Skyward Eye Pavilion Hisakata Onsen

Insider tip — Hisakata Onsen Skyward Eye Pavilion serves Iida City in the southern Ina Valley of Nagano Prefecture where the Tenryu River begins its descent from the Alpine highlands to the Pacific coast. Iida is Japan capital of apple processing and kanten (agar) production — the cold-climate freeze-drying of agar from tengusa seaweed in the January air has been a local specialty for over 300 years — and the Ina Valley exceptionally low light pollution makes this the premier stargazing corridor in the Tokyo-Osaka corridor where the Milky Way is visible on clear summer nights from the Hisakata plateau.