Niigata

Niigata has a population of 800,000. It is on the west coast of Honshu.

We visited Niigata in early April, 2014.

We spent the first night in Ueno, Tokyo, and next morning bullet trained to Niigata.  The trip takes about 2 hours.

In 1964, Niigata suffered an earthquake, magnitude 7.6. There was much damage done by liquefaction. This could explain why there does not seem to be as many older buildings in and around the city.




NIIGATA

Cherry blossom was out in full swing.  Hakusan Park. This park is a peasant stroll from the railway station, on the northern side of the wide Shinogawa River.

There are ferry rides along the Shinogawa River.

The following statues are in shopping mall in Furumachi.  Furumachi is also on the northern side of the Shinogawa River.

Outside an office building in the city.

Toyanogata Park is a gigantic park with everything from the obligatory cherry blossoms to a massive lake with bird watching facilities. You'll need to catch a bus to this park, as it is eight kilometres from the city centre.

The Gokoku Shrine. We caught a bus out to this shrine, which is near the Japan Sea Tower.  The tower provides panoramic views of the city, and out to the Japan Sea.  The large gardens around the shrine are ablaze with colour. And a lot of it looks perfectly natural, as if the buds just chose to pop themselves out to make your day happier.

Walking back from the shrine to the main road, we passed a high school with the most incredible blossoming trees next to the footpath.

As with most Japanese cities, there are interesting street sculptures !

SHIBATA

Shibata is a twenty minute train trip north-ish of Niigata. The castle and front gate are pretty.

Two stations from Shibata towards Niigata, is Tsukioka.  Now, silly me didn't get a map, OR there wasn't one available.  So, to get to Ichishima Tei Gardens from the station, we just walked, and looked lost. Thank goodness two school girls took pity on us, and walked us to the gardens. Which were in need of some funds, but were interesting all the same.

YAHIKO

Now Yahiko was fun (there was a water throwing festival on the main road) and beautiful. To get  there, we caught a train south of Niigata to Yoshida, and then changed for Yahiko. The trip was about 65 minutes.

The blossoms again were beautiful, but there was also a cablecar/ropeway, and a vertical tall ride thingie. It was quite a view down to the Japan Sea.

Trains in Japan often have colourful characters painted on them.

Who needs to be able to speak the language ?

The way to shrines and temples in Japan are often beautiful walks down large tree lined paths




Sorry about the centre-ing of photos. Somehow, I lost the ability to centre some of them.