Japan | Shinano Omachi North Asian Art Festival

The Northern Alps is a series of snow-capped mountains in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, collectively known as the "Japan Alps", which attracts many mountaineering enthusiasts. In the past, climbers would enter the Tateyama area from Shinano Omachi to start their climbing activities and never stop in Shinano Omachi. In order to attract tourists to stay in Shinano Omachi, the local government curated an international art festival here. This art festival invites artists from different countries to come to the Omachi area to create works. The artists first get to know the environment and cultural elements of the area, and then create their works. Many of these artworks are placed in empty houses. There are more than 8 million empty houses in Japan, and many areas are gradually declining due to the aging population. One of the highlights of the art festival is to make use of unused empty houses to allow artists to create in a space. However, what I like most is to appreciate works in nature. Without the constraints of space, the works are more interesting. The 34 works of art at this art festival are scattered throughout the natural landscape of Shinano Omachi. The works took me to Omachi Onsen Village, Lake Kizaki of the Nishina Three Lakes, and Mt. Takagari. However, as a tourist, I can only look around with a tourist mentality. If I can participate in it, I will benefit the most. During the trip, I met Miaozi, a volunteer of the art festival from Taiwan. She had arrived before the art festival started and participated in the creation of artists. For example, the two works "Cloud Knot" and "Windy" are both collective works. In the process of collective creation, not only can the works be completed together, but also people can be connected in the process of creation. I have also participated in such collective creation in Hong Kong, and the results are very different from individual creations. #Japan #OverseasTravel #ShinanoOmachi #ArtTour #NorthAlpsInternationalArtFestival #LivingInTheCountry