Once again, I accompanied the adult group; the first stop on our agenda today was Bato East Middle School, where we were met by the principal, who did his best to read his greeting in English.
He and Kevin Blackburn and I are the only three Americans in Bato.) The four Horseheads students were also in the class, so Ian had the Japanese students ask them their hobbies, their favorite foods, and their favorite subjects- it made for a great class, with lots of interaction between the American and Japanese students.
We headed back to Bato, stopped briefly for some delicious ice cream at "Michi No Eki" (sorry, didn't remember to get a picture), then headed on to Pony Town, where the 100 yen store was hands down the most popular store among the travelers (although the supermarket also got quite a bit of attention).
On October 1, 2005 the towns of Ogawa and Bato from Nasu District merged to form the new town of Nakagawa.
On March 20, 2006, the city of Imaichi, the town of Ashio from Kamitsuga District, the town of Fujihara and the village of Kuriyama (both from Shioya District) merged with the old city of Nikkō to form the new city of Nikkō.
The city of Utsunomiya is scheduled to absorb the towns of Kamikawachi and Kawachi (both from Kawachi District) during March 2007.
To commemorate our sixth anniversary at the Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art, we present a survey of 120 works in a two-part exhibition series.
This exhibition, which is in commemoration of his life, is only made possible by the support of Shiro’s surviving family and the Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts.
In order to offer a glimpse of all his works, we present alongside his Silkscreen Engraving masterpieces, some of his sketches, reverse glass paintings, objets d’art, and early oil paintings.
Ninety miles north of Tokyo in Tochigi Prefecture is the historical site of Nikko.
This is an incredible beautiful and popular destination, where harmony abounds between natural beauty and the man made splendors.
The 'Bato Kannon,' with a horse's head on its forehead, is believed to be the incarnation of animal spirits and is thus worshipped as the guardian of animals.
