Tuesday 23 October 2007

My home town - Shiojiri

I live in Shiojiri city, which is in the center of Nagano prefecture. It has a population of 70,000 people and it's the 8th biggest city in Nagano prefecture. (I found this information at http://uub.jp/cpf/nagano.html  )
There's a beautiful view of mountain chain called Japanese Alps. The height of those is about 3,000 metres. If you want to know more information about Japanese Alps, please visit web site, http://www.pref.nagano.jp/xkyouiku/sance/inpak/ya1/ya1_index.html .
The winter is very cold. It's usually under subzero in the morning. It needs careful driving, because the road freezes!
Wine is famous, but I can't drink alcohol, so I don't know good point of Shiojiri's wine.
The best thing about Shiojiri is atmosphere. I like living here, because I feel the time goes slow (except work...).


4 comments:

  1. Yuji,

    Thank you for posting about Shiojiri. I love the name "Salty Bottom" - I think it's unique!

    Well-written, and the links are very useful; excellent idea.

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  2. I am living in Shiojiri city where is a neighboring city of Mastumoto and it has a population of 68,000.

    It's a quiet city. We can live close to nature. There isn’t anything except nature!

    The weather is very hard in winter. The temperature drops below 0 degrees and the difference between the day and night is big. Summer is comparatively cool and it is very suitable. I didn't use an air conditioner in the last summer.

    The place where I live is famous for wine. There are nine wineries but I've not tried any bottles yet. Winery festival was held in front of Siojiri station on October 27th-28th this year. It costs 2,200 yen to join. In this festival, customers can visit some wineries by a sightseeing bus.

    I think the best thing about the city are the conditions at the location. The express train Azusa stops at Siojiri station where is the nearest station to my house. It is easy to go on a business trip to Tokyo. I like living here.

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  3. Hi Jim sensei,

    You wrote "salty bottom" as "Shiojiri" and "it's unique".

    I don't know the origin of that name correctly. But I can guess that.
    Long ago, there was a road named "salt road", from seaside of Japan sea to Matsumoto area. People used to carry salt by that road.
    "Jiri(Shiri)" that you called "bottom" also means "end" in Japanese. Therefore, I think the name "Shiojiri" came from "the end of salt road".
    My family name is "Ejiri".
    I think, that means the end of river or bay.

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  4. Keigo,

    You're absolutely right - the name Shiojiri comes from the Salt Road (which heads down the Kiso valley to Nagoya through the postal villages).

    Oddly enough, there are some very similar place names in Britain. Middle Wallop would be one!

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