're feeling peckish after a ski run, they also serve bao outside their shop. However, I think if you're having a good dinner after, i think you should keep your stomach for dinner and dessert instead of wasting space on this bao. 

6) Nagano Apple

Nagano is very famous for their apples! There's alot of shops on the shopping street selling them. Enxin bought 5 apples from this old lady whose shop was just filled with apples. 

We bought the most expensive which cost 1000yen for each. So good and crunchy! 

7) Nozawana (野沢菜)

Nick insisted I make a special mention about this famous nozawa pickled vegetable. We have this vegetable at breakfast everyday and it's really nick's, mine, enxin's and yihan's nightmare.
I guess this must be an acquired taste just like pickles. We really dislike it.
But hey, it's famous, so you really ought to give it a try :D
And the Japanese love it! Nick's dad had a special request by his friend who's living in Tokyo to buy 1kg of this nozawana back for him :/

Wah, okay, I was gonna continue to blog about where to take a day trip to, but I'm just so traumatised thinking about the nozawana i feel like my soul has left my body.
So I guess we shall have to wait till the next post :/