kiso lacquerware

Kiso Hirasawa: Is This Lacquerware Town Worth Visiting from Narai?

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Kiso Hirasawa: Is This Lacquerware Town Worth Visiting from Narai? Kiso Hirasawa is a quiet, working lacquerware town about 2 km from Narai-juku — one stop on the JR Chuo Main Line — and it is genuinely worth adding to your day if you care about Japanese crafts. If you are in the Kiso Valley … Read more

Things to Do in Narai-juku: What’s Actually Worth Your Time in 2–3 Hours

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Two to three hours is the honest answer for most first-time visitors to Narai-juku. The town’s real attraction is not a checklist of monuments but the preserved main street itself — roughly one kilometer of Edo-era wooden buildings along the old Nakasendo. For a first visit, walk the street, go inside one historic house (the … Read more