1.
Karuizawa; the upscale highland resort town in Nagano Prefecture
A town at the foot of Mount Asama, developed as a summer retreat by Western missionaries in the Meiji era and later by wealthy Tokyo families. Its cool summers, larch woods, and villas have made the name a byword for a refined second-home lifestyle.
Common expressions
- 軽井沢の別荘: a villa in Karuizawa, shorthand for wealth
- 避暑地: a summer retreat — the category Karuizawa is the prime example of
- 旧軽井沢: "Old Karuizawa," the historic shopping street area
- 軽井沢銀座: the main shopping street, named after Tokyo's Ginza
Cultural note
Mentioning 軽井沢 in conversation tends to signal money and taste rather than simply a location — much as the Hamptons does in American English. It is also known as the place where the current emperor's parents met on a tennis court, a story retold whenever the town appears in the media.