Continuing from the successful art journeys to Kyoto (2020), Kanazawa & Fukui (2021), this year's trip will take us to Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale　(English website​/ Japanese website​). In a year of art festivals all over the country, it is one of the largest art festivals in the world and a pioneer of regional art festivals in Japan. Covering the same area as Tokyo 23 wards in the surrounding area of Tokamachi-city in Niigata, it is a festival where artists, the community, and the land come together. The area is still filled with "satoyama" life where people engage with the land and live together with the art since 2000. 333 artworks by 263 artists from 38 countries will be exhibited which 123 works are new. The Arts Committee has been working together with the organizers to make the most of our experiences during this visit! Beyond art, one of the highlights will be to visit the legendary sake maker, Hakkaisan, where they will be making this sake from this year's rice. This is 2 night, 3 days trip.

Day 1: We start the day at Echigo Yuzawa Station making our way to the Tokamachi area. We will spend the morning learning about the works in harmony with the beautiful "satoyama" landscape and its evolution from the art festival's inception in 2000. First, we will view Utsumi Akiko's work exhibited in 2006, followed by a new work by French artist Christian Boltanski. Next stop is one of the hubs, Matsudai Nobutai which serves as an innovative platform for connecting art and agriculture. Artworks are on exhibit inside and outside of the building. Yayoi Kusama's works will be blooming on hilltops and other works in nearby rice terraces. There will be many discoveries. Mid-afternoon, we will make our way to Hakkaisan​. Nagumo-san has kindly invited us for a tour of the brewery and dinner.

Day 2: The morning will start at Kiyotsu Gorge Tunnel and see the Tunnel of Light, one of the signature piece, and the Kiyotsu SoKo Museum. We will make a brief stop at the magical Hoshitoge Rice Terrace​ and see more works in the Matsudai Area making our way to Tokamachi area by a train/station art installation "JIKU". Satoyama Contemporary Art Museum MonET the central hub of the art festival will be our final stop for the day. There we will see new works by world-famous artists, including Nawa Kohei's, "Force". Dinner will be at Ubusuna House, which is a 100-year-old thatched roof house to taste local delicacies created by the local oka-san.

Day 3: On the final day of the trip, we will spend the morning touring the Tokamachi area and seeing Taiwanese artist, Jimmy Liao and Seizo Tajima's works before going to the Kawanishi area to see James Turrell's House of Lights. After lunch at Kojima-ya, famous for their Heki soba, we will stop by works in the area before heading our way to Echigo Yuzawa to get back to Tokyo.

Ms. Mitsu Hara, Executive Director of NPO Echigo-Tsumari Satoyama Collaborative Organization will be our guide throughout the trip.

*Accommodation: Atema Kogen Resort Belnatio​

* Founding Members' family/spouses are welcome!

* First-come-first-served bases and 18 spaces are available

**Prices: we are looking at JPY140,000-150,000 per person. Final price will depend on the number of participants.

The costs will include accommodation, all meals, and transportation during the tour. It will not include Shinkansen fare from Tokyo to Echigo Yuzawa Station.