Nasushiobara Travel Guide

1. Take the Tohoku Shinkansen from Tokyo directly to Nasushiobara Station. Follow the signs for the direction of the Itaya Onsen to exit the station and take the bus. (After turning our heads, we asked a bus driver, but it was difficult to communicate due to the language barrier. Fortunately, there was a young lady on the bus who spoke English and helped us look at the signs. We found that there were only three buses a day in the direction of Itaya Onsen. It was only a little after 9:00 a.m. when we arrived (we missed the 8:00 a.m. bus, the next one was close to 1:00 p.m., and the last one was at 5:00 p.m.). We could either wait three hours, take a taxi for 2,500 yen per person (5,000 yen for two people), or walk for more than two hours. 2. We asked if there were any public bicycles, and the elderly driver said there weren't any here. We originally thought we could only take a taxi, but the driver helped us ask around and found that we could take his bus (I forgot which direction it was going) to the Yuainomori stop (920 yen per person). Then, we could go to the office there to inquire about public bicycles. We calculated the time and it would take more than four hours round trip. The bicycle fee was about 2,500 yen per person (I don't remember exactly), which seemed even less worthwhile than a taxi. So, we did the bravest thing this summer!!! 3. We walked from Yuainomori to N's yard!! The distance was about seven kilometers. It was noon, and the sun was strong, but the wind was cool. The navigation gave us a route that first went through the fields, then along National Route 369 (or maybe a prefectural road, I'm not sure), across the Naka River, and kept going. 4. The scenery along the way was fantastic. The forests of Nasushiobara are very pristine, and there are many pastures with cows everywhere. It was a unique experience! It felt very good overall.