A Warm Autumn Day in Beautiful Nature

Hi, everyone! I’m Nanako, a Tomodachi Guide in the Yazu area!
The other day, I had an amazing day with this Japanese-Chinese family in Chizu.
I love living in the countryside, but I felt it even more on that day thanks to their 3-year old daughter.
I would like to share the memory of the day. If you like nature or country life, you will love it!

Our first destination was this unique pink station: Koiyamagata Station! This station is known as a LOVE station because it’s one of four stations in Japan that has the character “Koi(恋)” (it means “love” in Japanese) in its name.
The other guide, Natsuki, rearranged the original plan and decided to visit this place because their little daughter loved pink and cute things, as you can tell from what she was wearing!
This is one of the most attractive features of the Tomodachi Guide Tour: we are super flexible and will take you wherever you like!

Next, we visited Itaibara Village, where you can see the old mountain lifestyle of Japan.
Their daughter enjoyed nature so much, her toys were literally everything around her!
She ran around, had fun playing with spiders and grasshoppers, and found many interesting pieces of nature! We adults were so happy seeing her smiles and got so much energy from her!

Our lunch was at a famous bakery named Talmary.
We ordered a delicious pizza with lots of fresh veggies! This place used to be a nursery school, so she could enjoy playing in the yard while waiting for the food.
They even have lots of picture books and toys, so the parents were able to have a relaxing lunch by themselves.
I had fun myself studying English with their 3-year old trilingual daughter, and I felt like her big sister!

The last thing we did in the trip was indigo dyeing! The lady in the picture told us that the bacteria in the tank is alive and it makes different colors every day depending on the temperature and the weather. We got our own one-of-a-kind Tenugui (old-style Japanese hand towels) as a souvenir!

We shared a great time together, though we had just met that day. New adventures connect people closely, and we can become Tomodachi (=friends)!
Chizu is such a nice place where you can do stuff like the activities I introduced here in a quiet peaceful atmosphere with warm local people. If you seek nice hidden places to visit, Chizu is definitely one of the options!