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Niigata, Japan

Posted by (TX) on

Had a very good excursion yesterday.

I went to the Northern Culture Museum or Northern History Museum and Shirone Kite Museum in Niigata Japan.

Both were very impressive. Both were beautiful

A wealthy farmer donated his home and land. And that is now known as the Northern Culture Or Northern History Museum.

Several buildings and a lot of land. . You can go into what had been the main home. There is a restaurant on the property as well as a museum. There is art, sculpture, collectibles and artifacts throughout.

The grounds are beautiful . Lots of places to sit and watch and meditate. Lots of green spaces and fountains and ponds.

Of course, a gift store with edibles and other gift items. Bought some very artsy post cards which I plan to give as gifts.

Shirone Kite Museum

Agnother wonderful place.

Hundreds to maybe thousands of magnificent large pained kites. Not the kind that the kids run with back home

Niiigata has a yearly kite festival every June and these kites are made for the Kite Festival

This will have to be continued as I am getting ready to go on a shore excursion.

Posted by
191 posts

Thanks for sharing your experiences of Niigata (as well as your other port adventures). The last time I visited Niigata was 25 years ago. I was there for a business trip, so all I saw of the city was our vendor's factory. I do remember, though, that my vendor rep told me that the houses in Niigata were built with big windows on the second story because the winters could be so rough that the first/ground floor was totally inaccessible from heavy snowfall. Residents would then enter and exit their homes via the second story windows. I was living in southern CA at the time and thought it was bonkers that snow could pile up that high!

Posted by
3031 posts

Hi NYc Librarian

I liked Niigata

I never finished writing about the Shirone Kite Museum. It is an attractive building all by itself.

I have just read that about 800 items are displayed from all over the world. Some of these kites are not made today.

The kites were magnificent.

What was it
Ike visiting Japan 25 years ago? Do you ever think of returning?

Have you since experienced snowfalls where snow piled high up to the second floor window

Posted by
191 posts

Hi Phil, thanks for continuing to write about your cruise and excursions. The Kite Museum sounds lovely.

I visited Japan 25 years ago on a work trip, and since then I changed jobs to one without business travel, domestic or international. What I liked most about Japan was how different it was from the U.S. Compared to European places that I had visited, Japan was so different from home that I felt there was always something interesting to see and learn. I would like to return to Japan in the next few years.

I have lived in NYC for almost 20 years and experienced a few snow storms, but definitely nothing like snow drifts as tall as a house! I guess I would have to go upstate to see something like that.

Posted by
7642 posts

The snowfall was indeed epic this past winter on the Sea of Japan coast, including Niigata. The snow base ended up so deep that they had to dig out access to ticket office windows and the routes of lifts at ski resorts in the area; there were some great images on Japanese TV while I was in Kyushu at the same time (also with snow, despite the southerly latitude).

Posted by
3031 posts

balso

Perhaps climate change.

I bet it was beautiful even if maybe challenging

I am loving Japan as people told me that I would.

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