Ian's birthday

Today was Ian's 59th birthday and we celebrated it by travelling to Matusumoto. This is the second biggest city in the Nagano prefecture after Nagano itself. We got there by train through the snow covered mountains and down the valley to Matsumoto. We visited the famous Matsumoto Castle. This castle dates back to the Senjoku (warring period) of Japanese history in the 15th to the 17th centuries. It is one of the few castles in Japan which has been preserved rather than rebuilt. It is incredibly atmospheric with much of the original structure on display. It gives you a real feeling of what it was like to live in 15th century Japan always on alert to defend your castle against the invading warriors. To access the 6 floors of the castle, you have to climb the incredibly steep stairs between floors. Climbing up is nothing compared to coming back down. At the top of the castle, you can see all the surrounding mountains, and, importantly, the surrounding valleys, where the samurais watched for invaders. We all really enjoyed the visit.

We also wandered through some of Matsumoto's old fashioned streets in the Nakamichi Street district showing architecture from the Edo period. We stopped for a coffee in a gorgeous bar along Nakamichi Street.

As we headed back to the station for our trip home to Nagano, it began to snow. This was the first time for all of us to experience a snow fall. By the time our train arrived it was snowing pretty solidly. Ian said it was the best birthday he had ever experienced. 

One of the best investments we made in this trip was a first class JR Pass. It allows us to travel on all railways around Japan (minus the subway) in FIRST CLASS. It is really nice. One our trip back from Matsumoto to Nagano (50 mins), we all relaxed in the super spacious first class car. Ian had the total geek birthday from heaven: he sat up at the front of the carriage watching the completely visible train driver driving the train (watch his hand signals in 3rd video). He tried to tell me how good it was, I preferred to sleep.