Friday, October 14, 2011

Souvenirs from Matsumoto ♥

Remember around 2 months ago I went to Chubu/Hokuriku? One of the places I visited was Matsumoto. After coming back The Straits Times asked for a short write-up, and it came out in the papers a couple of weeks ago.

They asked for a picture as well, all the pictures I had of myself from the trip were self-shots...because I was travelling alone^^ This is one of the less obvious ones I think, at least my arm isn't showing :P The castle in the picture is Matsumoto Castle.

Anyway, sometime late in September, I was notified that the Matsumoto Convention and Tourism Association wanted to pass me a souvenir at the coming Japan Travel & Food Fair. I was quite surprised, wondering why they'd do that, as I didn't recall meeting anyone in Matsumoto, but thought that was such a random and nice gesture.



With the representative from the Matsumoto Convention and Tourism Association, Mr Y.

I don't think I can convey how touched I was by their very kind and thoughtful gesture. I certainly didn't do anything to deserve it, but it was really nice of them to specially give me a souvenir!



With the lovely folks at the Shinshuu/Matsumoto booth at the Japan Travel & Food Fair.

A little FYI about the 3 posters in the background:
from left to right they're of Norikura Kougen, Matsumoto City and Kamikouchi.
Mwahahaha I've been to 2 of the 3, they're all beautiful places!



The beautiful souvenir, Matsumoto oshie (松本押絵)!
This lovely lady currently graces my bedroom wall.



Close-up, the details are gorgeous
It's a traditional, handmade, semi-3D craft;
made using different pieces of cloth, which are stuffed, shaped and arranged.
The lady in the artwork is holding a temari, a local traditional craft of Matsumoto.


Temari on a manhole cover I saw while in Matsumoto.


A mini temari keychain I bought while in Matsumoto.



Mr Y found out I was a fan of One Piece and got these as well!
One Piece figures, Shinsekai version~
I was really very touched by this, along with the letter they wrote.
Thank you very much for your kindness Matsumoto



There are 8 different types, each one comes with a character and a bonus part.
When you gather all 8 types, you can combine the bonus parts to make Franky.
The ones I got were Robin and Brook~


Robin and Brook along with the Luffy, Zoro and Franky figures I recently bought
Excuse the photo quality, this came from my phone^^


3 comments:

  1. Hi Carissa!
    I've been so busy after I got back from Singapore and now I see this. BTW I came back without my mobile fon. I left it behind in taxi! Never found :-(
    Anyway, we are very happy to know that you liked OSHIE that I hand to you at TAKA, and One Piece figure as well!
    Now leaves are changing colors everywhere in Matsumoto and the season for Apple Picking! I would say the best apple in Japan.
    Apple Picking is enough to make you come back to Matsumoto again ;-)
    See ya!

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  2. @Marion
    Yepp, they're really pretty! Made me keep at the ground instead of the buildings while walking!

    @Mr Y
    Oh no, that's awful! I don't think you'll see that phone again... :X I wanted to do some fruit picking when I went to Shinshuu but no fruits were in season! :( But someday I would definitely like to go back in autumn to see the changing leaves and pick some apples~ :D Take care!

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