Obuse (小布施) is a small town in northern Nagano Prefecture with a pretty town center. Hokusai, a renowned Edo Period (1603-1867) woodblock painter, who is best known for his ukiyo-e woodblock print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, spent the later years of his life in Obuse with his patron and student, Takai Kozan, a wealthy local merchant and art enthusiast. Several of the town's highlights are related to the artist and his patron, including the Hokusai Museum, the Takai Kozan Museum and the painted ceiling of a local temple. Obuse is also well known for its seasonal produce, especially the locally grown chestnuts. 1. Hokusai Museum Hokusai (北斎, 1760-1849) is one of the most famous Edo Period painters, best known for his ukiyo-e woodblock series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji", which depicts scenes of the famous mountain, including the world famous "Great Wave off Kanagawa". 2. Old Town During the Edo Period (1603-1867), Obuse was a prosperous town rich in art and culture.

The Jigokudani Monkey Park offers visitors the unique experience of seeing wild monkeys bathing in a natural hot spring. The park is inhabited by Japanese Macaques, which are also known as Snow Monkeys. It is located in the monkey's natural habitat, in the forests of the Jigokudani valley in Yamanouchi, not far from the onsen towns of Shibu and Yudanaka. The park has one man-made pool around which the monkeys gather, located a few minutes' walk from the park entrance. Visitors will likely already encounter monkeys along the path to the pool. The monkeys live in large social groups, and it can be quite entertaining to watch their Interactions.

Nagano's Zenkoji Temple is one of the most important and popular temples in Japan. It was founded in the 7th century and stores the first Buddhist statue ever to be brought into Japan when Buddhism was first introduced in the 6th century. The original statue is hidden while a copy of it is shown to the public every six years for a few weeks. The next opportunity to see the statue is expected to be in 2028. The significance of Zenkoji to the development of Nagano was instrumental: many major Japanese cities have evolved either from castle towns, harbor towns or trample towns.

Matsumoto Castle, originally known as Fukashi Castle, is one of Japan's premier historic castles, along with Himeji and Kumamoto. It was the seat of Matsumoto Domain under the Edo Period Tokugawa shogunate. It is located in the city of Matsumoto, in Nagano Prefecture.