May 11 @ 7:00 am – 8:30 pm
COST BY AGE GROUP:
$10 (Single Airmen)
$60 (16 & Up)
$50 (12–15)
$40 (6–11)
$35 (4–5)
$30 (3 & Under if a seat is needed)
ITINERARY:
Depart 7 a.m.
Museum 10:30 a.m.–12 p.m.
Castle 12:30–4:30 p.m.
Return 8:30 p.m
Tour cost includes your bus transportation, castle, and museum admission. There will be a lot of walking on this tour. There are more than 140 steps in the castle, and it’s very steep. Be prepared to take your shoes off inside the castle.
Matsumoto Castle (Matsumoto Jo) is one of the castles designated as a National Treasure of Japan and is the oldest castle donjon remaining in Japan. Construction began in 1592 on this elegant black and white structure with three turrets. Because of the black roof, Matsumoto Castle is sometimes called Crow Castle. Inside the castle are steep stairs and low ceilings leading past displays of armor and weapons from the Sengoku period (“Warring–States”) when the castle was built. The narrow wooden windows, once used by archers and gunmen, provide amazing views of the Japanese Alps, Matsumoto City, and the koi and swans circling in the moat below.
Ukiyo-e Museum is an ultramodern building housing the private collection of the Sakai family and is one of the best woodblock print museums in Japan. With more than 100,000 prints, it’s believed to be the largest collection of its kind in the world and includes representative masterpieces of all known Ukiyo-e artists.
The Matsumoto Open Air Architectural Museum is a collection of government buildings from the Edo to the late Showa period. The main building is the former Nagano District Court building, which was built in 1908.
