No. 35 Visit Nozawa Onsen Village

(published September 15, 2014 issue of Koho Inagi)

When Mayor Tomii visited Inagi City in early spring of this year, he invited me to come as well, so I visited from July 27th to 28th, 2014.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the start of experiential learning at Inagi City elementary and junior high schools in Nozawa Onsen Village. We hold mobile classes for 6th grade elementary school students in the summer and ski classes for 1st grade junior high school students in the winter under the title ``Atsume Inagi Kids! Nozawa Onsen Juku.''
On the first day of our visit, we immediately moved to Lake Sutaka Campsite and encouraged the Wakabadai Elementary School campsite, where we spent some free time after dinner. There was a mini violin concert by Mr. Shirai of the Inagi Philharmonic Orchestra at the lakeside, where it was raining and so cool that it was hard to believe it was midsummer. It's a wonderful experience to be able to experience real music in the midst of nature. The children, who had been noisy, fell silent once the performance began. It must have been a fantastic experience that I will never forget for the rest of my life.
When I returned to the hot spring town and stayed there, I saw buildings called ``outdoor baths'' everywhere. I was surprised to hear that there are 13 outdoor baths that you can bathe in for free or for a fee, and that villagers take turns cleaning and managing them under a system called Yu-Nakama.
Nozawa Onsen Village appears in history as ``Yuyama Village'' in the middle of the Kamakura period, and there were already 24 inns in the early Edo period. There are various theories about the origin of the hot spring, including one that it was discovered by a monk who visited the area during the Nara period, but it has been known that hot water has been gushing out in Nozawa since ancient times.
On the second day, we will ride a gondola to the top of the mountain. It is said that the origin of skiing in Japan is in 1904, when Austrian Army Major Lerch taught the technique in what is now Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture. The following year, people from the village skied for the first time in Nozawa Onsen Village, and the Nozawa Onsen Ski Club was established in 1923. Since its inception, the city has developed ski resorts and built a village, and has prospered as the ski kingdom of Shinshu.
However, in recent years, the number of skiers has decreased due to the economic downturn and the diversification of leisure activities, and the ski slopes have become deserted in some places. Rather than trying too hard to maintain the slopes, the village has made the wise decision to return some of the slopes to beech forest. This is called the ``Beech Forest 100 Years Initiative,'' and elementary and junior high school students from Inagi City have also been cooperating in tree planting since the beginning of the exchange. After getting off the gondola, we were guided to a vast area lined with wooden stakes with the names of Inagi City schools written on them, and beech saplings were growing rapidly. When the children grow up and visit this area on their own, it will be a wonderful experience to see the grown beech trees.
As we descended the mountain and toured the hot spring town, we met children from Koyodai, Shiroyama, and Nagamine Elementary Schools. Every time we passed each other, everyone greeted us cheerfully. As a citizen of Inagi, I feel proud.
Finally, we paid a courtesy visit to the village chief at the village office. We have pledged to continue expanding exchanges between Nozawa Onsen Village, where you can enjoy experiential learning in a wonderful natural environment, and Inagi City.