Chubu in Winter

戸隠神社 (Togakushi Shrine) is made up of five shrines, Hokosha, Hinomikosha, Chusha, Okusha and Kuzuryusha, spread along the foot of Mount Togakushi about an hour by bus from Nagano Station. In winter the Okusha and Kuzuryusha close (from 7 January in 2026 until the snow melts in late April), their deities are enshrined at Chusha for the season, and entry beyond the Zuishinmon gate is banned until mid April because of avalanches, falling snow and ice and falling branches, snowshoe tours included. That leaves the walk through the snow from the great torii at the Okusha entrance to Zuishinmon, about 2 km there and back and roughly 1.5 hours on foot, with the gate itself the main winter photo spot. Walking from the Chusha bus stop to the gate and back is about 6 km and 3 hours. At Chusha a triple cedar over 800 years old stands in the grounds, and goshuin stamps are issued there through the winter. Snowshoes and boots can be hired at the Togakushi Tourism Information Center, but no shop in Togakushi sells snow clothing, there are no convenience stores, many soba shops close around 2pm in winter, and only one taxi serves the area, so take a morning bus from Nagano Station and be off the trails before 3pm, when the temperature drops fast under the tall trees.

千畳敷カール (Senjojiki Cirque) is a U shaped bowl carved by glaciers around 20,000 years ago below Mount Hokendake in the Central Alps, its name meaning a space wide enough for a thousand tatami mats. The Central Alps Komagatake Ropeway runs all year from Shirabidaira to Senjojiki Station at 2,612 m in 7 minutes 30 seconds, climbing the greatest height difference of any ropeway in Japan. Snow can fall from mid October and deep winter sets in by December, when the cirque turns into a sweep of white below the dark rock of the ridge and rime coats the trees around the station. The Komagatake Park Line between Kurokawadaira and Shirabidaira is closed to private cars, so visitors take the route bus from JR Komagane Station or the Suganodai Bus Center, ¥1,660 return from Suganodai, then the ropeway from ¥2,290 return depending on the date. The terrace and café at Hotel Senjojiki look straight across the cirque, and the hotel's 16 Japanese style rooms let you stay the night at the top. The jump in altitude is sudden, so tell staff if you feel unwell, and bring a down jacket, hat, gloves and snow boots. The ropeway can stop in bad weather, so check the operator's site on the day, and remember that walking out into the cirque in winter depends on snow and avalanche conditions.

奥飛騨温泉郷 (Okuhida Onsen-go) is a group of five hot spring villages, Hirayu, Fukuji, Shin-Hirayu, Tochio and Shin-Hotaka, in the east of Takayama City in Gifu, sitting at 800 to 1,300 m below the 3,000 m peaks of the Northern Alps on the Nagano border. The area has one of the largest numbers of open air baths in Japan, and in winter the mountains lie under deep snow, with temperatures at Hirayu and Shin-Hotaka falling below minus 10°C, so the outdoor pools steam under snow laden roofs and rocks. The Okuhida Winter Tales events run from late December to the end of February, with the frozen Hirayu Great Falls lit up, kamakura snow huts lit on the snowfields at Nakao and light ups at each of the onsen villages. At the head of the valley the Shin-Hotaka Ropeway runs all year with Japan's only double deck gondola, rising to 2,156 m and a 360° observation deck over the Northern Alps. Nohi Bus runs from the Takayama Nohi Bus Center at JR Takayama Station to Hirayu Onsen in about 50 minutes, with stops at each of the five villages, and bath hours and fees vary from inn to inn.

寒ぶり (Kan Buri), cold season yellowtail, is the winter fish of Toyama Bay. The fish spend summer feeding in the Japan Sea and are caught on the way south as they pass Toyama in December and January, at which point the fat content is at its highest and the belly cuts are heavily marbled. 氷見 (Himi) is the port, and the fishery there uses 定置網 (teichi-ami), fixed set nets a few kilometres offshore that the boats visit at dawn, so the fish are landed alive and killed and bled on the spot. Himi runs a declaration system, in which the port authority formally announces 氷見の寒ブリ宣言 when the catch reaches the volume and quality standard, and fish landed after that carry the certification. It is eaten as sashimi, as しゃぶしゃぶ swirled through hot dashi, and simmered with daikon as ぶり大根. Kyushu's buri is farmed and reliable. This is wild and declared open by committee.

野沢菜漬け (Nozawana Zuke) is Nagano's winter pickle and it has a traceable origin. A priest from 野沢温泉 (Nozawa Onsen) brought 天王寺蕪 turnip seed back from Kyoto in 1767, and in the cold thin air of the village the plant mutated, putting its growth into enormous leaves and stalks instead of a root. Seed goes in around September, the crop is cut in November after the frosts have been through it, which is what sweetens and softens the leaves, and then comes お菜洗い (onai arai), the custom of washing every leaf by hand, traditionally in hot spring water, before it is packed into large wooden barrels with salt. It is edible in two or three weeks but comes properly good at the turn of the year, by which point the colour has gone amber brown and the flavour has soured. It is eaten chopped with rice, wrapped into おやき (oyaki) dumplings, and once it has gone sour in spring the 古漬け (furuzuke) gets fried with sesame oil and chilli. Every ryokan and soba shop in the region puts a dish of it on the table without being asked.

味噌煮込みうどん (Miso Nikomi Udon) is a Nagoya winter dish and the miso is the whole argument. 八丁味噌 (Hatcho miso) is made in Okazaki from soybeans alone with no rice or barley, aged two years or more in cedar barrels under stacked river stones, and it comes out almost black, thick and bitter edged rather than sweet. Thick firm udon is simmered directly in a broth built on it, in a 土鍋 (donabe) earthenware pot, with chicken, spring onion, aburaage and often a raw egg cracked in at the end, and the pot arrives at the table still boiling. Two things surprise people. The noodles are deliberately undersalted and firm because they cook in the broth rather than in water, and the lid is used as a plate to eat off since the pot is too hot to hold. It is the antidote to a Nagoya winter and it exists in the city in specialist shops that do nothing else.