On Monday morning at 6:45, I awoke to “Kireeeeee!” (which means beautiful) from Eiko and Kaori looking (oh no, not at me sleeping like an angel under my ruffly rose-print duvet) out the window right next to my bed. I put in my contacts and looked out to see a long cloud settled in the valley. Before breakfast we took a walk around the little pension village: birch trees, white peaks, and sunshine.
After a Suwa Lake overlook/coffee stop (southwest of Nagano City), we drove through ravines and mountain tunnels to the village of Narai-juku, a "Nationally-designated Important Preservation District of Historic Buildings”—such nomenclature I can't make up. Narai-juku was an important post town, situated midway between Kyoto and Edo (now called Tokyo) on the Nakasendo Road, and the buildings on the main street, once used to house and feed travelers crossing the nearby mountain pass, have remained very much the same since that period. The village is also famous for laquerware, and for crafting the Nagano 1998 Olympic Games medals.
Mid-morning snack: soba-cha and a miso-walnut stuffed bun.
We next drove past Mt. Ontake, then Eiko's guidebook directed us to a roadside stop where we had an impromptu little picnic beneath the train tracks, next to some huge scramblin' rocks and a green-blue bend of stream. 
Back in the car, we continued to wind through mountain passes into the afternoon, still in Nagano-ken, eventually arriving at historic destination #2. Wish I could recall the name of this village; its winding stone walkways were lined with restaurants and shops, leading up a hillside overlooking a stretch of colorful valley.
Eiko demanded I pose with all the festive folks we encountered...
Despite the coolish temps, there was still much farming going on in the area: apple orchards, pear trees, fields of lettuce and cabbage…plus these giant Japanese radishes and mega-mushrooms.
Our set lunch: I ate everything but the fish, which Eiko and Kaori gave me crap for as they bit off and swallowed the heads of their fish. I appreciate the nothing-wasted view, but there are some things I just can’t…
The sunset intensified and I began to wonder about our time frame for getting back to Shizuoka. Not that I wasn't having fun; the ladies were highly entertaining and we were seeing all sorts of sights I'd never have found on my own. 
After grabbing more unnecessary snacks for the final stretch, we drove out of the hills and onto the expressway. I was drifting in and out of sleep in the backseat during the 3-hour drive through Toyoda, Nagoya, Hamamatsu, and back to Shizuoka. My dictionary and I were completely exhausted by the time Kaori pulled into my driveway at Otowa-cho, where I thanked them a zillion times and we planned to get together for dinner sometime soon.
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