The City of Nagaoka

~Hello again, loyal readers. Today's post is all about the city of Nagaoka, where I currently reside. Nagaoka is located on Honshu (the largest of the four main Japanese islands) in the prefecture (state) of Niigata. Since that probably dosen't mean much to most of you, here are a couple of maps to help you get your bearings:











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Nagaoka has a population of a bit over 300,000, of which less than 1% is foreign-born. Despite the small number of foreigners, Nagoka is a very international city, and has ongoing exchange programs with the city of Fort Worth in Texas and the city of Bamberg in Germany. Every summer, some high school students from Nagaoka go to Fort Worth, and a few months ago the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra performed in Nagaoka. There is an excellent International Center located near where I work, where foreigners can get assistance (and postcards, which, oddly, I haven't seen anywhere else).

Here are a couple of skyline pictures of Nagaoka, taken from atop the castle tower in Yukyuzan Park:

















Just a few short weeks ago, this entire area was covered in several feet of snow. The other native English teacher at the school I work at has been living in Nagaoka for four months, but as he showed me around the town, he said that everything was new to him--he'd never seen the city without a tall layer of snow! To give you a better idea of what this is like, here are a few pictures of Nagaoka on March 29th:
















At the moment, however, the cherry trees are in full bloom and are very beautiful. For those of you who haven't lived near Washington D.C., cherry trees grow all over Japan, and their annual blossoming is a huge celebration (as it is in D.C., where Japan gave the U.S. a gift of cherry trees in 1912). Seeing as how D.C. is the capital of the United States, I find the story of George Washington and the cherry tree very ironic. Contrast the above picture with these up-to-date shots of the same area:

From my apartment building, I can look outside and see huge, snow-covered mountains. Here are some delightful images:
















~I'll say this: it sure beats the North Carolina skyline (or lack thereof). I'll post some pictures of the downtown area in the next couple of days. Oyasumi~