How to get to Oze from Gunma

Catching bus from Numata

I did a lot of research of how to get to Oze National Park before my trip. It was rather spontaneous (less than a week before, I decided to go). Finding up to date English information was really difficult so I figured I’d summarize it here for others. This is how to get to Oze from Gunma or rather, Numata Station via public transport. Buses run from May 22nd to Oct 25th, 2015 (this year).

Getting there:
Numata Station -----> Tokura (bus) {2050 yen, 80 minutes}
[operated by Kan-Etsu]

Hatomachitoge ticket window

I found it easiest to use a site like Navitime to figure out when the bus was leaving. The exact schedule from the Kan-Etsu website was a huge pdf file with lots of tiny kanji. The bus picks you up from #1 outside the station. Lazuli Voyage has the best info in English. The first bus leaves at 7:20 am for Oze Oshimizu and stops at Tokura at 8:43 am and arrives at Oshimizu at 8:55 am {2250 yen}. Take a numbered bus ticket when you enter. At your stop, you can see how much you’ll have to pay by looking at your number on the electronic board on the front of your bus. Show the driver your number and money when getting off and put it all in a slot that faces upwards. Coins and bills.

Tokura ------> Hatomachitoge Pass (bus) {930 yen, 20 minutes}
[departs at 4:40, 6:30, 7:50, 8:55, 9:40, 10:20, 11:10 am]
My shuttle bus left at 7:40 am however to pick up more passengers on route. There are at least three different parking areas. Personally, you’ll have no problem getting up or back to Tokura. The shared taxi buses ran very often. I just bought a ticket at the window by saying my destination. If you take the bus from Numata station, it’ll drop you right at the perfect spot.

You can go directly from Numata to Oshimizu (another entrance) which I was considering. However, the last bus from Oshimizu leaves at 3:50 pm so you don’t have a lot of time to hike during a day trip. The last bus from Hatomachitoge was at 7:55 pm.

Return:
If you go from Oshimizu, you can go directly back to Numata Station (last bus: 3:50 pm, 2250 yen, 2 hours). What I did however:

Hatomachitoge ------> Tokura
[Run frequently, 930 yen, 20 minutes]
Took a shared taxi bus that left almost immediately after I boarded at around 2:15 pm because it was full. Bought a ticket from a window and followed people. The guy at the window said I had to ride back to Tokura before catching a bus to Numata so I did (had translation help here). The driver asked where to drop people off. Many people got off at the main parking lot which was a short walk over a bridge away from the bus stop so I think if you said Kan-Etsu bus or nothing at all, you’d be fine (my translator helped here again).

Tokura -----> Numata
[Last departures: 4:30, 6:30, 7:55 pm] (2250 yen, 80 minutes - took us 2 hours with traffic)
I caught the 3:12 pm bus. I asked at the ticket window and they told me the bus leaves from the spot marked #1. Some of the buses travel further than others (to Gokan and Jomo-kogen Station). My numbered ticket said 2 when I on and I got off at Numata Eki.

Easy enough, eh?