Yuzawa. Not to be confused with Yuzawa.

Walking through Echigo-Yuzawa Station the other day there were some large illuminated pictures. Turns out that they are on loan from Yuzawa town in Akita prefecture. Each year, this town in northern Japan has a festival where a street is decorated with this huge pictures over Tanabata. The pictures themselves are scenes from the Tanabata legend. This festival has been going on for hundreds of years and is still enjoyed by residents of Yuzawa (Akita) to this day.

It can be pretty confusing having two towns so far apart with the same name and hopefully you won't make the mistake of heading to one when you should be at the other one. It would be a time-consuming mistake to make. Thankfully Yuzawa in Snow Country has its own bullet train whose station name is Echigo-Yuzawa on the Joetsu Line. (Echigo is the old name for the region and crops up often in place names.)

When you head up to Yuzawa this winter for some skiing or snowboarding, make sure you go to the right one!