"The Autumn Colours of Karuizawa" Kyu-karuisawa by salisbury3933

Karuizawa is a very interesting town with a lot happening. Given its proximity to Tokyo, a lot of people come up on weekends, and there are plenty of the well heeled type who own 2nd houses up there as well.

It's an all year round destination. In summer, it's a good place to escape the heat of the Japanese summer, in winter the snow means that plenty of skiers and snowboarders are in town, and in autumn the colours are very pretty indeed. There are also several golf courses in the vicinity, and the one I did see looked to be very busy when we went past.

It is a very prosperous looking town, and benefits from the fact it is on the Nagano Shinkansen line, and therefore very easy to get to from Tokyo.

In line with the 'high roller' image, Karuizawa has a lot of shops selling specialty food and drink. High quality items such as sausages and other meat products, honey, jam are on sale, and there are some very good bakeries in town as well by Japan standards.

Of note for me as well was the fact that there is some excellent beer brewed locally. Definitely worth sampling!

On the south side of Karuizawa station is an outlet shopping mall, with brand names aplenty.

Whilst I would prefer to go to the dentist that to spend an afternoon shopping, my wife thinks otherwise.

Anyway, plenty for the shopper to look at!