Nagano-ken

Matsumoto Castle (松本城), originally known as Fukashi Castle, is one of Japan's premier historic castles, along with Himeji and Kumamoto. The building is also known as the "Crow Castle" (烏城) due to its black exterior. It was the seat of Matsumoto Domain under the Edo Period Tokugawa shogunate. It is located in the city of Matsumoto, in Nagano Prefecture. The keep 天守閣 (tenshukaku), which was completed in the late sixteenth century, maintains its original wooden interiors and external stonework. It …

Tsumago-juku (妻籠宿) was the forty-second of the sixty-nine post towns on the Nakasendō. It is located in Nagiso, Kiso District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. It has been restored to its appearance as an Edo-era post town and is now a popular tourist destination. History During the Edo period, Tsumago was the forty-second of the sixty-nine post towns, which connected Edo (present-day Tokyo) with Kyoto. Prior to becoming part of the Nakasendō, it was the tenth of eleven stations along the Kisoji, a min…

Shiga Kogen (志賀高原) is a ski resort and hiking spot, located in the Jōshin'etsu-kōgen National Park in the highlands of Yamanouchi, Nagano, Japan. In 1980, an area of was designated a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve. Ski resort At 4.25 square kilometres (1.64 sq mi), Shiga-kōgen is arguably the largest ski resort in Japan, as well as the second highest in elevation. The resort is made up of 21 smaller, interconnected ski fields, with 70 lifts in total. Starting in winter 2015-16 all of Shig…

Nagano Station (長野駅) is a railway station in the city of Nagano in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The station is operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and the private railway operator Nagano Electric Railway (Nagaden). Lines Nagano Station is served by the following lines. • JR East• Hokuriku Shinkansen (branded "Nagano Shinkansen" until March 2015), on which it is 222.4 kilometers from Tokyo Station • Shinetsu Main Line • Shinonoi Line • Iiyama Line • Shinano Railway Line • Nagano Electr…

Zenkō-ji (善光寺) is a Buddhist temple located in the city of Nagano, Japan. The temple was built in the 7th century. The modern city of Nagano began as a town built around the temple. Historically, Zenkō-ji is perhaps most famous for its involvement in the battles between Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen in the 16th century, when it served as one of Kenshin's bases of operations. Currently, Zenkō-ji is one of the few remaining pilgrimage sites in Japan. Zenkō-ji was founded before Buddhism in Jap…

The Kanden Tunnel Electric Bus (関電トンネル電気バス) is a Japanese electric bus line between Ōgizawa Station, Ōmachi and Kurobe Dam Station, Tateyama. The line does not have any official name. The 6.1-km line runs in a tunnel for 5.4 km, the approximately 700-metre above-ground section consisting of around 300 metres of open roadway at and near Ōgizawa station and 400 metres covered by a snow shelter on the approach to the tunnel. Opened in 1964 as a trolleybus line, it was one of the last two trolleybus…

Mount Hotaka (穂高岳), also known as Mount Hotakadake, is one of the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains as coined by the media, reaching a height of . Mount Hotaka is situated in Japan's Hida Mountains and all its major peaks except Mount Maehotaka, lie on the border between the cities of Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, and Takayama, Gifu Prefecture. This mountain is located in Chūbu-Sangaku National Park. The peaks of Okuhotaka, Karasawa, Kitahotaka, Maehotaka and Nishihotaka are called the Hotaka Mounta…

The Big Hat (ビッグハット) is an indoor ice hockey arena in Nagano, Japan with a capacity of 10,104 seated spectators. Its official name is the Nagano Wakasato Tamokuteki Sports Arena. The arena was completed and officially opened on December 10, 1995. Location Big Hat is the most central of the venues of the 1998 Winter Olympics that were constructed in the city of Nagano, approximately 2 km south of Nagano Station. White Ring, the venue for the figure skating and short track speed skating is a furth…

Kiso Mountains (木曽山脈) are a mountain range in Nagano and Gifu prefectures in Japan. They are also called the Central Alps (中央アルプス) and they combine with the Hida Mountains ("Northern Alps") and the Akaishi Mountains ("Southern Alps") to form a group collectively known as the Japanese Alps. Outline The mountain range consists of granite. The Komagatake Ropeway is on the east side of Mount Kisokoma. A lot of tourists visit the station on the top. The upper part of the mountain range is the tree li…

The Shin-Takasegawa Pumped Storage Station (新高瀬川発電所) uses the Takase River (a tributary of the Shinano River) to operate a pumped storage hydroelectric scheme about west of Ōmachi in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Part of the system is within Chūbu-Sangaku National Park. Construction on the complex began in 1971, concluded in 1978 and the power station was commissioned in 1980. The power plant has a installed capacity and its upper reservoir is created by the Takase Dam, a rock-fill dam — which at …

The Shinonoi Line (篠ノ井線) is a railway line in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Shinonoi Station in Nagano with Shiojiri Station in Shiojiri. The line is a corridor between the Shinetsu Main Line and the Chūō Main Line. All the limited express trains on the Shinonoi Line come from the Chūō Main Line: Azusa from Tokyo and Shinano from Nagoya. Stations All stations are located in Nagano Prefecture. ●: All trains stop, ▲: Some trains stop, ｜…

Japan Air Lines Flight 123 () was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan. On August 12, 1985, the Boeing 747 operating the service suffered a severe structural failure and decompression 12 minutes into the flight. After flying under minimal control for a further 32 minutes, the 747 crashed in the area of Mount Takamagahara, from Tokyo. The aircraft, featuring a high-density seating configuration, was carrying 524 people. All 15 crew members and 505 of the 509 passenger…

The Chūbu region (中部地方), Central region, or Central Japan (中部日本) is a region in the middle of Honshū, Japan's main island. In a wide, classical definition, it encompasses nine prefectures (ken): Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, Nagano, Niigata, Shizuoka, Toyama, and Yamanashi. It is located directly between the Kantō region and the Kansai region and includes the major city of Nagoya as well as Pacific Ocean and Sea of Japan coastlines, extensive mountain resorts, and Mount Fuji. The region is the w…

Honshu ([[wiktionary:本州), historically called Hondo (本土), is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separates the Sea of Japan, which lies to its north and west, from the North Pacific Ocean to the south and east. It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian island of Java. Hons…

The Spiral is a bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track located in Iizuna village, located north of Nagano, Japan. Used for the bobsleigh and luge competitions for the 1998 Winter Olympics, it is the first permanent bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in Asia and the first of its type in the world with two or more uphill sections. It is officially referred to as the Nagano Bobsleigh-Luge Park in Japan. History and current status The track was among part of the venues used for the 1998 Winter Olympic…

Chūbu-Sangaku National Park (中部山岳国立公園) is a national park in the Chūbu region of Japan. It was established around the Hida Mountains and encompasses parts of Nagano, Gifu, Toyama and Niigata prefectures. It was designated a national park on December 4, 1934, along with Daisetsuzan National Park, Akan National Park, Nikkō National Park, and Aso Kujū National Park. Geography The Hida Mountains, or Northern Alps make up the majority of the park. There are many points in the Hida Mountains within th…