Day 2, Touka machi, Art

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!