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Rose Garden In the Toyoshina Museum of Modern Art

Do you know there is a beautiful rose garden in the Toyoshina Museum of Modern Art? And it’s free to see the garden. Every year, it makes me want to go there.
Every year I go and take some photos, which means the garden is not only beautiful, but also comfortable and superb. A lot of people visit in the rose season, even on weekdays. The garden has about 800 roses which include 500 different kinds. There are some arches twined with roses which are quite gorgeous.

Cherry Blossom and Ice Cream in Azumino

Cherry blossom season is over in Nagano. I think anywhere in Japan is beautiful when cherry blossoms are in flower.
This April I went to see the cherry blossoms in Misato. There are many cherry trees all along the banks of Kurosawa River. You can see a long array of the trees there. The banks of the river are not made of concrete and a lot of the trees have many flowers which was voluminous. Compared with the other areas, it is quite rustic, but tasteful. If the weather is fine, you can see the Northern Alps from the place. I thought the place was a good unknown place, but I saw some cars from other prefectures which is amazing. It takes about forty minutes to walk all along the trees. The time for cherry blossoms at their best is later than Matsumoto. It may be nice to see them after Matsumoto and then you will feel satisfied after seeing them in Misato. I can imagine that farmers must have enjoyed Hanami parties there in former times.
After I saw them, I went to an icecream shop called Misato Milk. They offer tasty ice cream cones which are famous in this area. I had two types of icecream which were Japanese orange called Buntan and corn. Buntan was refreshing and a bit bitter. Corn tasted very creamy. Cherry blossoms are like snow when they are in full bloom. They look soft and fluffy when you see them from a distance. Cherry blossom season is too short. It’s about one week. A lot of people are really looking forward to seeing them next season again, because one of the reasons is the season is very short.

The Wasabi Farm and the Seasons

The last time I visited the wasabi farm was in the lush glow of Nagano’s green summer. So I was slightly hesitant that the landscape would not be quite as enthralling, nor the wasabi ice cream quite as appealing, in the cooler transition into winter.
However, I was pleased to find the blues and greens of the wasabi farm as bright as ever. As far as the wasabi ice cream… who was I kidding…of course I was going to eat it. Though I don’t think it has the kick anticipated from the unique Wasabi flavor, Nagano soft serve is always delicious.

Azumino’s wasabi farm is best known for it size. But being in the four seasoned Nagano, I love the wasabi farm for its reflection of seasonal, changing landscape. The blue water and green wasabi plants are surrounded by redish yellow Japanese maple leaves in fall, spiny branches in winter, pink cherry blossoms in spring, and green everything in summer. On my trip, I was extremely happy to catch the tail end of fall.

Departure of Swans

There are two “swan lakes” in Azumino. 500 to 2000 swans come from places in the north, like Siberia in October through December and stay in Azumino for the winter. The number of swans that winter in Azumino depends on the year (this year there were about 500).
Starting last month, February, and ending in April, the swans are to fly north. This year, the swans started departing earlier than ordinary years because of the warm winter.
In Azumino, we can see many other birds that migrate,like wild ducks.
I hope they reach Siberia safely, bear their babies, and come back to Nagano with their kinds next autumn!