Poseidon’s Projects

If there was one word that I had to use to describe Eichigo yuzawa, it would be “ski.” If I had to describe the town of Touka machi using only one word I would say “art.”

Touka machi has taken a big gamble. In my opinion their gamble has paid off. Touka machi has me literally excited out of my skull. The reason why is because of an art festival that I didn’t know about until today. And I really wish I had known about it because this art festival is only held once every three years. Kind of like the olympics except much more interesting. If you are interested in art, especially modern art, then you definitely have to visit Touka machi. Here is why.

We got on a train this morning and rode out to Touka machi from Eichigo yuzawa. It was a lovely forty minute train ride through the snow covered mountains. It was absolutely beautiful scenery. For this reason alone I would recommend the trip to Touka machi. But once we arrived at Touka machi we were greeted by our guides from the Town office, Mr. Komiyama and Mr. Ogawa. We got to ride around in one of the city’s vans all day. Mr. Komiyama drove and Mr. Ogawa talked. And what he talked about was so interesting and neat. Apparently, Touka machi is in a little trouble. It has been struck especially hard by the phenomenon known as “aging.” By this I mean that the general population is getting older. This also means that young people are becoming rarer. And truth be told I can understand why. Touka machi is a very small town. I’ve lived in a very similar place to it in Shiga prefecture when I first came to Japan. However, I love these types of places and Touka machi had a nostalgic feel for me. But according to Mr. Ogawa’s story, Touka machi requested help from the government of Niigata to curb the problem of “aging.” And while you can’t cure people getting old, you can bring tourism into the area and make the area more interesting for the younger crowd. This is exactly what they decided to do. In 2000, the town’s first art festival was held. Artists from around the world came to Touka machi to put in art installations and show off their work. During the second Art Festival, one of the themes was “Empty Houses.” Since many people were leaving the area, many homes were being abandoned. There are apparently many reasons why these old houses are left by their owners. Some people move, some move far away, some places are just forgotten. However, the Art Festival took these houses and made them into a theme. This theme was the “Empty Houses” project. One such house was the “Ubusuna House.”

This home was redesigned by an artist to make a restaurant. The concept of the house is to provide a place to sit and relax while people are on their journey to find all the art installations. Oh wait. I didn’t mention that? Oh yeah, all the art installations are peppered over Touka machi and the neighboring towns. Basically the art installations are like eggs. When you come to the Art Festival you are on an Easter Egg hunt. And while you are searching for eggs, I would suggest you stop by the Ubusuna House. It was awesome. Especially right now because they had tons of “Girls Festival Dolls” on display.

The person in charge of the Ubusuna House told me that after Girls Festival is a better time to come due to it being quieter. I think though that there are many more opportunities to take pictures with all the old dolls on display. Was very awesome.

Next up on the schedule was lunch. We went to the Nobutai Museum. The Nobutai museum itself was an art installation. All the rooms inside the Nobutai museum was an art installation. The restaurant we ate lunch at was an art installation. It was called “Reflection.”

Lunch was pretty good. In fact, lunch was vegetarian. A pleasant surprise. After eating lunch we got to tour around the museum and visit some of the other installations. After looking around we then went to our next destination, the “Shedding House.” The “Shedding House” is an old Japanese home that is owned by an artist couple. They allowed the house to be used in the festival, and another artist came to change the house into what it is today. By now you are asking yourself what the “shedding” could possibly refer to. It refers to the shedding the outer layer of the wood on the inside of the house to expose the inner wood. So what this artist did was, send some of his students down on the weekend to the house. Then the students basically carved grooves into anything that was wooden on the inside of the house. And I mean everything. The floor. The ceiling. The walls. The stairs. Behind the stairs. The doors. Wooden benches. Everything that was wooden. Nothing was safe.

Although it doesn’t sound that impressive, the final work was ridiculously amazing. I was amazed. After the “Shedding House” we headed to the “Kyororo: The School of the Forest.” This was half art installation half science museum. Although the community is involved in bringing in animals and plants for the display. The museum was probably hands down the most interesting science museum I’ve ever been to. Even though it was small.

This is the front area of the museum. The boxes and cages you see lined up in the middle are very interesting. The cages house snakes that are native to the area. The boxes are mystery boxes. What you do is put your hand into the box and use your hand to determine what is inside. I put my hand into one of the boxes mark “For those with bravery.” Immediately I felt something furry. I knew it wasn’t going to be alive but still, I almost jerked my hand out of the box in fear. I figured it was an animal skin of some kind. I open the box and it was one of the rabbits that are native to Japan. After spending some time looking at all the exhibits we moved on to the next art installation. “The Last Class.”

“The Last Class” is an art installation that uses an entire school. It was pretty crazy. It is also very hard to explain. I suggest that you take a look at my more in depth write up on Touka in the coming days. I’m sure I’ll figure out a way to describe the art installation in the meantime.

After this school building we were shuttled to another art installation that uses a school. This one is called “Picture Book and Fruit Art Museum.” The concept is also very hard to explain. Basically they took a school and made the school into a picture book. It was very cool. And luckily, the artist was there to show us around. I ended up hanging back and talking with him for a majority of the visit.

Hard to figure out what is going on in that picture, but it is a very interesting piece. This was the last stop before heading back to the Touka machi station. There we met up with a bus to the hotel and brought us to this luxury resort. Oh man. This hotel is so nice. Here is a little sneak preview. This is the view of the hotel right as you walk in the door.

Well for me it is time for bed. I need to wake up tomorrow at around three in the morning to hit the spas. I want to get some pictures of the spas and I was told by the staff that there probably won’t be anyone in there around that hour. So hopefully my journalistic effort won’t be wasted, and I’ll have some nice pictures of some peopleless spas. Wish me luck!

Day 1 has ended. My day started this morning when I woke up, anxious to be going on my first real vacation trip. I woke up with Kana and decided to head out with her at around 7 in the morning. The trains were crowded. Since I had a relatively large suitcase with me, I wasn’t too happy about this. But when I arrived at Tokyo station I was in for a pleasant surprise. I got in line and waited for the bullet train to arrive.

After everyone got off the train, staff were given about 10 minutes to clean. Then we were allowed onto the train. I went to my seat. Fortune had smiled upon me. My ticket was for a window seat. I put my suitcase and bags down and went outside to take a picture of the LCD panel on the side of the train. “For Niigata.” I thought it was a rather fitting beginning to my trip. So I took my picture and went back to my seat. Fortune had smiled upon me once again. No one sat down next to me. This means I could stretch my legs a little bit. I then got out “Snow Country” and started reading. I then got a little tired and decided to shut my eyes. Around this time, the train went into a tunnel. The opening line of “Snow Country” remarks how “upon leaving the tunnel, I was in snow country.” I eagerly awoke, waiting for my sudden magical transportation into snow country. Unfortunately, upon leaving the tunnel I was still in Japan. I closed my eyes again. But then we went into another tunnel. This time we didn’t come out of the tunnel for quite some time. I became excited again. Perhaps this is the tunnel he was referring to? Then the train crew announced we were going to be arriving at the station soon. But we still weren’t out of the tunnel yet. I quickly got out my camera and prepared to take a picture, snow or no snow. The tunnel started to become bright. Suddenly we were out.

I have arrived in snow country.

After arriving at the station, we were hurried off to our first activity of the day. A tour of the Shirataki brewery. We watched a video in the showroom and then we were shown around the brewery. I certainly do like the smell of sake. However, during the tasting I was having some difficulty drinking the sake. I don’t know what it is but I just don’t like the taste of sake that much. I did enjoy the brewery tour and having the chance to take a ton of pictures. May at some point during the trip I will find a sake that I can enjoy drinking.

I’m also on a sake related quest. I’m interested in finding out which sake each area of Niigata drinks. The area I’m in right now seems to drink a local sake called Kakurei. So I’m on a quest to see what is the best sake in Niigata.

After our trip to the brewery we were whisked off to a mountain gondola. We got some passes and went up to the top of Eichigo Yuzawa Kougen. Known for the skiing, there is also an awesome Italian restaurant at the top of the mountain. This is where we ate lunch. But not before taking a couple of pictures.

I love the snow. I haven’t been to a snow covered mountain in Japan before. It was beautiful.

After lunch we had to quickly go off to the next destination. Here I would be learning how to make buckwheat noodles.

It was interesting and very hard. Preparing the dough of the noodles was a little like making bread dough. But it was a lot tougher and then eventually became soft. After cutting the dough into noodles as you see in the picture above, I was able to eat the noodles. There was also a reporter here to do an interview. Was asked a lot of questions and I will eventually be getting a copy of the paper. At least I think so.

After this we came back to town to try more sake. I mentioned in a previous post that I would be visiting a kind of sake museum with a wall of sake dispensaries. This is where we went. And as you can see, there were a lot of sake. There was easily well over 100 different kinds.

I tried 5 different kinds. Most of what I tried was recommended to me by teachers from school. I however, don’t really like sake. And that didn’t change magically during the middle of the day. I will say this though. At the brewery, one of the first samples we were given was very easy to drink. It was basically like drinking water. But as the sake goes up in quality, my enjoyment goes down a little. I’ve been told though that we will be going to a sake tasting festival this Saturday. So maybe I can find something there. This is after all a learning experience.

After touring inside the station a little we returned to the hotel.

At this point I was very tired and wanted to sit down. I came into my room and got a sudden shutter bug itch. I took lots of pictures of the interior. Including the private bath.

The private bath was very nice. I can’t recommend it enough.

So that was how my day went in general. During the evenings I’m going to write these really general summary type posts. Then as the week goes on, when I have time, I’m going to try and write more about each spot a little more in depth. So today is going to be hard to top. I had a lot of fun and saw a lot of amazing things. I can’t wait to see what else Niigata has to offer. Stayed tuned! Goodnight.