Experience the best of Matsumoto
Matsumoto is a Japan Alps city in Nagano Prefecture, with a black-walled castle, Edo-period merchant streets and the mountain valley of Kamikochi nearby.
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Matsumoto sits in a high basin ringed by the Northern Japan Alps, in the middle of Honshu. Matsumoto Castle, called Crow Castle for its black walls, dates from the late sixteenth century and is one of the few castles to survive with its original keep, a national treasure reflected in a moat. The old merchant street of Nakamachi has white-and-black storehouses, and the Old Kaichi School, an 1876 Western-style schoolhouse, is also a national treasure.
The city is the birthplace of the artist Yayoi Kusama, and the Matsumoto City Museum of Art shows her work. The Japan Ukiyo-e Museum holds a large collection of woodblock prints. Kamikochi, a high alpine valley by the Azusa River with the Kappa Bridge, lies to the west, reached by bus, and hot springs and mountain plateaus surround the basin.
Soba, buckwheat noodles served cold with dipping sauce, are the food of Nagano, along with oyaki, stuffed dumplings, and basashi horse sashimi; fresh wasabi grows in clear streams in nearby Azumino, and local sake and apples are the drink and fruit. Summer is cool in the mountains, autumn colours arrive in October, and winters are cold and snowy.
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![Nagano :Matsumoto Local Food & Bar Hopping Tour with Area Options]()
40% offFree cancellation
Food and drink experiences in Matsumoto
8
40% offFree cancellation
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