Hometown of Salmon - Murakami City, Nigata

The city of Murakami is located at the north end of Nigata Prefecture.  It's famous as a hometown of salmon annually returning to Miomote River in the city.

The city keeps the old traditional Japanese townhouses, called Mchiya, to preserve the beautiful old town landscape.  Just walking down the streets downtown is quite fun with those antique houses.

By the way, Murakami is also a hometown of a young professional snowboarder Ayumu Hirano who recently won a sliver medal in the half-pipe competition in 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi. He actually won the silver medal in the winter X Games last year, but I didn't him till at all. Sorry not interested in snowboarding.

• See also;  

1. <Murakami City, Nigata>  http://funtravelinjapan.blogspot.jp/2012/05/murakami-city-nigata.html
2. <I'm back to this page>  http://funtravelinjapan.blogspot.jp/2012/05/im-back-to-this-page.html

FYI:

• About Murakami City: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murakami,_Niigata

• Murakami City Tourism Association (Japanese): http://www.sake3.co
• About Machiya: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machiya
• Nigata Prefcture Tourism Guide: http://enjoyniigata.com/english
• About Ayumu Hirano: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayumu_Hirano

This is not a machiya.
Just an abandoned gas station.

Murakami Station

One of machiyas 

Machiya with Rolls-Royce 

Machiya of salmon

A machiya I stepped in was a
mercantile house of salmon.
They open some parts of the house
to the public as a museum

Old cloths store

This machiya was converted to
an tourist information center. 

Inside of the machiya
tourist information center 

Old liquor store.

   

This is a book store

Clock store

This isn't a machiya.
Just a closed shop.
Barely read the signage
indicating "bakery"

This is an open bakery called
Tora-ya (= tiger bakery) 

Fisherman in Miomote River.
The traditional salmon fishing style
is still preserved.  

Not sure this boat is still active.