戸倉上山田温泉から車で約20分に上田市下塩尻「蛍の里」があります。18日に行ってみましたが、350匹が舞っていました。19‐20日の雨の後、6月21日・22日に恐らく1000匹以上が舞うでしょう。

戸倉上山田温泉初のおほたる祭り見学ツアーがあります。市の観光協会の提供で、2013年は6月19日（水）から6月23日（日）に夜20:00発で行われています。料金は1000円です。

私達が見に行った時に一緒に行った大阪からの方が「天然の蛍が初めて！」と喜んだ。天然じゃない蛍なんてあるの？と聞いたら、東海のホテルは使い捨て蛍でホタル祭りをやるそうです。そんなに無理にして蛍を見たいなら、信州の天然の蛍を是非に見て来て頂きたいと思っております！

20 minutes by car from Togura Kamiyamada Onsen is the Shimo-Shiojiri Hotaru no Sato, home to hundreds of fireflies. Hotaru (as they are called in Japanese) are a rare sight in Japan these days. The locals here protect the environment to preserve the firefly habitat, and hold a Hotaru Festival for people to come and enjoy seeing the fireflies dancing in the air. I went to the 18th and we were rewarded by seeing approximately 350 fireflies. With the rain on the 19th and 20th, over 1000 fireflies are expected on the nights of Friday June 21st and Saturday June 22nd.

Our local tourism association runs Firefly Festival Tours departing from Togura Kamiyamada Onsen at 8pm. For 2013, the tours will take place June 19th to the 23rd. Price is 1000 yen.

One of the people that went to see the fireflies was from Osaka. She was so happy to see natural hotaru. Apparently in the big cities, hotels bring in fireflies from the countryside and release them to perish in their hotel gardens. If people are so desperate to see fireflies, I highly suggest they come to Nagano instead and see them in their natural environment!

戸倉上山田の杏農家「杏宝園」さんは特別な技術で「半生杏」という特産品を作り始まりました。生の杏を乾燥してドライドフルーツにするのは良くあるけど、その中間の「半生」はまだ生に近い感覚と味が残っていて、格別です。

今年の杏の実の時期に合わせて、亀清旅館の板長が料理に取り組んでいるし、亀清旅館の売店でも販売する様になっております。

杏の本来の美味しさをどうぞ、試してみてください。

Local Togura-Kamiyamada apricot orchardist Kyohoen has used a proprietary method to develop 'Han-nama' (="partially fresh") apricots. Not fresh and not dried, but somewhere in between, these Han-nama apricots still have the full apricot flavor and a consistency close to that of fresh apricots.

Here at Kamesei Ryokan, in honor of the aprioct fruit harvest season, our chef has incorportated these Han-nama apricots into his menu. And at our front desk, we are offering the Han-nama apricots for sale as souvenirs to our guests.

Come try tasting the true flavor of apricots!

50g 630 yen.

地元の杏農家「杏宝園」に顔を出してみた。一つな速い品種はもうできてきた。採りたての杏はやはり美味しい！皆さんは食べた事がありますか？この春は是非、戸倉上山田温泉に杏狩りをしに来てください！

この千曲市の「森」地区は日本一のあんずの里で4月上旬の花見が有名です。実は今年の4月に天皇両陛下も花見しに来ましたぐらい。森地区は当温泉から車で約20分ですが、歩いて15分のさらしな地区に千曲川沿いの杏畑もあります。その農家の杏宝園山は新しい品種の開発や最新の技術を使ってより良い品質の杏を育っています。

今年の花の時期の低温の影響で生産量が減るようです。それにしても、農家の強い意志で、観光客に是非杏の畑に入って頂いて、自分の手で採って、杏狩りを体験して頂きたいです。今年の杏狩り予定は下記の通り:

2013年の杏狩り戸倉上山田温泉近辺の「杏宝園」
事務所　長野県千曲市若宮1092-2
問合せ　Tel(026)276-6018 金子さん
杏狩り開始：　6月24日（月）前後
杏狩り終了：　7月5日（金）前後
料金：　1000円/ｋｇ　（「昭和」品種）

Kyohoen is our local apricot orchardist here at our onsen town, Togura-Kamiyamada. I poked my head into their office the other day and was rewarded with a bowl of first-of-the-season apricots. There's nothing like the tartness of a fresh-picked apricot! Have you ever tasted one? This spring, how about coming to Togura-Kamiyamada Onsen and picking apricots yourself?

Here in Chikuma City, the Mori district is known as Japan's #1 'apricot village'. The blossoms in early April are so famous that this year even the emperor and empress came to see them. Mori is a 20-minute drive from our onsen town. A short 15-minute walk away, along the Chikuma River, are the apricot orchards of the Sarashina district. And Kyohoen Apricot Orchards are one of the most modern growers, trying to develop better varieties and using cutting-edge techniques to maximize yield.

This past April our area had some devastating low temperatures that are effecting the apricot trees' production. But the folks at Kyohoen believe strongly in giving guests to our onsen town the opportunity to enter the apricot field and pick fruit themselves. This year's apricot picking schedule is as follows:

Apricot Picking 2013Kyohoen Orchard near Togura-Kamiyamada Onsen
Office: 1092-2 Wakamiya, Chikuma City, Nagano
Tel: (026)276-6018 Kaneko-san (limited English)
Apricot Picking Start: Around 24-June (Monday)
Apricot Picking End: Around 05-July (Friday)
Price: 1000 yen per Kilogram (Showa variety)

杏宝園 Kyohoen

戸倉上山田温泉の上の城山に「縁結び」や「子つくり」に効く奥津神社があります。並んでいる絵まで若い方の「元気な赤ちゃんが生まれる様に」などの願い事が書いてある。

この間に行ったら、こんな可愛い絵馬もありました。恐らく、世界一可愛いじゃないかと。

しかし、奥津神社のご神体は本当に効きます。温泉夏祭りに温泉街をお神輿で回ります。私達が引っ越ししてきてからの最初の夏祭りの10か月後、うちの美咲ちゃんが生まれました。

戸倉上山田温泉にお越しになる際、奥津神社に是非、寄ってみてください。

At many shrines in Japan, you'll find little wooden prayer cards called "Ema" displayed. You can buy one and write your prayer on it. Here in Togura Kamiyamada Onsen, we have a tiny shrine called Okutsu-jinja. Located on Joyama, the hill behind our onsen town, the shrine is dedicated to couples hoping to have a baby.

The other day when I visited, I spotted this cute message. It has to be the cutest ema ever!

On your trip to Togura Kamiyamada Onsen, try walking up Joyama and visting our shrine for baby making!