Yuzawa Station - an interesting place

After we had finished skiing/boarding we had a couple of hours to kill at the station. Luckily Yuzawa station is a great little hub of activity.

The main part of the station has a great selection of souvenir stands from food to locally made goods, something for everyone. But the best part is right at the back and could easily be dismissed as just another shop.

It is a shop but you HAVE to go in, all around the store are samples to try, Ebi-kun trying to decide where to start with the pickles - you know what he is like, this is taste-testing heaven for him!

Then we found a corner that was all soy sauce, now I am far from a soy sauce connoisseur, all much of a muchness to me but Ebi-kun went and samples all 15 types, he recommends the ume infused soy sauce!

There is also a sake sampling area, you pay ¥500 and then get to sample the different types, we lost Daddy for a while so I suspect that's where he disappeared to, these statues just outside the sake section crack me up... I'm not sure it's a great sales tactic!

I

 thought these fish were real to begin with but on closer inspection they were just decoration, they were over the fermented god-only-knows-what section

And yes, of course Ebi-kun tried several of these too, it was no wonder he didn't eat all his bento on the train home!

Once you have filled your boots with samples, head even further back and you will find an interesting little shop, about 1/4 of it is taken up with this massive display of Japanese style ornaments which turns round, it is quite a display and there is a great assortment of ornaments displayed

This is the bottom, which if memory serves me right, gets changed with the seasons. Next to the shop is a little cafe and through that there is the sake onsen. The lads went to the onsen, I got myself a nice coffee and grabbed a comfy chair and my book. I'm not a big fan of public baths.

If you find yourself transferring at Yuzawa station, try and work it so you have a bit of time to look around the station, it is one of the more interesting ones!