nagano

day 57

nagano is a sad little city. host to the 1998 winter olympics, it seems to have been all downhill since. more than any other place i've been here, buildings are deteriorating, shops have closed up, and there's no spark on the street. the city's own website tracks history from 30,000 years ago (people hunt naumann elephants around lake nojiri) to 1998.

fortunately, aonther legacy of the games is shinkansen service.


















for me, the symbol of nagano. how awesome is this. he's got to be over 90, and travelling at speed through the intersection. stella can barely contain herself.

matsumoto too

day 56

matsumoto. another great place to go. or stay.



breakfast in matsumoto. with a start like this, your day just goes right.

there are free bicycles in matsumoto. free. you just ask for one, and they give it to you. then you see lots, and you give it back. how great is that?

matsumoto

day 55

matsumoto is wonderful. it's a small town, filled with special places.

go there

day 54
magome



magome is a nice place. you should go there. tsumago is also a nice place. you should go there too. if you travel to japan (and you should) then go to tsumago and magome.






to pass a few minutes during a quiet moment, we decided to have an impromptu photo contest. limited to 5 paces in a vacant lot, these were my 4 entries. which one do you like best...

photo 1






photo 2






photo 3






photo 4

in the end, three different photos were picked by four different people. but i like photo 3.