Mishaka Lake in Nagano | beautiful mirror lake in Japan
Misyakaike（Misyaka Lake）is getting popular spot for Japanese traveler nowadays because the spot shows beautiful and fantastic lake like a reflecting mirror with sunset.
However, it might be difficult and complicated to access the spot for foreig tourists because Misyakaike is somewhat far from Tokyo a little bit and less English information as far as I know.
Therefore, I’d like to describe a summary of information about Misyakaike in this article.
Table of Content
About Mishaka Lake and Nagano prefecture
The site is located in Nagano prefecture which is well known as beautiful nature and activity area for winter sport such as ski. Furthermore, here is the best area for stargazing near Tokyo.
Going back to Misyakaike, this spot shows beautiful and spectacular scenery whenever you visit here.
For instance, you are able to see vivid green nature with reflecting lake like mirror in the summer season, scenery covered with snow in winter, and surrounded with autumn leave in October.
When is the best season for Mishaka Lake
As I described, you can enjoy visiting Misyakaike for all season, but I recommend summer the most because there are two good reasons for enjoying Misyakaike.
The first reason is strength of wind. Strong wind is not good for the reflecting lake like a mirror, but wind of summer is not so stronger than other season’s.
Second, you can see strong green nature which is reflected on the lake in summer. It is very fantastic and incredible view, so the view of the lake in summer is sometimes used for various art works such as a video, painting and so on.
How to accesses for Mishaka Lake in Nagano
There are three ways for access to Misyakaike. The easiest way is a car rental because you can travel around not only Misyakaike but Nagano.
Furthermore, It just takes two hours and a half, and around 4500 yen if you go through Chuo Expressway from Tokyo.
Using train and bus or taxi
Another method is using a combination of train and bus from Tokyo. Unfortunately, there are no direct train from Shinjuku station in Tokyo, but you can access the nearest bus station of Misyakaike by only one transfer from Shinjuku.
The way of that is below.
- Shinjuku station → Takao station on the JR Chuo line→ transfer to JR Chuo Main line（Japanese name is Chuo Honsen）bound for Matsumoto station → getting off at Chino station. （it takes 3410 yen and, three and a harf hours）
- From Chino station, you can get on the bus for Misyakaike and must get off at Meiji Onsen which is the nearest bus station of Misyakaike.（it takes 1050 yen and 30 minutes）
Another option, taxi is also available instead of bus for Mishakaike.
Other tourist attractions in Nagano
Mishaka Lake is a fantastic place, but there are no activity spots around the lake, so I recommend visiting other sightseeing areas near Mishaka Lake.
The best spot except Mishaka Lake is Achi Village (Japanese name is Achimura) and Nobeyama.
Achi Village in Nagao
Achi Village is famous for one of the areas for the beautiful starry sky.
This is because the spot is surrounded by mountains and located in high altitudes. In addition, Achi Village was selected for a spot for shining by the Japanese Ministry of the environment in 2006.
Nobeyama in Nagano
Nobeyama almost has the same feature such as the magnificent starry sky in Achi Village and better accessibility from Tokyo.
The area is surrounded by a lot of mountains called Yatsugatake and standing 1,346 meters high, so its topography blocks out the light, and stars seem to be shiny as well as Achi Village.
In addition, Nobeyama area has a great spot like Nobeyama Radio Observatory, camping area, animal ranch, and Shishi Iwa that you can look over breathtaking views around the Nobeyama area.
The detail of the Nobeyama area is introduced in another article, so please check it out as well.
Nobeyama | What you enjoy Nagano trip in Japan
Anyway, there are a lot of stargazing spots in Nagano prefecture, but Achi Village and Nobeyama are accessible from Mishaka Lake which takes around 1hour and a half by car.
I believe that this combination of the trip is the best selection for tourists.
Conclusion of Misyaka Lake
Going back to Mishaka Lake, the spot shows unbelievable scenery in each season, and offer you an unforgettable experience.
However, access to there is actually not easy, so you should be careful about the way of the accesses to enjoy Mishaka Lake and around its spots.
