DECEMBER 2024

^{When you are on the platform at Matsumoto railway station, you are likely to hear a female voice over the loud speaker announcing the name of the place in a very sing song voice: Matsumoto, Matsumoto, Matsumoto, she repeats, dragging out the ‘o’ at the end – Matsumotooooooo! It becomes a rather pleasant ear worm, embedding a Matsumotooooo, Matsumotooooo, Matsumotooooooo refrain into your brain.}

^{I mentioned this to a friend who joined us on our autumn visit to Japan late last year (2024) – her first visit there.}

^{Sure enough, at Matsumoto station, our friend heard the refrain, and says it’s become imbedded in her brain too. Now, when I see her, we laugh and repeat it to each other – Matsumotooooo, Matsumotooooooo ……….}

^{This ancient castle city, with its thoroughly modern vibe, found its way into another soul.}

^{Matsumoto is a city of many layers – a place to wander, explore, relax and have fun! And on my latest trip there, I did plenty more of that – finding my way to a unique 300 year old miso brewery and sampling miso ice cream for the first time! Mmmmmm – ‘not sure about that’ – I hear you say. Believe me – so very good!}

^{The autumn visit to Matsumoto was our second trip there in 2024. We visited in Spring too. We have now been there four times, and I suspect this beautiful intriguing city will continue to make it onto our future itineraries in Japan.}

^{Matsumoto in November was my base for another day adventure into the Kiso Valley – this time to a very unheralded town that, unlike places such as Narai, Tsumago and Magome, seems to attract very few tourists.}

^{I have a lot to tell you about this latest November trip, so I’ll detail it in another story in the New Year. Meanwhile: I’ll reflect on what I wrote earlier this year after our May visit in Spring.}

^{Back in 2019, on my first visit to Matsumoto, I foolishly thought I could cover this small city in Nagano prefecture in three days! One visit would barely scratch the surface!}

^{Matsumoto is known principally for one of Japan’s most famous historic castles – an original, not a replica. It is also a great base for day trips to other interesting destinations such as the nearby glorious Japanese Alps and the Kiso Valley. But if you restrict yourself to that, you will be selling yourself and Matsumoto short.}

^{It is a very cool city – and I’m not referring to the fact that it is promoted as a ‘snowy wonderland’ in winter, offering skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, sledding and vibrant Après-ski opportunities.}

^{Year round, Matsumoto offers music, dance, art, great nightlife, concerts, performing arts, delectable local produce, good restaurants and lots more. For me, it is an easy city to walk, discover and enjoy at an easy pace (there’s a tourist hop on hop off bus at a cheap day ticket price if prefer).}

^{That first visit in 2019 was aimed mainly at the 16th century castle. It’s beautiful – a photographer’s dream. Been there, done that – not with this castle. My camera and I are repeatedly drawn to it, particularly at dawn. The castle is steeped in interesting samurai history, and climbing up inside is fairly easy. Entry costs only about $6 Australian – far more reasonable that the $40 currently being suggested for the slightly more famous Himeji castle, another original. There are also free english speaking guides available to take you through the castle.}

^{In 2019, we did a wonderful day trip by bus from Matsumoto to see snow walls on Mount NORIKURADAKE in the Alps. Not the more famous snow walls on the Tateyama-Kurobe trail. These are smaller snow walls and much less crowded. We were the only western tourists and the only people to arrive on the bus! A small number of other visitors there had made their way by car. Skiers, making the best of the last few days of snow on the slopes, joined us on the bus for our return trip to Matsumoto.}

^{My second visit to Matsumoto was mainly to see the city’s wonderful clock museum – closed on my first trip – and to go back up into the Alps again, this time to trek at Kamikochi in the Chubu Sangaku National Park.}

^{During my visits to Matsumoto, I love to walk through the city’s famous Nakamachi old merchant district, full of interesting shops and eateries. I seriously considered whether a third visit was warranted when I had other new places to explore in Japan? More research and I found good reasons to return in May this year – admittedly, I like this place, so any reason was going to be good enough!}

^{Matsumoto is home to an excellent Art Museum that celebrates the city’s own home grown artists, including the internationally acclaimed Kusama Yayoi, who created the famous Pumpkin piece on Naoshima Island in Kagawa Prefecture. Kusama’s work spans several artistic fields including sculpture, writing and fashion. In the 1960’s, she performed alongside Fleetwood Mac in New York! I’m not sure what exactly she did. Today, at 95 she is a voluntary resident of a Tokyo mental home, leaving most days to work at her nearby studio. Pieces created in her style dominate the Matsumoto Art museum, with colourful tulip sculptures greeting you as you approach the building.}

^{I’ve just read that her latest work has reached Australia. The National Gallery of Victoria has decorated 60 plane trees along St Kilda Road, Melbourne, wrapping their trunks in pink and white polka dots. It is part of an upcoming exhibition by her at the Gallery, running from December through to April 2025.}

^{In Matsumoto, there’s even vending machines, decorated in her style and with what looks like her 2005 year signature. I’m unsure if all the Kusama work at the Museum was actually done by her, but there is great security around another huge pumpkin piece inside that is isolated in its own special room and access is limited – it’s like entering Noah’s Ark – two by two. No overcrowding here, but you do have a short time limit to view! So surely it must be an original! There also are works by other artists, but Kusama dominates. There’s an excellent museum shop with some tempting unique souvenirs that we saw nowhere else.}

^{The Museum is about 20 minutes walk from the railway station, though it took us a lot longer as we found plenty to interest us along the way.}

^{Like the little coffee shop we came across. The owner’s husband hand made fishing lures for sale. MJ, a die hard fisher, thought he was in seventh heaven! He bought some, of course. The coffee was excellent too, but it was the owner’s little robot that captured my heart. This tiny robot, called Tomato, has been around a long time. I’d seen ‘Tomato’previously on television and in magazines.}

^{But there is nothing like experiencing Tomato for real. Conversation was a little difficult. He didn’t understand english, and my attempts at Japanese seemed to confuse him. But after ‘chatting’ for a while, he approached me to pick him up for cuddle, blinking those cute blue eyes and warming my heart. I took a video of our little ‘chat’ – a perfect pick me up when I watch it!}

^{Rounding another corner we ‘stumbled across’ one of my great delights in life – a Sunday market with live jazz music and an expansive offering of locally made products . Here, I had what was, without a doubt, one of the best home made apple pies I have tasted! The pies were made by a local farmer using a Japanese apple mixed with a Pink Lady apple, which originated from Western Australia! By coincidence, I was involved in the early WA Government promotion of this apple. Pie and jazz – what more do you want!}

^{In a corner of the market was a group of students raising funds to enter a solar powered vehicle competition. They had made their own vehicles, and no doubt, many were on track to becoming Japan’s next generation of designers and engineers. Super smart young blokes. In Western Australia, solar powered racing is also held annually for students to encourage interest in science, technology, engineering and maths. So, we were keen to see what the Matsumoto students were doing, and of course, left them with a donation. Tomorrow’s young inventors and innovators!}

^{MJ had to drag me away from that market – I could have stayed all day.}

^{Early one morning on my May 2024 visit, I walked to Matsumoto castle in the hope of capturing a good sunrise shot. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a great sunrise, but you really can’t go wrong photographing this beautiful castle at any time. I spotted a couple taking photos of each other in front of the castle, and offered to take their picture together. It turned out they were Chinese tourists, and they kindly offered to take my photo too – MJ was still back at the hotel asleep!}

^{Later that day, MJ and I headed off on a day trip up to the Kiso Valley to Narai-juku, a 1600’s post town on the famous Nakasendō walking trail. And who suddenly greeted me in the main Street like old friends? The couple from the castle! Interesting when you start recognising other tourists!}

^{We walked part of the Nakasendō trail a few years ago between Tsumago and Magome – one of the highlights of all our Japan visits and if you can manage an 8 k walk up and down a few hills, do it. But we hadn’t visited Narai before. It is easily accessible on a day trip from Matsumoto by rail. I will write about Narai in a future story. I recommend it, but caution that a check on their ‘closed’ days is a good idea. We didn’t, and found many shops and restaurants in the town were not open for business.}

^{On another early morning walk, I came across the Matsumoto City Museum. It’s been operating since 1906, and was the first museum registered in Nagano prefecture. Late last year, it moved to a new ultra modern purpose designed building on a main street leading to the castle. So a much more prominent and easily accessible location. I returned in opening hours with MJ, and we were bowled over with the quality and array of exhibits. The Museum houses more than 100 thousand items, and provides an authentic window into Matsumoto’s samurai times with many original artifacts. Definitely worth seeing.}

^{Did I mention nightlife? We were in Matsumoto on a weekend, and the vibrant restaurant quarter near the railway station was humming! Not many western tourists, but plenty of locals and visitors enjoying meals. It was a warm spring night, and patrons spilled out to outside tables. A very sweet and memorable evening!}

^{We went back to a favourite restaurant we’d discovered on a previous Matsumoto trip. It specialises in flame grilled chicken. Try it with local fresh wasabi. OISHI! For the western visitor, it’s a good idea to pay attention to the type of chicken you are ordering. We stuck with thigh and breast meat.}

^{Mike loved his beer that night, with an imprint of Matsumoto castle in the beer head (foam)! I went for a delicious local Nagano sake.}

^{Of course, you don’t have to wait until nighttime to indulge. There’s ‘Media Garden’ – an unusual small shopping centre in central Matsumoto, designed by one of Japan’s top architects, and located a short distance from both the railway station and the Castle. Musicians and local producers often hold events in the forecourt.}

^{Matsumoto brewery has a small restaurant on the top floor, with an open balcony providing a great view of Matsumoto streets below. It’s a very relaxing place. They serve a good selection of their locally produced beer. If you are not into beer, I can assure you the local Matsumoto apple juice is excellent. And to eat – I recommend their mushroom pizza (secretly, that pizza is probably the main reason I plan to return to Matsumoto for yet another visit,LOL)}

^{For afters, check out the ice cream shop on the ground floor. There’s a public piano there too where, if you know how to play, give it a go!}

^{There’s another public piano at Matsumoto railway station. We have come across these public pianos in many places in Japan, and most of the pianists have been really well worth while listening to. Often just people passing by who know how to play without music sheets!}

^{There also is a selection of shops and restaurants within the railway station. There is a french style bakery next to the Station steps/escalators that is our go to place for an early breakfast – it opens early and I know I can find reasonable coffee, juice and a good freshly baked croissant or danish there! A friend who had been in Matsumoto a few weeks before us this year enjoyed an evening meal at an Italian restaurant at the station, so we checked it out too! Italian? With a Japanese twist, of course! Nori on pasta – it works!}

NOTE: a new story in the New Year 2025 coming up about my November 2024.

See the links here to my stories about Matsumoto from earlier visits:

https://travellingtherese.com/2021/09/18/japanese-snow-walls-delight-2/

https://travellingtherese.com/2022/01/08/a-castle-clocks-frogs-and-mountains/

https://travellingtherese.com/2022/01/18/part-2-a-castle-clocks-frogs-and-mountains/