Matsumoto is another city you've never heard of. It's in Nagano prefecture - you may recognize that name from the Winter Olympics in 1998. I'm going there for two specific attractions.

First is the Japan Ukiyo-e Museum . In 1790, Yoshiaki Sakai was a rich businessman in Matsumoto. His wealth allowed him to be a patron of the arts, and his home became something of a haven for artists of the time. There were writers, calligraphers, and, as luck would have it, the artists who created woodblock prints. The legendary artists Hokusai and Hiroshige were among his houseguests. Mr. Sakai collected prints from all of these artists and began his family's dedication to the art.

The Sakai collection includes over 100,000 prints, making it the largest in Japan. There are first editions from some of the most famous ukiyo-e artists, pieces that aren't quite priceless, but almost. It's not unusual for these prints, though multiple original copies were made, to sell well into six figures. (In dollars, not yen.)

The other attraction in town is Matsumoto Castle . It's still original, having survived from the early 1600s. It's clear that in Japan, to have survived for the last 400 years, it paid to have been in an out-of-the-way place.

Unusually for Japanese castles, Matsumoto's walls are painted black on the outside. There are only a few castles in Japan with this color scheme - most are painted white. The famous castle in Himeji (which I will see later in my trip) is also known as "shirasagi," or "White Heron." Somehow Matsumoto Castle looks more menacing, insofar as a motionless, inanimate object can. (I still think the Fuji TV building in Tokyo's Odaiba district takes that prize by a longshot.)

Another thing that makes this day trip something special is Matsumoto's location at the north end of the "Japan Alps." While Mount Fuji is the highest in the country, it's not part of a mountain range. The central part of Japan is a very mountainous region and Matsumoto is right in the middle of it. Every other place I'll be visiting is flat and coastal (except for Kyoto, which is flat and landlocked). I don't expect to see any snow on the mountains this early in the Fall, but the scenery will still be beautiful.

In addition to visiting these two places, I'll spend some time just walking around and soaking up the ambiance. I expect I'll drop by Nikko before I get to Matsumoto, but up in Nikko I'll just do the tourist thing. In Matsumoto I hope to be able to rub shoulders with the people and try the local food. Maybe that doesn't sound like a big deal, but I look at those things as taking one teensy step closer to the very soul of a place. If I'm lucky, I might even run into someone who wants to practice his/her English.