Plenty to do in Matsumoto: Karen's report

Matsumoto City Museum of Art

What can visitors do in my home city?

• You can visit Matsumoto City Art Gallery because it has a lot of pieces of work by Kusama Yayoi and other artists. You can see her art outside, a spotty Coca Cola machine, and a spotty bus too.
• I recommend Joyama Park because it has a lot of beautiful cherry blossom trees, and you can see wonderful views of Matsumoto and the tall mountains.
• I recommend eating soba in a restaurant called kawa-fune, near the castle. Soba is locally made grey noodles. You can eat them hot or cold - I prefer them cold.
• You must visit Matsumoto Castle, because it is a National Treasure. It has a long history, and there are many events there eg an Ice Festival in January, a Kendo competition in November, a Craft Beer Festival in August...
• Nawate Street is next to the Metoba River, and is good for shopping, eating Tayaki (from the Furusato shop), and beautiful views. You can have a coffee & pastry in Sweets, a bakery.
• Nakamachi is good for souvenir shopping in unique stores, there's a morning market on Saturdays, and it has a lot of restaurants.
• The film 'Orange' was filmed at the historic Agata-no-Mori building, where there is also a lovely park.

Karen

Ohanami BBQ at Joyama Park

A great big THANK YOU!!! to everybody who joined us on that windy hill on Sunday. Although the weather wasn't all that good, we still managed to have a decent barbecue, have a few beers, play a little football and meet fellow students and friends. We discovered that Matsumoto really is a small place indeed, ALT's and English language teachers were reunited after 15 years, and discoveries through email addresses exchanged that two parties actually worked at the same company, but had just never met there before!

Eventually the rain got the better of us and we had to move up the hill to the little shelter at the top where we huddle d together, enjoyed a little guitar, and ran outside again when the sun came out. All arrived and departed safely despite the slippery path, some in high heeled shoes, and some carrying the massive cooler box and smoldering barbecue.

And then as the temperature began to drop, Shizue kindly came to the rescue by inviting those who still hadn't had enough to make use of her garden at her house nearby. And so, a handful of die-hards lit the second barbecue of the day and Shizwe brought us all hot coffee to warm our cold hands. We ended the evening with a song in our hearts and bellies full, having made some new friends and having reunited with old ones.

We hope to see you all there again next year! And hope we have better luck with the weather next time!
Who knows, we had such fun we might even schedule another one for summer!! So you won't have to wait that long.

Will keep you posted,

Tana