D3 NAAF to a great artistic viewpoint

Route: Omachi - Art in the eastern mountains- Matsumoto
Bicycle: 73 km
Train: 220 km
Total ascent: 1224 m

Average speed: 14,2 km/h

Riding time: 5:06 h

Weather: cloudy, sunny, some drops if rain, 20 C

For the last day in the area to see the art festival I went to the most “inconvenient“ locations, spread out through the mountains opposite the Japanese Alps. 

Due to my early start - weather forecast had rain from about noon, maybe later - and I wanted to be safely back in the valley before the rain came in, I missed the first work of art, by 45 min. They only open at 9:30. 

At the second I arrived minutes after it opened, after riding up quite a lot and then down again. I have no idea what this work of art was supposed to tell me though. Surprisingly though it wasn’t in an abandoned building but in a very new production hall.

From here I had multiple options, the less climbing (and less art) would have been to ride downhill all the way to Omachi, but what I had planned was to visit the other 3 art projects in the area, including one on the top of mountain at 1130 m before dipping down again into a valley at 710 m and the next work of art, just to need to return back-up again over a mountain pass at 920 m. So yeah, a lot of up and down. But I went for it anyway, and did not regret it. The art work, actually it is a building that is permanently there was really great, although not thought provoking like the trees yesterday. 

I had seen a picture of the building before and thought that one must have a nice view from there (and that's true... although not so much today, as the Japanese alps for these 3 days did expertly hide themselves behind some low hanging clouds. Yes... you see mountains in front, but those are the low lying mountains. The real ones are behind, invisible. 

But when I entered the building I understood this is not about what one sees from the building, this is about the interior of the building. 

It is like a traditional Japanese house, even with a little bit of tatami on the second floor, with the wooden partitions where to put sliding doors, but a house that was filled by a white round mass. It's not fluffy, but somehow welcoming and round. It even has a second floor with a view point to below. 

It was probably a very good choice to come here on a working day Monday. I wasn't alone, but we were only about 5 - 6 visitors, so one could get nice shots of the building without people. If that's the number of visitors on this mountain top on a weekday... I can imagine that on a weekend it must be rather full. Maybe they are controlling at the entrance that there is only a limit number of visitors (there is a finite number of white rubber slippers they give to visitors). But still will be more than the people visiting today. 

On that same mountain top was a restaurant as well, where I had a plate of curry rice... and then down it was to the village behind which got their community center envolved in something. Well... after the architectural experience on the mountain top, this wasn't so moving. 

There was a great view from here though as well, over the mountains towards Nagano, and all those trees... this is what I meant with the post yesterday, that Japan has too many trees. Trees everywhere. Hardly any human activity can be seen. (I realize that these are not primary forests... but still) 

To get back to Omachi and ultimately to Matsumoto, I needed to make it over one last pass, which fittingly also was the last piece of art I visited... in a now abandoned tunnel. Yet an other piece of art that didn't tell me absolutely anything. 

So finally I managed to visit all the art works in the most inconvenient locations, except the one where I was too early today in the morning. The ones I did not visit are the ones conveniently located in Omachi itself, because I decided to prioritize riding my bike over seeing yet more art. 

And back to Matsumoto it was. Along the river in some places one could ride at a very nice speed, but closer to Matsumoto it got very windy and with a little bit of up and down (nothing enormous), progress was a little bit slower. But still I made it to a super sento very conveniently located at less than 2 km from Matsumoto station by around 15:45, with enough time to enjoy a good soak and even my first post-summer akasuri (= Korean body scrub). 

D2 NAAF Around Omachi

Route: around Omachi and up to Kuzuonsen

Bicycle: 60 km
Total ascent: 1012 m
Average speed: 
Riding time: 4:19 h
Weather: clouds and sun, no rain, 22C

Also today I saw one piece of art that was great. Unfortunately only one. Or one and an half. But that one was actually the best I have seen so far. Better even than the ones in Echigo Tsumari. 

Initially I thought that the second last art work was good, and it’s nice and all, but like yesterday the best was the last one.

A very cruel piece of art. In the forest some trees have been cut, prepared into wooden planks, firewood and even the branches are all there. Only a central column remains and the root still in the earth. While the neighboring tree hasn’t been mutilated and is still growing as if nothing had happened to his neighbor. Makes you wonder if one should be “lignio abstinent”. But at the same time I am thinking of buying a piece of land in Tokyo to build a house which will be made of wood… conflicted…

It’s also true that there are too many trees in Japan. Specially Japanese cedars (probably the tree in the picture) which causes hay fewer to what seems to be half of the population in Japan. Actually the government announced a plan to reduce these trees, but it is hard to see how this can be implemented due to the lack of manpower specially in rural areas and just the vastness of the forests and mountains in Japan.

The day started relatively late, because the art works don’t open until 9:30 and I used the full opening time until 16:30. The first art work was close to my accommodation around lake Nakatsuna. 

I’d say decorative, but mainly because the lake is nice by itself. The next two in an abandoned school did tell me even less. 

The third on my way to a dam was a video installation about hunters and the forth was a decorated but otherwise ugly wall of the Omachi Power museum… 

… a museum likely dedicated to the many dams that exist in the area. The most famous of them: Kurobe Dam, which is on a complicated but very popular route of many different transports (Trolleybus, cable car, bus, train…) through the Northern Alps. 

From there it was up and up to a first dam …

And a second dam which had yet another piece of art.

For me it was the place to eat my onigiri. Which felt a bit little but was all I had. As it was already 12:00 I decided against continuing up to the final dam but instead was tempted by an onsen in the area which had been highly recommended by the owner of the pension where I am staying. 

It was a nice onsen, but I confirmed that doing an onsen during a ride isn’t so nice as doing it at the end knowing thrrr are only a few kilometers left. 

Once down from the mountain I found a soba restaurant (in the middle of soba fields) , where I had lunch. Warm soba this time. 

Before heading to the last cluster of art works on Omachi onsenkyo a hotel village , now apparently popular by bus tours that do the Kurobe dam tour. 

In this old sake factory now a sake museum where small moving and sounding objects. 

Right next to what seemed to be a waste thermal plant was this art work, which didn’t tell me anything. Jus looked like wooden planks for walking, similar to the ones in the forest with the long poem above. It looks like a nice place to have lunch, but that’s about it.

Anyway even here I did get one more stamp for my passbook.

And off I went to the last but one piece of art, which gains an honorable mention.

But the best was the last, to which I arrived in extremis, barely minutes before they were closing. 

D1 NAAF Matsumoto - Omachi plus art

Route: Matsumoto - Omachi and art installations between 

Bicycle: 65 km

Train: 220 km

Total ascent: 659 m
Average speed: 15,9 km/h
Riding time: 4:04 h
Weather: cloudy, later on light drizzle, 20 C

I read recently in the Japan Times about an “inconvenient“ art festival in the Northern Alps, which picked my interest. 

The Northern Alps Art Festival (NAAF), curiously organized by the same person as the Echigo Tsumari triennial where I was a few weeks ago. Initially I had thought to come here next weekend which will be a long one, but it turned out that 2 weeks before there were no train tickets anymore available, and with me being busy most of the other weekends in October plus reasonable weather I decided to make also this weekend a long one. Although there is no koyo yet and it is not a long weekend, it was difficult (but possible) to buy train tickets. 

From Matsumoto I first needed to get out of the city and then went as a first stop to a point to buy the “passport” for the art festival. Had a quick lunch in a restaurant on the same parking lot and then went to the first art work, which left me a bit underwhelmed.

The second piece was behind a temple in a forest.  This seems to be a theme with this festival. A lot of the places I saw today are somehow within temple or shrine grounds. 

Also this one frankly did not impress me. But it was in a curious location on a kind of golf in the woods ground. 

At the third place were some video installations. One of them being story telling from what seemed to be old , Japanese tales. 

I didn’t stop in Omachi, where there is more art in the town but continued to lake Kizaki, that had also more art.

But the highlight of the day was this spiral of lenses. They were specially magical as by this time it had started to rain  slightly. 

Although this art festival is called “Northern Alps” those guys did hide today behind some big clouds, so instead of Alps, there were only some smaller mountains around.