BY ALEX PARSONS Who’s the prettiest ski vil- lage in all the ancient land of Japan? Nozawa Onsen is. Here’s why. I FIRST VISITED NOZAWA ONSEN IN JAPAN IN FEBRUARY 2013 with my father and sister. It was seriously one of the best trips of my life, full of sushi and snow monkeys and bullet train shinkansens. We stayed in a tiny ryokan, a family owned lodge, with Japanese style breakfasts each day that included tofu, rice and seaweed. I was totally hooked. I quit my job, my lease and relationship and booked a flight to Japan the very next season. Destination, Narnia, aka Nozawa. Tucked into a mountain side, Nozawa Onsen is a fabled little feudal town full of winding cobbled streets, with family-run restaurants and quaint wooden bars hidden around each corner. Now mainly a farming town, it is said that Nozawa was first discovered by a Buddhist monk in 724 AD. This picture perfect village now boasts over 40 private and public onsens and is filled with steaming channels of water that add a mystical
MY SHINTO HOME
Onsen
Nozawa
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