[2-Day, 1-Night] Fall Road Trip Plan to Savor Freshly Harvested Rice
Fall in Echigo-Tsumari is the season for new rice. Here’s a luxurious suggested itinerary that lets you savor this year’s new rice at three different venues. Your lodging will be at Sansho House, a warm and inviting wooden schoolhouse that was once an elementary school. Please check the dates for individual reservations this year before you visit.
10:00
[Day 1] To the Village of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Field
[Kan-Etsu Expressway] Exit at Shiozawa-Ishiuchi Interchange
Depart from the Tokyo area, take the Kan-Etsu Expressway, and exit at the Shiozawa-Ishiuchi Interchange. If you’re coming from the Tokyo area, the Shiozawa-Ishiuchi Interchange is the gateway to Echigo-Tsumari. This is where your fall drive through the rural landscapes of Echigo-Tsumari begins.
50 minutes
10:50
A Spatial Picture Book Museum Featuring the Last Students as the Main Characters
Hachi & Seizo Tashima Museum of Picture Book Art
At this art museum set in a closed-down school, artworks created using driftwood and nuts weave a story depicting the adventures of the school’s last students.The fall Special Exhibition, “An Exhibition of Books That Even Nobuo Onishi and Tashima Seizo Are Surprised By,” is on view through Monday, November 23. Feel free to spend your time as you please—whether enjoying sweets and drinks at the adjacent Hachi Café or swinging on the outside swing artwork. Shizuka the goat will be there to greet you at the museum entrance.
30 minutes
12:00
"Urban-Rural Exchange" Through Food
Lunch: Echigo Matsudai Satoyama Shokudo
We offer a menu featuring plenty of fresh vegetables grown by local farmers, with a modern twist on traditional regional flavors. We are currently hosting our popular New Rice Buffet (60-minute time limit) through Monday, November 30. Please enjoy the new rice while taking in the view of The Rice Fields and the surrounding countryside. We also accept online reservations.
Matsudai NOHBUTAI Field Museum
After lunch, you can explore not only the Matsudai NOHBUTAI—the facility where the Echigo Matsudai Satoyama Shokudo is located—but also the Matsudai History Museum and the artworks in the Shiroyama area. The event “Autumn of Art and Appetite: A Satoyama Walk Starting with New Rice” is being held through Sunday, November 8. Please enjoy an autumn stroll with a map in hand.
15 minutes
2:15 p.m.
Museum of the Five Senses
NUNAGAWA Campus
This art museum, housed in the former Nunagawa Elementary School—which closed in 2014—allows children to experience art through their five senses. Following its renovation in 2024, the museum now features a wide range of interactive artworks that go beyond simply “looking,” allowing visitors to touch materials such as soil and trees and listen to sounds. The Special Exhibition “Sponge to Salmon (Nunagawa)” by Ayako Fudamoto is on view through Sunday, November 8.
30 minutes
3:30 p.m.
An Artwork That Brings Winter Memories to Life
"The Last Class" by Christian Boltanski＋Jean Kalman
This artwork, which captures the memories of the community and the school, was created after the artist revisited the area during the winter of 2006—a season marked by record-breaking snowfall. Objects left behind in the former school and items collected from local residents are quietly on display. This is an artwork best appreciated while reflecting on life in the snow-covered Echigo-Tsumari region and the passage of time etched into it.
30 minutes
4:30 p.m.
A day-trip hot spring facility located in Matsunoyama Onsen, one of Japan's Three Great Medicinal Hot Springs
Nasteview Yuyama
In the open-air bath, which draws water directly from a spring rich in medicinal properties, you can fully enjoy a soak while taking in the ever-changing mountain scenery throughout the seasons. The indoor baths come in two temperatures—hot and lukewarm—and there is also a sauna on-site. After warming up to the core, be sure to stop by the gift shop to find a memento of your trip. Enjoy a hot spring experience unique to this location, surrounded by the traditional rural landscape of Matsunoyama, where Japan’s unspoiled natural beauty remains intact. *Photo for illustrative purposes only. Closed on Tuesdays.
15 minutes
6:00 p.m.
Checking In at an Accommodation in a Repurposed School Building
Sansho House
A former school in Matsunoyama that was converted into a lodging facility following the 2006 Echigo-Tsumari Art Field. Visitors can view the artworks inside the building or play in the gymnasium.
Dinner: Savoring the New Rice Harvest
We’ll serve fresh rice harvested from the Rice Fields of the Sansho District, along with side dishes that complement the flavor of the new rice. You’re welcome to have as many refills of rice as you’d like. After dinner, please relax in the lounge and get an early night’s sleep to prepare for Day 2.
*For more details on the ongoing “Echigo-Tsumari New Rice Fair,” please refer to the link below.
*For more details on the ongoing “Echigo-Tsumari New Rice Fair,” please refer to the link below.
5:30
[Day 2] Woke up early to visit The Rice Fields
The Rice Fields of Hoshitoge
In this region, where farming with large machinery is difficult and the population is aging while more and more farmers are leaving the industry, efforts to maintain the Rice Fields continue. The reflection of the Rice Fields in the water is especially beautiful during the period between the end of the rice harvest and the first snowfall. “Daichi no Kome,” a new crop of Uonuma Koshihikari rice harvested from the Hoshitoge Rice Fields, is available for purchase at facilities associated with the “Echigo-Tsumari Art Field” and via the link below, so please be sure to enjoy it at home.
25 minutes
7:00
Breakfast and check-out at Sansho House
10 minutes
9:00
Observing wildlife at the Natural Science Museum and in the Grove
Echigo-Matsunoyama Museum of Natural Science “Kyororo”
At Kyororo, a natural science museum with a unique, elongated exterior, visitors can enjoy exhibits focused on the biodiversity of satoyama forests, as well as artworks both inside and outside the museum. Additionally, at the adjacent Bijin Forest, a farmers’ market is held where you can purchase seasonal vegetables (Closed on Thursdays).
40 minutes
10:40
A leading art museum in Echigo-Tsumari
Museum on Echigo-Tsumari, MonET
This is a hub facility for the Echigo-Tsumari Art Field, featuring artwork by renowned contemporary artists such as Nawa Kohei, Nakatani Michiko, and Mé. At the museum shop, you can purchase products created in collaboration with the artists, as well as charmingly designed local specialties.
30 minutes
12:10
Enjoy a "delicious meal" prepared by local moms
Lunch: Ubusuna House
"Gottsu" is a Tokamachi dialect term meaning "feast." Come savor dishes made with seasonal ingredients at Ubusuna House, a 100-year-old thatched-roof farmhouse that has undergone REBIRTH through ceramics created by some of Japan’s leading ceramic artists. On Sunday, November 8, we’ll be hosting a buffet-style event featuring all-you-can-eat fresh-harvested rice.
35 minutes
1:50 p.m.
Contemplating the Beauty of Satoyama Through Art
"For Lots of Lost Windows" by Utsumi Akiko
A window that allows you to rediscover the satoyama landscape through the view outside. The curtains, which sway differently depending on the weather, let you feel the sunlight and the gentle breeze.
10 minutes
2:10 p.m.
Addressing Environmental Issues Through Art
"POTEMKIN" by Architect Office Casagrande & Rintala
A riverbank that had been plagued by illegal dumping has regained its natural beauty through a public-private partnership and the expertise of architects. White gravel, stately trees, a majestic river, and remnants of industrial waste blend together to create a unique landscape found nowhere else.
15 minutes
2:35 p.m.
The Evolution of the Art Festival’s Philosophy and the Artist’s Journey
Isobe Yukihisa Memorial Echigo-Tsumari Kiyotsu Soko Museum of Art [SoKo]
The elementary school opened as an art museum in 2015. It features a permanent exhibition of artworks by Isobe Yukihisa, including a project based on *Akiyama Kikō* by Suzuki Bokuchi, who traveled through the Akiyama region in the late Edo period.
10 minutes
3:15 p.m.
Enjoy Art and Nature at the Kiyotsu Gorge Tunnel
"Tunnel of Light" by Ma Yansong / MAD Architects
Kiyotsukyo is considered one of Japan’s three great gorges. Come and enjoy the fusion of the gorge’s beauty—adorned with autumn foliage—and art. Please note that reservation periods are from Saturday, October 24, through Tuesday, November 3.
30 minutes
4:30 p.m.
[Kan-Etsu Expressway] Shiozawa-Ishiuchi Interchange
Summary
| Dates | Check-in Dates: October 17 (Sat), 24 (Sat), and 31 (Sat), 2026; November 7 (Sat) [Lunch: Echigo Matsudai Satoyama Shokudo (Day 1), Ubusuna House (Day 2)] |
|---|---|
| Admission | [Sansho House] 1 night with 2 meals included Adults: 7,250 yen; Elementary school students: 5,250 yen; Children under elementary school age: 4,500 yen |
| Origin / Destination | Shiozawa-Ishiuchi IC / Shiozawa-Ishiuchi IC |
| Transportation | Car |
Official Tours / Itineraries
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