Nagano

We left our hotel early to get to the shinkansen (bullet train). It is faaaast. In the city it slows right down but once we were out of the main centre it flies along the track.
Nagano is a very beautful place in the alps. It is much quieter and I felt like I could breath. I could see the sky as there were no highrise buildings but ones more the size of Auckland's. It was also colder than Tokyo with small flakes of snow falling. We got in around 10am with heaps of time to spend. We headed towards the temple at the top of the street. It is a very famous Bhuddist temple. Inside I experienced a taste of total darkness. At the end of the temple is a set of stairs and you are supposed to keep your hand on the right wall, trailing your hand along it. The goal is to find the metal ring in the wall somwhere in the darkness. It was all about trusting yourself and not your eyes. As we descended down it got darker and darker until suddenly there is nothing. My eyes were wide open and I could see nothin. As I was in there I wondered if this is what miners felt like in the old days, feeling their way along in total darkness.As I made my way along, I touched the ring and then not long after that I turned a corner and there was soft light and a set of stairs in the distance. Apparently it is supposed to be like being reborn out of Bhudda's belly.
We also stopped at a restaurant and had oyaki which is like a baked, stuffed bread which we got to stuff ourselves. It was a cool experience. They start off a long like a steamed bun but after we stuffed them (one with sweet bean paste and the other with leeks and onion) they are put on an open cast iron slab over hot cals and baked. It was the tastiest food I have head yet and there was also miso and soba tea. I feel like I am on a gastronomic tour here!
In the afteroon we opted to go out the see the rice terraces on a train. Although winter and there was no rice to be seen, the terraces themselves were interetsing to walk about and they reminded me of the pink and white terraces in pictures. It was bloody freezing by then and we had to sit around after the walk and wait for the train. In the time we waited I discovered hot food vending machines are a thing. I ordered a hot chocolate and it came out in a can that you opened. The Japanese have it seriously sorted out here. On that note, they are also incredibly clean and tidy people. There are no rubbish bins on the streets. Everyone takes their rubbish with them. There is not litter on the streets or in the gutters, they have recycling stations around public events what are actually used correctly. NZ could learn a thing or two about what keeping a tidy city means. Although they seem to use an excessive amount of plastic, none of it is blowing about anywhere, even in the back streets.
As it was Christmas Eve we went out for dinner to a Spanish/Mexican restaurant. It was unique. But I had some sake and that made everything okay. We did a present exchange. We had been told to buy one small gift under 1000 yen and we then sang Jingle Bells and passed them around the table. When the music stopped we had to open the present we had. I got chopsticks which is cool.
This morning we headed out bright and early to see the snow monkeys. What an awesome thing to see on Christmas Day. I saw babies on mothers' backs and groups of males and females. I even got to see one get into the hotpool - total highlight! It wasn't snowing but there was snow about. It was also very cold. This morning's temperature began at minus 6 and got up to 3 degrees at some stage. It was a 1.5km trek to see the  monkeys but it was totally worth it. By the time we had done that and stayed to look at them and take a million photos, it was time to head back. So here I am now, sitting on a bullet train heading out to Masomoto. We should be arriving soon. It has been a great Christmas Day that hasn't felt like a Christmas Day at all except for the hot wine that I drank coming down from seeing the monkeys. It was the best hot wine I have tasted yet.