Aichi

We were incredibly grateful to our wonderful tour guide, Ms. Wang, who kindly helped us retrieve our phone, which we had left in the taxi! We highly recommend this itinerary because it's convenient and doesn't require transfers. Our driver skillfully avoided the evening rush hour traffic, and we returned to our starting point at 6:30 PM. Nagoya in summer is unbearably hot, so soaking in the cool Azusa River under the shade of trees in Kamikochi was incredibly refreshing! Kamikochi is the perfect summer destination in Japan! This itinerary starts at Taisho Pond and walks to Kappa Bridge, allowing for plenty of time for snacks and drinks. However, there might not be enough time to go all the way to Myojin Pond.

The shop isn't very big, and when we arrived there were already 7-8 foreigners inquiring, so it was a bit crowded. Although we waited a while, the front desk was quite efficient. It was my first time interacting with the pigs in person, and the pigs were all very cute. The staff helped assign pigs, so basically everyone could interact with at least one pig. The staff also asked if we wanted to pay for a Polaroid photo. Since it was a rare opportunity to experience this, we definitely had to take one. You can get an instant discount by sharing the shop on Instagram or writing a review on Google. Additionally, drinks are self-service, so it's recommended to get your drink before sitting down, otherwise the piglets will fall asleep on your lap and won't be able to get up. Finally, I'd like to mention that although the experience was very enjoyable and unique, and the store explained the terms and conditions, saying that the piglets' safety was the top priority, we were a little worried that the store might be deliberately feeding the piglets very small portions to prevent them from urinating or defecating easily. Many of the piglets were very thin, almost skin and bones, and one or two of them even had small scabbed wounds. Also, the store's hours were in short bursts, and we were worried that the piglets didn't get enough rest and food. We hope that the store can truly treat the piglets well, instead of just using them as tools to make money and extract as much profit as possible.

The driver was polite, attentive, the car was clean, and he drove steadily.

1. If you want to enjoy the Upper Highlands, choose to stay 4 hours of the trip to take the A + B route is definitely enough, the scenery is beautiful, the trail is also very good to walk, and there is time to go to the souvenir shop on the side. People with poor leg strength can also choose routes A or B, and there is plenty of rest time. 2. Although the hot spring hotel stayed at night is relatively old, but the environment is clean, breakfast / dinner buffet options are also quite many, delicious, more unfortunately the environment oil smoke smell is heavier. 3. The next day to Kurobe Tateyama, the tour guide Ame arranged for us the next section of transportation time, as long as the agreed time to the fixed point can go to the next stop, the night before checking into the hotel also stopped supermarket so that we can prepare food for the mountain or evening dim sum, do not worry about running out of food. There is also a stop at a rest stop on the return trip to Nagoya Station, where you can get off to buy things and go to the toilet. In the car there will also be a brief explanation of the background of the place we headed to, and after getting off the car was very active in helping to take pictures. The only drawback was that the weather was relatively bad that day and I couldn't go down to walk on the snow wall, but the overall experience was great!