Visiting Matsumoto - local advice

Let me introduce Matsumoto city!

Firstly, Matsumoto castle: it was built in the medieval age. You can rent traditional clothes like yukata, and take a photo with a samurai!

Nakamachi is the next place to visit. You can enjoy beautiful views and eat delicious food, like crepes & pancakes. You can also drink fresh spring water from one of the many wells.

Soba is a traditional Japanese noodle made from buckwheat. You can eat it hot or cold with soy sauce & wasabi.

Nawate Street is another beautiful place to visit. There is a big frog statue. You can take photos, drink coffee, and visit the nearby shrine.

You will want to visit Matsumoto. Now, enjoy your visit.

Posted for Ceilidh 

Visit Matsumoto - Hikari's top tips

Visitors can rent Yukata

If you come to Matsumoto, you'll definitely enjoy visiting Matsumoto Castle. It was built in the medieval age. Before there, you can rent traditional Japanese clothes, "Yukata". You can experience something rare, such as taking a photo with a samurai. Getting there by rickshaw is fun. In winter, there is an ice festival and the castle is light up. In summer, you can listen to traditional Japanese drums in the castle grounds.

Shopping is good in Nakamachi Street. You'll enjoy eating food & buying Japanese handicrafts. you can eat lots of desserts and foods, for example deicious crepes, pancakes, and traditional Matsumoto food, caramelised crickets & bee larvae. You can drink from a fresh-water spring.

If you're a first-time visitor to Matsumoto, don't miss out on eating soba. It is a dish of traditional Japanese noodles maade from buck wheat. You can learn how to make it too, in a class. It can be eaten hot or cold. Cold, with leeks, soy sauce & wasabi. Eat it hot with wild mountain vegetables or tempura, shiitake or matsutake mushrooms.

For those who only have a short time in Matsumoto, why not go to Nakamachi Street? There is a statue of big frogs at the entrance to the street. They are named Metoba, Gonta. When you visit there, you should take a photo with them. You can drink coffee while seeing beautiful nature. There is a shrine. You will want to wish for good luck.

Now you will want to visit Matsumoto. Enjoy your trip to Matsumoto.

Posted for Hikari

Urban safari - in search of springs

We live in an area rich in onsen (natural hot springs), but less people know about all the natural fresh water springs dotted around the city centre. Another beautiful day here in the central Alps, and the school still cluttered with boxes and stuff...bus trip!

Post office

Today we jumped off our bus before the station - we'd had fun waiting for the bus playing with the ice off the bus stop bench, and watching it melt quickly as our fingers got colder! We tried to walk on the sunny side of the street, as it was chilly in the shade. We inspected the post office and watched people put their letters in the post box.

We soon found a spring on Nakamachi street, with an old hand pump on top. We were careful not to wet our shoes. Across the road was another one, with bamboo pipes - and just up the street from there we found a man cleaning freshly cut poles of bamboo, which must have been 4 metres long. I never knew we had a bamboo business in the city!

We met a lot of older people at our next spring, and they talked to us as they filled their plastic bottles. It seems that a lot of people rely on the springs for their water supply. It was very fresh, and Sota said it was 'sweet'; it was also at a comfortable temperature - they never freeze over even in the middle of winter.

Bus stop gang!

On Frog Street we posed for a picture; what do you think? Clowns or really kool kids?! Snack time in the sunshine, gave us the energy to chase the pigeons around at the shrine, before we ran out of steam walking back to the bus stop...Sota and Hina were both ZZZzzzing in no time at all, and were transported magically back to a comfortable kip at Luna.

A delightful little excursion, lots of fresh air (and water!). Think we'll all sleep well tonight!

My hometown - Matsumoto

I live in Matsumoto, which is a city next to the mountains in the middle of Japan. It has a population of 228,814 people and it's a normal sized city in Japan.

It's a beautiful city, and it's great for walking around. There are lots of narrow streets, and it's full of shrines and markets. There's an area called Nawate where is a lot of outdoor markets and yatai-restaurants -people go there at the weekend to buy something for everyday use and eat something.
The weather here is very different from Tokyo. The winter is very cold, and it sometimes snows for days. The summer is wonderful - it's sunny but not usually too hot, and it's great for going to the mountains.

Matsumoto is famous for a castle, which is a national treasure. The most tourists visit there. It's a beautiful black colored castle. There's a festival in Auguest called Matsumoto Bon-bon, with a dancing people in the streets, and everybody competes their dances each other.

But I think the best things about Matsumoto are the people and the atmosphere. It has a clear air and water. It's a working city and it has a real sense of history, and that's the main reason why I like living here so much.

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