What’s New

Presenting the New Azumino Exploring Guide! April 2010
This April marks the budding of cherry blossoms all over Nagano and the release of Azumino’s new tri-lingual cultural guide and access map. The printed map will be available at train stations and tourism offices throughout Nagano or is available as a printable pdf from the “Suggested Routes & Map” page.
New Approach to Guide Maps
Azumino’s new Exploring Guide is a new approach to Nagano maps. The guide delineates where to go to enjoy the food, culture, and outdoors of Azumino, as well as provides introductory explanations on different cultural aspects like soba noodles, sake, and oyaki. In addition to highlighting biking and walking trails, the map provides three views of the area making even the outer areas with hikes and trails easy to access by car.
Release Gathering May 31st, a multi-lingual exchange
To celebrate the release of Azumino’s new Exploring Guide, native speakers of each linguistic group represented on the map (Korean, Chinese, English, and Japanese) gathered to share food and conversation. We did a workshop learning and reviewing basic greetings in all four languages and discussed similarities and differences in cultural and linguistic quirks like the expression of surprise. Azumino’s new Exploring Guide is really a confluence of cultures and people, like the varied interests and arts of the Azumino valley.