{"id":493536,"date":"2022-06-14T09:45:35","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T00:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visitmatsumoto.com\/?p=493536"},"modified":"2022-06-14T09:45:35","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T00:45:35","slug":"matsumoto-morphing-changes-you-may-never-notice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/uncategorized\/matsumoto-morphing-changes-you-may-never-notice\/","title":{"rendered":"Matsumoto Morphing: Changes You May Never Notice"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"\n

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Matsumoto has changed a lot just over the past few years. The old and (let\u2019s face it) dreary Katakura Mall has been replaced by a bright, sprawling AEON Mall<\/a>. New, more compact, more fuel-efficient buses now run in quick circles around town. There are new shops and eateries appearing on a weekly if not daily basis \u2013 and not only on Frog Street<\/a> though that\u2019s where it\u2019s most noticeable. And yes, you may even get hit with free wi-fi! (Japan can be incongruously slow on the technological uptake. It\u2019s one of the world\u2019s great mysteries.)<\/p>\n

Such changes are welcome to those of us who live here. They go unnoticed by people just traveling through town and don\u2019t know what Frog Street looked like last year or last month or last week. Anyone visiting Matsumoto these days, however, might notice one glaring, ongoing, excruciatingly slow development in Matsumoto\u2019s ever-evolving story: the road-widening work.<\/p>\n

To the East<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Pave over the old sidwalk, put in a new sidewalk, and (someday) move those power poles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Most visitors to town who end up rolling through my neighborhood are either on their way to the Yamabe Winery or are on their way to getting lost. If you are either of these you may, after crossing the Metoba River, find yourself cruising along on a nice, wide, four-lane road that was, from the days of horses and dirt until now, been a narrow two-lane affair.<\/p>\n

At the moment this road is in its slow-motion transition.<\/p>\n

Widening this road has involved knocking down several rickety old homes and a corner hardware store, cutting an apartment building in half, and chopping down the huge, beautiful shade tree that used to stand in front of the entrance to Shimizu Elementary. New homes \u2013 and the new veterinarian clinic \u2013 have been built far enough away from the road to allow for more pavement and some nice clean brick sidewalks.<\/p>\n

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Until the power poles are moved and the new car lanes are marked off there’s a nice big bike lane for us cyclists (and the occasional bus).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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That yellow-brown house will soon be going the way of the dodo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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These big power poles now stand where the road is going. Anyone want to help move them?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Along one long block there\u2019s nothing left to do but move a few power line poles and traffic signals. Along the next block a few homes still stand in the way. While the process has been incremental at best, it\u2019s interesting to see how each step is undertaken.<\/p>\n

Straight Up from the Station<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Walk directly east from Matsumoto Train Station and past the Museum of Modern Art<\/a> and the south end of AEON Mall you\u2019ll see another road project moving along at a snail\u2019s pace.<\/p>\n

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It won’t be long before standing here will get you run over.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yet just today I saw, as I was cycling past the old “Higher School” at Agata-no-mori Park<\/a>, a crew tackling the job of moving the power lines from the old poles to the new ones. The new traffic lights are already up, and the new sidewalk is in full use. Since the new AEON Mall opened a few years ago this entire area of town has become one massive, all day every day traffic cluster. Widening the block between Agata-no-mori Park and the mall may \u2013 may<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 help. It will certainly make the walk to the park nicer.<\/p>\n

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At the intersection in front of the entrance to Agata-no-mori Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Making the Best Part of Town Even Better<\/strong><\/h3>\n

But the road transformation that will make the most appealing and positive impact is the change going on along the southern edge of the castle grounds.<\/p>\n

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You wouldn’t believe what this road along the south side of the castle used to look like.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Most of the aging buildings that for so long occupied this stretch of land are gone.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve been told that much of the land lining the castle\u2019s south side is \u2013 or was \u2013 privately-owned, perhaps for hundreds of years. To be quite honest I don\u2019t think I\u2019d want to sell either. But if the artist\u2019s rendition posted along the construction going on is any indication all that land along the castle\u2019s south side will get a tremendous facelift, turning this long swath of dirt and old ugly buildings into a place of leisure and beauty.<\/p>\n

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The future of the castle’s south side.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Those of us who live here are thankful for the road work and the ostensible easing of traffic. Those visiting won\u2019t ever know it happened once it\u2019s done \u2013 and won\u2019t have any idea how lucky they are to be able to enjoy what is, right now, the Matsumoto \u2013 and the Matsumoto Castle \u2013 of the future.<\/p>\n

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