Tag Archives: Matsumoto

Jaunt to Misuzu Lake

Jaunt to Lake Misuzo

Today we took a morning walk up to Lake Misuzu just outside of Matsumoto. Lake Misuzu is located in the foothill to the northeast of Matsumoto, to reach the road that goes to the lake we wandered around fields for rice and through a vineyard and had an amazing view of Matsumoto before heading into the forest. From this point forward the road lead upward 486.2m upward to be exact.

Map with our GPS tracks (14.5 km) showing the road up to Lake Misuzu from the International Student House (MapSource, 2013).

Matsumoto City from up at the hill before heading into the Mountains

Vertical Profile from the International Student Housing to Lake Misuzu, Nagano Prefecture (MapSource, 2013).

Along the way we passed through a beautiful mixed forest of cedar, pine, Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica), chestnut, oaks and many other species that I could not identify.

Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) looks a bit like redwood and sequoia but with a cypress like cone.

Sugi Trees

Some kind plantation pine tree it had two needles and small cones like jack pine or lodgepole pine, however the color and stem of the trees was very different

Not exactly sure what type of hardwood this is but it was very pretty.

Though it was hot there was a nice breeze that would greet us as we turned around hairpin turns in the road, refreshing us for the climb. When we arrived at the top of the hill saw a number of Japanese campers or day trippers playing croquet through the woods. This is croquet like none other, they had mettle clubs and there was an established course with tees and said how many hits was par.

Boy on the map playing croquet to show where the course runs.

After passing the croquet course we went downhill for about Â½ a kilometer to Lake Misuzu. It is a pretty reservoir with a lodge where you can rent swan shaped paddle boats and go fishing. While there we relaxed in the shade and watched the large jumping fish and hawks circling around as we refreshed ourselves with snacks and water.

Lake Misuzu from the southwest shore looking across towards the dam.

Hawk at Misuzu Lake

On our way back down the hill we had another great view of the northern portion of Matsumoto with some of the Japanese Alps in the background. Seeing the mountains makes us excited for the research that is about to begin. In addition to a good view of town we also spotted a Japanese Serow (Capricornis crispus) or Nihon kamoshika (ããã³ã«ã¢ã·ã«)in Japanese standing above an erosion control cement slab. The serow watched us as we watched it for about 5 minutes before it decided to wander off, but not before we took many photos of its deer/goat/antelope like figure.

View of northern Matsumoto and the Japanese Alps on our way down the hill.

Japanese Serow eyeing us up before wander off into the woods.

Overall Review:

This was a great and convenient walk/hike to get out of Matsumoto and into the woods.

Returning to Japan

My return to Japan has been full of apprehension and excitement. Apprehension due to my return trip, second trip to Japan is the real deal. Last summer was the pilot study to the dissertation; this summer so much more is on the line. Due to the pressure of succeeding this summer I am nervous about both logistics and how the research will go. Will everything work out perfectly, probably not, however, keeping the mishaps and delays to a minimum would be delightful.

Detroit Airport, our plane in the background of this fabulous fountain.

Not one of my apprehensions but still a concern for my return trip to Japan is that this year I have brought a research assistant (Helena Kotala). Helena has recently graduated with a degree in Geography from Penn State and has spent the past year working as an intern in Dr. Alan Taylor’s Vegetation Dynamics Lab. Helena is a competent hard worker and experienced in travel abroad, however I still feel responsible and nervous about guiding her through a country where I am still a newbie.

Meet Helena.

During our first few days in Japan traveling from Narita Airport to Matsumoto with a heavy case of Jetlag I was nervous and excited. Nervous about finding the appropriate buses and ordering food, excited about being able to share this amazing experience and tell Helena all about Japan. The more I explained about Japan the more I realized how much I have learned over the past year about the Japanese language and culture.

Map showing the route from Narita Airport (Green) to the east of Tokyo to Matsumoto (Red) in central Japan (Google Earth, 2013).

While traveling from Tokyo to Matsumoto the ticket agents spoke to at least some degree English, however, here in Matsumoto we are no longer interacting with ticket agents but with apartment caretakers, grocery store clerks and restaurant owners, and their English has been minimal to none. Thus my minimal, though constantly improving Japanese has had to suffice. Some conversations go well, others I have no clue what is going on in. But we have successfully moved into our apartments, kept fed and have even successfully purchased quadrangle maps for the mountains.

A pair of gigantic shoes at the Doso-jin temple in Azumino City (next to Matsumoto)

Yummmm.. Wasabi ice cream. Helena agrees it tastes much better than expected, it does not give you the sensation of nasal fire but tastes more plant-like

During the first few days in Matsumoto, Helena and I worked on recovery from Jet lag as tourists. With the uncertainty of what the summer will bring inspired us to visit the “must see” site in and around Matsumoto in case later in the summer time ran short. Through this we retraced many of my steps from last summer visiting Matsumoto Castle, walking down tiny roads to be surprised by a temple or shrine as well as visiting the Daiso Wasabi farm. Through all of these activities I imparted both useful and random facts about the locations and what people were doing as well as teaching Helena some basic Japanese. She is now a perfectly polite foreigner saying kudasai (please), arigatoo gozaimas (thankyou), sumimasen (excuse me) and konnichiwa (hello).

It is fun to share and teach about life in Matsumoto, but I cannot wait to share the mountains.

Wasabi at the Daiso Wasabi Farm

Matsumoto Bon Bon

I didn’t really know what the Matsumoto Bon Bon was but was told that it was the biggest festival in Matsumoto and worth going to watch and maybe dance. So I went.

So what is the Matsumoto Bon Bon? Well, Bon means to dance so it is the Matsumoto Dance Dance. But in reality is part dance competition, part parade, and a big party.

Dance

There is a specific song called the Matsumoto Bon Bon and the song lasts for about 30 minutes, I don’t know what the lyrics say besides Matsumoto Bon Bon. And there are verses sung by a male and some by a female.

I was told that there would be groups of dancers and that they had a dance routine, I did not realize however that every group dancing did the exact same dance. Groups of dancers were composed of orginizations, companies, school groups and probably many others. Each group had a uniform too, some wore tee-shirts or jersey’s but most were wearing summer short men’s yukata (link to Wikipedia). An additional prop of the dance is the fan, each group had their own personalized fan. The fans are used in the dance.

Street view at an intersection with people dancing in all directions.

Parade

The Bon Bon is also a parade for each group forms a block like a marching band standing in even rows. Slowly they dance through the downtown streets to the Matsumoto Bon Bon. Like marching bands in a parade skill at keeping time and staying in line is important for the competition portion of the dance. This particular group was very organized and did the dance in step with one another.

Party

When the song ends there is a small reprive for the dancers before the song and dancing begins again. With each group there are people with coolers and trash bags on little wagons with refreshments appropriate to age. Thus all but the children were quickly getting drunk throughout the evening, making the dance more interesting and a little less rigid.

Thousands of people come out to watch the Matsumoto Bon Bon. Many people dress in Yukata for the day of all different colours. In addition to the Bon Bon there was also a carnival like atmosphere, with food booths lining the streets as well as games for children. Though I have lived in Texas and been to the Minnesota State Fair, I have never seen so many kinds of meat on sticks. Granted I don’t know what most of them were or what they were flavored with. My favorite, though I did not try it was an entire squid on a stick.

Jappanese Living

Where I live

A few people have asked about my living arrangements here in Japan so I thought I would give you a quick tour. I have been spending my time spent between Matusmoto and Norikura.

Matusmoto – International Student Housing

In Matsumoto I live in the International Student House (I’ll get a photo of the building and add it when I have a chance). My room is one of the single rooms in the building which is 16 square meters or about 170 square feet. Thus not that big, considering this it is impressive that I have a kitchen and a bathroom in this small space.

Kitchen: sink, cupboards, two burner stove/ toaster, refrigerator (in main room). Interestingly, hot water heaters don’t seem to be the same here as in the US or Sweden for that matter. The little box in this image to the right of the dish soap turns on the water heater. It is only when this is turned on that hot water is available. I am not sure exactly how it is heated (electricity or gas). Also you can set the temperature on the heater.

Study Area: desk, closet/shelves. Just enough space to work on my computer, sand cores if necessary and store my clothing and few books.

Bed and Refrigerator

Don’t let my sleeping bag on the bed fool you, it is hot in Matsumoto, though apparently not as hot as other places. Thus, beds are made specifically for the season. The stripped ‘sheet’ you see here is actually a towel that is used as a sheet but is absorbs sweat better than a cotton sheet. Under that is a bed cover or bed pad that we use in the US under sheets, here it is the bottom sheet. It is quite thick again to absorb sweat and keep the mattress clean. The brown pillow is a bit hard but does the job. I am not sure what it is filled with, possibly buckwheat chaff, I am not sure.

Bathroom: toilet, sink, shower/tub (more tub than shower). I have apparently not taken a picture of it. But the most interesting aspects are that you have to take a step up into the bathroom and that there is a lever on the sink that if you flip it water then flows to the shower head.

View from my window/door/balcony. The view is of the Delicia 2 (grocery store) parking lot. I have a laundry line and pole to dry my clothes on. Unless it has been raining close dry fairly quickly.

Norikura – Kuraigahara Hiker’s Cabin

http://www.kuraigahara.jp/ – Google translate does an ok job with this website if you want to check it out.

The cabin is located on the side of Mt. Norikura. To access the cabin, takes three buses and one train ride from where I live, but if I make all of my transfers promptly takes only about 3 hours. After taking the bus to Matsumoto station, I get onto the Kamikochi line train and take it to it’s terminus at the Shimashimas station. On the way the train passes through an agricultural district full of rice, apples and watermelons. The town of Hata is famous for it’s watermelons. From Shimashimas station a bus is taken up into the mountains, past a series of three (or more) dams and through a number of long tunnels. The bus keeps on going up to Norikura kugen (Norikura Heights) and to Kanko Centre Mae. Kanko Centre is a large parking area with some gift shops, onsens (hot springs) and access to skiing during the winter. Soon after Kanko Centre public vehicles are restricted and buses, taxis, hiking and bicycles are the only way to get up the mountain.

My room. I think it is bigger than my place in Matsumoto.
This room has a ‘consento’ in it. I was very confused on the meaning of ‘consento’ at first, for I thought I was being asked if I wanted to consent to stay in the room. Which of course I did. However, ‘consento’ means electrical plug and they gave me a room with a plug so that I can charge batteries and my computer while staying up at the cabin.

I keep all of my stuff in this corner, for no particular reason.

Here are my bed linens. One of the great things about the cabin is that it is cool enough at night that I can sleep on down bedding with a thick fleece like blanket. The pillow is a bag of beans or something of the sort which takes getting used to but works well.
Every night I lay out my bed and the first thing I do in the morning is fold it back up. I do this mainly because I am not sure if I am suppose to but feel like I should so I do.

Out side of my room is a common area. The sitting area portion is raised on a tadamia mate. On it are these tables (sometimes just one, depends on the number of guests). When it is cold the tables are turned on. For there is a little electrical heater under them, the table top is placed over a blanket and cushions are placed around the table. When it is cold out you sit at these tables with your legs underneath and the blanket on you keeping the warm air trapped with in. It is quite nice.

Slippers. In the cabin you need slippers, as you do in many places and parts of life in Japan. Here are 3 of the 4 pairs of slippers that I wear on a daily basis while at the cabin.

House slippers. These slippers are worn from entrance to the interior of the wooden portion of the cabin. A different pair is worn around the outside of the cabin and in the dinning hall but I don’t have a picture of that pair. The house slippers are worn from the door of my room, but not in my room, to the toilet, sink, and to the dinning hall.

Bathroom Slippers. Yeap, there are special slippers for the bathroom. These are probably the most uncomfortable of the slippers, but that is mainly for they feel too small. You take your house slippers off either at the door on the outside or just inside on this piece of plywood. The bathroom is a collection of pit toilets, to the right is a line of urinals and to the left are three toilets (1 western that is warmed, and two Japanese style toilets).

Drying Room Slippers. These slippers are only worn in this small room that is used for drying clothing and anything that is wet. I store some of my field gear in this room as well as hang up my rain gear and gaitors.

I am realizing that I am missing many pictures of the cabin, which I will get this coming week. For instance, the dinning room is a big room with long tables and a heating stove in the middle. I have no pictures of the owner of the cabin or his staff, which will also be remedied. And I will write more about them too.

Matsumoto Castle

So this is not recent, but two weekends ago I visited the renowned Matsumoto Castle. Matsumoto Castle is known for being the oldest castle in Japan. Many other castles have been completely re-done over the years. I am not exactly sure how much of Matsumoto castle has been re-done (lots has) but it still holds on to the claim of being the oldest built in 1504. Once you have paid to go into the castle 600 yen ($6-7.00), you can take advantage of the free English tours that are provided. The day I went there were few foreigners so I the tour guide all to myself.

The castle was built as a fortress next to a place. The castle appears to have 4 levels from the outside, but in reality it has 5. This is one of the unique and interesting things about the castle. The 4^th floor is small shorter in height with no windows while the 5^th floor is extra tall. If the castle was attacked and the hold of the castle was failing the Samuri would retreat to the 4^th floor and wait to ambush the enemy who were on their way to what they believed to be the 4^th floor to kill the lord.

Above the 5^th floor where the lord’s rooms where there is a look out with views in every direction. Getting from floor to floor in the castle is no easy task. There is a wooden staircase that leads from one floor to the next all very steep, in order to slow enemies as they attacked, easy to go down, difficult to go up in full armor. Additionally, on each floor once you came up from the stairs you had to walk around most of the floor before reaching the next staircase, again to slow down intruders.

The castle is currently surrounded by one moat filled with coe fish. Back when the castle was constructed there were two moats. One where the current lies, and another farther out connected to a river that runs through town. Within the outer moat but outside the inner moat is where the historical town of Matsumoto existed. Within the inner moat in addition to the castle was a palace, which has since burnt down.

While the castle had excellent constructed defenses they were never needed. The castle was never attacked mainly due to its construction coinciding with the change of rule.

The castle was first restored in the early 1900’s due to the efforts of a local high school principle. The high school raised funds to preserve the castle. During these efforts the principle introduced baseball to Matsumoto and they played ball where the palace had once been.

Today the castle is a national treasure and well protected. When you enter the castle everyone must take off their shoes. An attendant gives you a plastic bag to carry your shoes in and keep the dirt that may fall off of them in the bag. When I took my shoes off I realized that I was wearing a brand new pair of white socks. I shook my head, of all days to wear new white socks. After my amazing adventure through time and architecture I left the castle, only to notice that my socks were clean. I walked all over a 500 year old wooden castle in brand new white socks could barely tell.

U Betula

Webpage and Blog of Amanda B. Young, a PhD student in the Department of Geography at Penn State University