Sunday, 9 November 2025

It’s been a miserable, rainy day here in Matsumoto. I had already planned this to be a museum day, as the ones I wanted to visit are closed tomorrow, but my Kiwi umbrella got a workout as I walked around.

First up was the Japan Ukiyo-e Museum, claimed to be the biggest in Japan. Getting there involved a train ride and I have two choices, a private railway and JR East. The private railway required paper tickets so I had to find their machine at the JR station. Two tourists, probably wanting to go into the mountains, were blocking access to what turned out to be two machines trying to do something. Eventually one of them went off and came back with a station assistant after they all moved closer to one machine he indicated that the second one would issue tickets. Glancing up at the route map with fares I worked out what I wanted and hit the appropriate button and fed it some money. Do drama, no English, just a ticket and some change. The JR ticket gates recognise the private railway tickets and so it’s a bit a walk to the furthest away platform to wait for my train. Matsumoto station is its terminus so when the train arrives and disgorges all the passengers the driver has to move from one end to the other and set it up to drive back out. He must have been running behind schedule because I watched him sprint up the platform and rush through the driver’s door. I think we left about a minute late.

view from the platform

the train has arrived

nice inside

nice information display

Google claimed it was 17 minute walk to the museum, local signage disagreed on the route to take and in true satnav fashion Google sent me through what seemed like private property when I diverged from its original plan since I ended up walking through the grounds of a neurosurgical hospital and some laneways. I saw some nice houses with some outstanding gardens though.

visiting the mountains today probably not a great idea

wasn’t expecting this

nice garden

Anyway I got to the Japan Ukiyo-e Museum and mostly dry. While they had a larger exhibition than the museum in Otaru the lighting and the glass covering the originals was causing all sorts of reflections that really annoyed me, and not just because of the impact on photography. The main theme of the exhibition this month was the fifty three stations of the Tokaido Road, the old trade route between Kyoto and Edo (Tokyo).

trying to keep the reflections to a minimum

and not being hugely successful

this was in a display case rather than hanging

view of the gallery space

After having my fill of frustration I chose to return to Matsumoto via the JR line. Longer walk in the rain but perhaps a more frequent service and Suica capable so not stuffing around with a ticket. Well when I got to the unmanned station I found these two machines.

IC card machine on the platform

The left one would dispense a “ticket” while the other is the IC card entry/exit machine. This means the train doesn’t have them so you tap on at the station (or tap off depending on what you are doing).

Next target museum was the Matsumoto City Museum of Art to see the permanent exhibition by Yayoi Kusama. There was a special exhibition of “80 Years after the war ‘Ishii Hakutei: The Joy of Painting'” so I got the joint ticket.

Matsumoto City Museum of Art

The first gallery I went into wasn’t either of those exhibitions but rather an exhibition from of local school of calligraphy. The school girls giggled as they gave me some info on it and while I can’t read or write Kanji little did they know that I used to do Gothic calligraphy.

and yes I have no idea what this is about

but I liked this piece

Anyway from here it was into the Ishii Hakutei exhibition. He made a number of visits to Europe before WW2 and so a number of the painting are European in style.

I’m going to visit it tomorrow

reminds me of Australian paintings from a similar time period

generalife in Granada

Now I have a photograph that I look that looks very similar to this one.

tools of the trade

a catalogue of works

a lovely screen

Now it was onto the Yayoi Kusama part and the sad bit for you is that there was no photography allowed except for the giant yellow pumpkin so that’s what you get.

the giant yellow pumpkin

Other works used mirrors creatively to create infinite looking pieces and there was an immersive room that I got to myself for 20 seconds.

Outside the building where was more of her art, and her trademark spots, including the vending machine (note the top row).

vending machine

not for sale

beware the triffids

bluey has the plague

Tonight for dinner I want to an Italian place, tabelog was claiming it was the second best rated place in Matsumoto open on a Sunday night, and the pizza was excellent. I also had a glass of Sicilian Shirah (the bottle is there so I can read the labels) and a tiramisu parfait!

pizza

wine

tiramisu parfait!

Also not shown was a strawberry gin and tonic, and a small plate of cheese and salami.

Hopefully tomorrow is fine as I’m going to the castle.