Planning a 3 trip somewhere not to far from Shizuoka with a friend?

[TokyoJoeblow]

So I have a good friend visiting Japan early next month for 2 weeks and we want to hangout and travel to some interesting place or places for a few days.

Since I'm going to need to save money for moving into my new apartment in Hamamatsu City, I don't want to spend too much money traveling to somewhere really far away from Shizuoka prefecture.

The last time he visited, we traveled to a lot of famous spots in Nagano, Gifu and also Kanazawa. We mostly visited cities like Nagano, Matsumoto, Takayama and Shirakawago village.

This time we were thinking of visiting Kamikochi and more nature hiking areas, but because typhoon Hagibis recently slammed that area, I'm tying to find out which areas are alright to visit and which are not recommended.

I found this link which shows with train lines are operating and which ones are shut down:
https://www.japan-guide.com/news/alerts.html

From the map I noticed that at least half of Nagano prefecture was affected by the typhoon (shown in red) but I know certain areas were completely flooded and damaged while others were more mildly affected. It looks like Kamikochi is completely outside of the area heavily affected by the typhoon, so we might be alright. I'm checking various news sites as well.

Even if it turns out the Kamikochi area is alright to travel to now as far as the typhoon situation, my friend wants to know if going on a hiking trail say through Tsugaike Nature Park would involve hiking up some steep mountains with snow?

Based on the photos I have looked at of Tsugaike, it doesn't look really difficult to hike and there are even these wooden planks you can walk along. Has anyone traveled to this general area during autumn?

 

[Rusty Trombone]

Worst affected are was a place just north of Nagano City.
Access from Nagoya has been running since the days after the typhoon.
Kamikochi looks like it closes for the season on Nov 15.

Koyo in Tsugaike will probably be done by Nov. But the walk is pretty flat if you stick to the boardwalk course, and even if you do the larger loop it is not that difficult. The walk from the top of the ropeway to the entrance may be the steepest. However if you head up to Tengupara and Norikura it is quite hard going.

 

[outtatime]

How about some hikes around shiga prefecture? Biwa-ko has some great day hikes starting from the lake stretching up to the surrounding mountains.

Not particularly strenuous hikes, but nice small local towns in that area.

 

[TokyoJoeblow]

Worst affected are was a place just north of Nagano City.
Access from Nagoya has been running since the days after the typhoon.
Kamikochi looks like it closes for the season on Nov 15.

Koyo in Tsugaike will probably be done by Nov. But the walk is pretty flat if you stick to the boardwalk course, and even if you do the larger loop it is not that difficult. The walk from the top of the ropeway to the entrance may be the steepest. However if you head up to Tengupara and Norikura it is quite hard going.

Thanks for the information. Luckily, my friend won't leave Japan until Novemeber 15th and he will arrive two weeks prior, so we will have a chance to check out that area before they close up. So possibly Kamikochi or the Tsugaike boardwalk course.

 

[TokyoJoeblow]

How about some hikes around shiga prefecture? Biwa-ko has some great day hikes starting from the lake stretching up to the surrounding mountains.

Not particularly strenuous hikes, but nice small local towns in that area.

Well, I appreciate the friendly response. I was researching into Shiga prefecture because it is one of the areas that wasn't affected by the typhoon. Kyoto prefecture is another possibility (not just Kyoto City).

By the way, you never mentioned why you hate Shizuoka prefecture so much...there is a lot of great nature here and you seem like you enjoy nature.

 

[TokyoJoeblow]

It looks like I'm going to be busier than I thought next month. I might just visit my friend in Tokyo a couple days or have him check out Hamanako since I'm moving to Hamamatsu City anyway. That would also save me a lot of money. I don't plan on sex mongering or anything if I go to Tokyo. I would mainly just check out some interesting areas and maybe splurge a little on beers and good food.