戸倉駅を見下ろす天狗です。今日はカナダからのお客さんを連れてきました。私も、天狗の位置の標高（４５０ｍ？）の紅葉はどのなっているか見たかったです。天狗さんから上の木は大分赤くなっていましたが、天狗から下は色が付き始まっているだけでした。もちろん、戸倉上山田の温泉街はこれから紅葉が本格始まるところです。

ちなみに、天狗さんの持っている葉っぱも紅葉で色が変わるかな?

This is the Tengu above Togura Station. I took a couple of guests from Canada to see him today. Actually, I wanted to see if the trees around his elevation (approx. 450m) were starting to change color or not. The trees above him had pretty red leaves, but lower elevations were just starting to turn color.
Down here at Togura Kamiyamada Onsen (370m), we're just starting to get a hint of fall colors.

By the way, I wonder if the leaf the Tengu is holding also changes color in Fall...

信州戸倉上山田温泉の亀清旅館のＨＰはこちらClick here for the website of Kamesei Ryokan in Nagano

日本で「女房と畳は新しい方がいい」って諺があるよね。信州では、もう１つな物の新しい時に皆が騒ぎます：そば。この時期は信州のあちらこちらでそば祭りが行われているけど、「新そば」は実際いつから?とよく聞かれます。
私のそばのコネ、戸隠の山口屋の山口さんに聞いてみました。答えは：彼らが自信を持って出せれる戸隠の新そばは１１月１日からだそうです。品質をしっかり確認するのに時間がかかるようです。既に新そばと言っているものを出している店があるけれど、産地が違ったりするので、地元のいい新そばに当たってはゆっくり待たなきゃいけないそうです。

でも、その待つ価値がありますのでお楽しみに。

There's a saying in Japanese that basically translates as, "Wives and tatami mats are best when they are new." Here in Nagano, I think there is one more thing that people get excited about when new: soba. It seems everywhere you look nowadays, there's a Soba Festival going on somewhere in Nagano, and our guests often ask "When does Shin (New) Soba start?" So I checked with my soba man, Yamaguchi-san of Yamaguchi-ya soba restaurant in Togakushi. He told me that harvest has already started, but it takes time to process the soba and verify the quality of the crop. So his restaurant plans on starting New Soba on the first of November. Other restaurants may have already started serving New Soba, but you might want to verify whether or not they use local buckwheat.

So in order to get New Soba, you have to wait a little while longer. I promise, though, it will be worth the wait.

戸隠の山口屋そばレストランのＨＰはこちらClick here for the website of Yamaguchi-ya soba restaurant in Togakushi