Our group was greeted at the train station in Ueda City by government
officials and reporters.
Ueda City is located in the Eastern Region of Nagano
Prefecture, which is almost in the center of Japan. It's 190 km from Tokyo
(1hours 20 minutes by train) and 40 km from the city of Nagano, which played
host to the1998 Winter Olympic Games. The City
Hall stands at 456 meters above sea level, and is positioned at the 138
degrees 15 minutes East longitude 36 degrees 24 minutes North latitude.
The area of Ueda is 177 square kilometers stretching 21 km from east to
west and 14.6 km from north to south.
Our suitcases were loaded onto a bus and we were off to explore the prefecture of Nagano which was to be our home for the next ten days. When you enter a Japanese bus, you do it from the left side because the steering wheel, as in Japnanese cars, is on the right. You step up onto a welcome mat and may find a vase of flowers on the dashboard. There are curtains on the windows and each seat has a lace cover. The bus drivers, like the taxi drivers take great pride in their vehicles.
Our first stop in Nagano was to Bessho Hot
Springs, a quiet hot springs town in the highland about 650 m above sea
level. We were told that if we drank from the spring which contains hydrogen
sulfide, we would live for a very long time. Each of us took a drink. There
are about 20 hotels and inns to accomodate the many visitors who come to
the springs. (The name, Bessho comes from 'besso', a country
villa used by nobles of the Heian period.)
The Kitamuki Kannon (Facing North) is worshipped as a god to protect
people from evils. At this temple is a Katsura tree. Both are famous as
"a god of marriage." In Japan, when a man and woman fall in love,
it is said that "the man and woman are tied." So the rope is tied
around the Katsura tree to represent this. The temple is also known for
its stone-engraved old Japanese poems.
Notice the thatch roof on this entrance, and if you look closely you can see stickers on the beams. They contain the names of worshipers who came from all over Japan.
As at the Akakusa Shrine, bad fortunes are hung out so that the bad luck can be blown away.
Before leaving, our group stopped to buy souvenirs. I bought decals for my car that are said to protect the occupants from danger. I also bought some trinkets that are supposed to help students get good grades.
On our way back to the bus, we passed a beautiful home with a well tended garden.
Our next stop was at the Shinano Museum of Sketches and Drawings.
It stands in front of the Zenzanju Temple looking down on Shioda-daira.
It was first opened by Seuchiro Kuboshina in 1979. The collection of drawings
were done mainly by artists who died young. Inside we were told to be very
quiet. (No talking or picture taking is allowed.) It was sad to see such
beautiful work, knowing that those who created it did not live full lives.
Our last stop for the day was at a .835 billion dollar facility called Medialand. It is just as its name implies....a multimedia center. It was designed to give the residents of Ueda City, as well as visitors to the city, an understanding of multimedia. It offers them a chance to experience new communications technology. We had the opportunity to work on state of the art computer graphics programs and had lots of fun playing virtual reality games. Upon viewing videos taken of each other while lost in the game, we agreed we all looked pretty silly. Here we were, a bunch of exhausted teachers suddenly brought to life.... reeling around, looking over their shoulders, crouching low, all in an attempt to outwit the enemy!
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