❖ JR Nakatsugawa Station, Main Exit

Your private guide meets you at the Main Exit of JR Nakatsugawa Station. The station is easily reached by train in about 65 minutes from Nagoya, 80 minutes from Matsumoto or 200 minutes from Takayama, and by bus in around 40 minutes from Magome.

❖ The Historic Backstreets of Nakatsugawa

Leaving the station behind, you slip into the historic centre of Nakatsugawa, once the major hub of the area for its lumber and silk fibre industries. Here the streets narrow into quiet lanes where only walking is possible, lined with dark wooden facades, small water channels and the occasional old merchant storehouse. The confining, intimate scale lets you feel a genuine sense of familiarity with the people who live here, taking in the sights, sounds and scents of a town that has kept its Edo period character.

❖ Sweet Shops, Everyday Life and Origami

As you wander deeper into the old town, you come across its many traditional sweet shops, several with hundreds of years of history strung along the route of the old Nakasendo. Many keep their doors open to passers-by and are glad to welcome you inside to rest a while over a taste of local Japanese confectionery. This is the everyday, lived-in side of Japan, discovered slowly and on foot. Along the way you also try a simple origami craft, folding a paper samurai helmet (kabuto) and sword as a small hands-on encounter with Japanese tradition.

❖ Return to JR Nakatsugawa Station, Main Exit

After around three and a half hours exploring the backstreets on foot, the walk brings you back to JR Nakatsugawa Station, where your tour comes to a close.