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Autumn is here, and the kouyou (紅葉) foliage is yet another great reason to travel out of Tokyo and experience the great outdoors. A couple of weeks ago we had a small three-day weekend (sanrenkyu/三連休 in Japanese), which was just perfect for a short visit to Lake Nozori (野反湖) in Gunma prefecture.

Above: Finally arrived by Lake Nozoriko after a 3 1/2-hour car ride from Tokyo!

Lake Nozori is situated in the very north of Gunma, and is easiest to get to by car. If you don't have a Japanese license it is also possible to travel there by taking the bus from Naganohara-Kusatsuguchi Station (長野原草津口駅), a ride that takes approximately 60 minutes.

Right by the lake lies the Nozoriko Camping Ground (野反湖キャンプ場). Here you can rent a small mountain hut for the night. The price for a hut is the same no matter how many guests are staying there; the smaller huts can take up to 4 ppl and costs 6,500 yen/night while the bigger huts take up to 8 ppl and costs 17,500 yen/night.

We had rented two of the smaller huts, and both of the huts came prepared with futon mattresses and blankets. There are however no heating inside, so you better bring some warm clothes as it can get pretty cold at night. The huts did fortunately at least come with a consent, and this was apparently something that was added to the huts just recently. As you can see there was no shower or bathroom in the hut, but this was available in a separate building (coin shower was available at 200 yen/10 min).

Nozoriko is a part of the Joshinetsu Highland National Park, and for visitors to the campsite there are various activities one can try out. In our case we followed one of the hiking trails going up to Mt Ebiyama (恵比山) on the west side of the lake. It was easy to get around as there were many signs available around the lake area.

If you walk along the lakeside from the bungalow area you'll get to a camping site run by the same company as the small cottages. But if you prefer to tent rather than sleeping in a hut you still have to make sure to reserve in advance.

From the tenting area we took another path going up towards the mountain. Below are some pictures from the trail we followed.

We visited just in the middle of October, as you can see from the beautiful autumn colors!

Another activity we took part in during the weekend was trout fishing! This activity is available for only 1,500 yen/day for adults and 5,00 yen/day for children in the period between May 1st - November 10th (just make sure to bring your own equipment). Lake Nozoriko was in fact a popular place for fishermen; we saw quite a few people lined up to catch fish. It didn't seem like most of them had any luck though..

But Yuma managed to get a big trout that we cooked for dinner that same day:

People staying at one of the huts get to use the outside BBQ area for free. There's space to prepare the food and tables with BBQ plates to grill your meals.

We prepared the fish by ourself and grilled it for dinner along with the other food we had brought with us.

Above: Freshly caught Nozoriko trout

Above: Group photo!

Lake Nozori was a beautiful place to spend the weekend, and we had a lot of fun enjoying the great outdoors. I would recommend a trip here for those looking for a reasonable and relaxing weekend outside of Tokyo.

That's all for now. Thank you for reading! Please feel free to leave any comments or questions below

Anette

Basic information

Nozoriko Camping Ground / 野反湖キャンプ場

・Access:

・Accommodation fee: Small hut (max 4 ppl) 6,500 yen/night, big hut (max 8 ppl) 17,500 yen/night.
・Operating season: ●May - September
・Homepage: lakenozori.web.fc2.com (Japanese only)