#joetsu

My last stop in Joetsu this year was quite “natsukashii” (nostalgic) for me.
Attached to Region Plaza, the regional sports center, is the science museum, where I have spent many an hour with I CAN kids, my kids, and friends.
Check out the animatronic dinosaur! Hands-on exhibits about the human body and what it means to be human. A new section was dedicated to liquid natural gas and energy, probably due to the relatively new lng power plant nearby. The park outside is closed for winter, but crazy bikes and”scientific” jungle gyms have always been a hit!
#joetsu #science #museum #regionplaza
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsBRc4LHrqw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=uz9woa7uty1m

In keeping with the sake (“nihon-shu”) theme, I stopped by Yoshikawa Touji no Sato (“master-brewer’s home”) before leaving town. The Touji was a regional master brewer who traveled to breweries in the area to instruct and help with the making of the sake. In Yoshikawa, this is the name of the rest stop along the local thoroughfare. While most of the rest stop had closed for winter, the brewery hall was open, featuring several local brews as well as other products like the traditional candy pictured here. The young local guy in charge of the shop that day happily explained the nuances of what a master brewer actually does. Yoshikawa district was also once home to one of the only “sake brewing” high schools in the country, which eventually stopped its program in 2003. Across the street from the rest stop, the onsen (hot springs) “”Yuttari no Sato” is a good place to soak your body as you soak up local culture.#joetsu #sake #touji #yoshikawa #reststop
https://www.instagram.com/p/Br_EqspnXfa/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1eu5wx9les9r8

Merry Christmas everyone!
In keeping with the sake theme of last week, I’m posting new photos from another fine brewery in Joetsu. Musashino Brewery has a 100+ year history, now under new ownership. A bit of local history can be seen in the Rakusui-tei “clubhouse” where the founder used to drink sake and discuss brewing techniques with Kinichiro Sakaguchi, the famed microbiologist (and sometime poet).
The new owners are reviving some of the old brands of this classic brewer. Tours available!
#sake #musashino #history #takada #joetsu
https://www.instagram.com/p/Br01gBNjvQx/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=d5t4by5u2tfa

It’s alive!
Last minute Christmas shopping and mini brewery tour at Takeda Shuzo! My friend Mr. Takeda is in the busiest part of the brewing season. This bubbling brew here is soon to be squeezed and filtered into and finally bottled.
The motto of our neighborhood sake brewer is “small brewery, big dreams.“ Small tours are available!
The “Katafune” sake made here is winning awards in London and Is served at some of the finest restaurants in San Francisco. AND those on my Christmas list are gonna get some!
#sake #nihonshu #takedashuzo #ogata #joetsu
https://www.instagram.com/p/Brsr-G_HZ7R/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1htfocl08ob8s

Welcome！

It’s been a few years since I visited the Joetsu Archaeological Center at the foot of the Kasugayama Castle site.
Look who was my personal tour guide!
Local medieval war hero Uesugi Kenshin, himself.
Tables full of ancient pottery artifacts, even today still being unearthed, is the archeological science that takes place here. I’ve carved out and sanded an ancient medalist replica out of sandstone here with I CAN kids more than a few times. But since the last time I was here, the curators have upped the entertainment with the Omotenashi Butai (welcoming brigade?) from Kenshin’s era, and more user-friendly exhibits, including a 3-D virtual reality experience of the Battle of Kawanakajima (as enacted up the street during the highlight of the Kenshin Festival in August).
So happy that the friendly hosts were there to give me a personal tour! #joetsu #kenshin #kasugayama #maizo #bunka #omotenashi
https://www.instagram.com/p/Brfb13wjr9y/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1l9rlfltt91py

The historic soba (buckwheat) noodle shop as well as my favorite gelato place were closed on Tuesday. Undaunted, I went in search of a local hero who I was just recently introduced to by @yamazakimieko. What’s the connection between this part of snowy Joetsu and the tropical seas of Okinawa?
In fact, one of the residents from here set off to find his fortune…in black pearls…on the tiny island of Miyakojima, far from the main island of Okinawa, closer in fact to Taiwan.
What he found there was a devistating, suicide-inducing TAX system enforced by the local leaders of the island. The burden was so great—women in particular spend days in near-slavery in dark warehouses weaving garments to be used as payment, the men often opted to lop off an arm to get some relief from the enforced tool.
This Joetsu hero, Nakamura Juusaku, took it upon himself to work to reform the draconian “nintouzei” tax system that he accidentally discovered.
At the corner museum I found, there were photos of Juusaku and his brother and others who helped reform the system, as well as more recent photos of children from Itakura and Miyakojima who continue an exchange program to this day. Though revered almost as a god on the island of Miyakojima, he was hardly known in his hometown. Until his death in 1943, he never told anyone back home about what he had accomplished.
#joetsu #juusaku #itakura #localhistory #friendship
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqzDWduDzDH/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=6hcy6qvyjsaq

last weekend I had a chance to visit Naoetsu with some high schoolers visiting Japan from Germany and the U.S. through #rotary. We had a lunch and some birthday cake to celebrate @johnskendzel ’s birthday and then visited the aquarium. The visitors from Gunma prefecture had to get back on the bus to return to their host families, but John and I made a brief stop at Naoetsu Peace Memorial Park. As some may know, Naoetsu was the site of a POW camp during WWII. You can see the hideous conditions depicted in the movie #unbrokenmovie many years later, with help from the local government and the citizens of Joetsu, the site was turned into this Peace Memorial Park in 1995. The statues are of #peace and #friendship.#joetsu #peacememorialpark (at 平和記念公園)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqmNYbJjQvC/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=18npbhoep0gqj