We got a car in Nikko, and Michele, who has lots of experience driving on the left from driving around Ireland, drove us to the ski resort of Yuzawa for the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2024. Michele thought that the drive from Nikko to Yuzawa would give us a chance to see some Fall color, which we were otherwise too early to see at lower elevations like Kyoto.

It was a beautiful drive, most of it through heavy rain.   

We ran for a while in semi-farm country and stopped to admire an old apple tree with impossibly large fruit; we ended up buying four apples. And ended the day under our first Christmas Tree of the year.