Kamikochi - A stunning mountain resort located in the Japan Alps where every year thousands of people come to enjoy a hike or just take in the natural beauty of the area. It’s most popular as a day trip because of its easy accessibility from places like Matsumoto or even Tokyo. However, if you only go during the daytime, you will miss one of the best things that Kamikochi has to offer.
Kamikochi Lemeiesta Hotel and the Milky Way shot by photographer Hisanori Sasahara. ©H.SASAHARA
Once the sun sets behind the surrounding mountains, Kamikochi will be shrouded in darkness. Due to the strict regulations the area has in order to protect its nature, there are only a handful of hotels in Kamikochi and as such there is very little light pollution. This means that, besides the light from the hotels, the only light comes from the moon and the millions of stars in the night sky and it’s absolutely wonderful. You can see them shining brightly against the darkness and it feels just like you’re in a planetarium. If the sky is clear, the Milky Way can even be seen by the naked eye!
We’ve never seen the stars as clearly as here in Kamikochi. Being up in the mountains surrounded by darkness and gazing at the sky, it feels like the stars shine brighter than ever.
Kamikochi’s night sky is so magnificent that many visitors who see it want to capture the moment and show it to their loved ones. But how do you capture the countless stars that you see? To help you with this, Kamikochi Lemeiesta Hotel holds free starry sky photography events for their overnight guests.
During Kamikochi’s open season (late April to mid-November), Kamikochi Lemeiesta Hotel organizes several events which also includes lobby concerts and wine tastings. The starry night photography event is arguably their most popular one and is held 7 times a year over a period of 4 days each (See below for 2019 event calendar). Kamikochi Lemeiesta Hotel has also been chosen by the Japanese newspaper Nikkei as one of the top 10 hotels in Japan for viewing the starry night, so staying at the hotel and joining the event will give you the best possible starry night viewing location around.
For the event, they invite professional photographer Hisanori Sasahara, who has been shooting in Kamikochi for more than 10 years. Although he knows it like the back of his hand, he still makes new and interesting discoveries and never gets bored of photographing Kamikochi. If you want to know why that is or you want to hear more about his story, check out the interview we did with him here.
The event starts around 20:00 and ends when the last guests have left.
To participate, you only need:
・SLR camera
・Warm clothing, because Kamikochi’s nights tend to be chilly
・Tripod
Don’t worry if you don’t have a tripod, as there are some available at the hotel which you can freely use.
With the telescope you get to see the stars and planets up close. ©H.SASAHARA
With a slightly longer exposure time set on your camera, you can try drawing or writing something with a flashlight.
The event is not like a workshop where a select group of people gets lectured about photography for a set amount of time. You can come and shoot whenever you like and ask everything you want to know about photography, Kamikochi or the stars, because Mr. Sasahara also knows quite a lot about the stars and planets you can see.
Don’t have a camera but still want to optimally enjoy the night sky? No problem! The hotel has an astronomical telescope standing near the entrance in the lobby and it will be taken outside during these photography events, so that you can see planets like Venus and Mars up close.
While there are still some wisps of cloud visible, the sky has cleared up incredibly well.
We went to join one of the photography events a while ago to see if we could take a stunning photo of Kamikochi’s night sky. When the event started at 20:00, there were still some clouds covering up parts of the sky. It had been rainy for the past couple of days, so this didn’t come as a surprise. We decided to wait for them to pass before trying to shoot the stars. In the meantime, the hotel staff had spotted some fireflies near the river in front of the hotel and directed us to it with a flashlight. When we got there, we could see dozens of small green lights dancing around in the darkness, creating an almost magical atmosphere.
Mr. Sasahara took a great shot of the fireflies flying around with the Milky Way in the background. ©H.SASAHARA
Of course, the main goal was to get a photography of the night sky, but it was still a little cloudy around 23:00. Then finally the clouds passed, and we could get our shot! We eventually took photos until around 00:30 and Mr. Sasahara stayed with us the entire time, just in case we wanted to ask something, or needed some help. He even let us borrow one of his wide-angle lenses for a while so that we could get the best pictures possible. It was starting to get colder, so after taking plenty of pictures, we decided to call it a day and head to bed.
A photo of the night sky with 20-minute exposure. You can see how much movement there is in just 20 minutes.
Mr. Sasahara takes long exposure photography to another level with the stars becoming long strips of light in the sky and Kamikochi Lemeiesta Hotel lighting up the area below that. ©H.SASAHARA
The photography event was fantastic, and Mr. Sasahara was an amazing teacher. Thanks to that, we were able to take stunning photos of the night sky and create some lasting memories to think back on and share with our family and friends. Kamikochi’s starry night sky is vastly different from the one you can see from big cities such as Tokyo and Osaka and it is well worth spending a night in Kamikochi to fully enjoy and experience it.
To be able to see the Milky Way and photograph it was an awesome experience. It was our first time doing astrophotography, but it’s definitely not the last!
For more information on accommodation in Kamikochi, check out the Kamikochi Lemeiesta Hotel here.
HOW TO GET TO KAMIKOCHI
Kamikochi is easily accessible by bus from Matsumoto and big cities like Tokyo or Osaka.
When traveling from Matsumoto:
Take the train from Matsumoto Station to Shin-Shimashima Station (approx. 30 minutes) and then transfer to a bus bound for Kamikochi (approx. 60 minutes). (Timetable)
When traveling from Shinjuku:
Take the direct (night) bus from Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal to Kamikochi (approx. 5 hours). (Timetable)
When traveling from Osaka/Kyoto:
Take the direct night bus from Osaka (Umeda) or from Kyoto Sta. Hachijo Exit to Kamikochi (approx. 8 hours). (Timetable)
For any other locations, check all bus timetables here.
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