![\"\"](\"http:\/\/bibaikanko.jp\/machimise3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/P1050611.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe city of Bibai once flourished as Hokkaido\u2019s foremost coal mining metropolis. The lights in the last coal mine went out in July, 1972 and a hush fell over the streets of the coal miners\u2019 homes, schools closing for lack of children.
\nLater, as a certain native of Bibai, one Yasuda Kan, continued his prodigious efforts in Italy, it came time for him to look for a studio workshop in Japan. He came across the former Sakae Elementary School. The nostalgic remembrances of the children remained in the very wood of the dilapidated frame of the old school building. And then, he was smitten with the sight of kindergarteners commuting to an annex of the old school building.
\nHe watched the innocent play of the kindergarteners, they unaware of how time was trifling with the history around them, this thought came to him.
\n\u201cLet\u2019s make an open area that children can open their hearts to!\u201d And that\u2019s how Arte Piazza Bibai all got started.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cArte Piazza\u201d means \u201cArt Plaza\u201d in Italian. It opened in July, 1992.
\nThey repaired the abandoned grade school and its gymnasium, keeping them almost the same as their original forms, giving a new birth to 70,000 square meters (17.3 acres) of grounds and wooded area. More than 40 items are on display outdoors and in the buildings.
\nEach of the four seasons change the charm of the place, exploring for, suggesting new ways that nature, people and art can live together, offering visitors the time and space to look deeply into their own hearts. This is precisely what communicates the essence of art.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/bibaikanko.jp\/machimise3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/DSC_0256.jpg\")
<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/bibaikanko.jp\/machimise3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/b326d0adc348eca1032c04a9f7e65cd5.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nVarious exhibitions, concerts, lectures, events of all types are held. Among these is an event held on the first weekend of every month, a lesson entitled \u201cSculpt Your Heart<\/a>.\u201d This is an invaluable experience using Italian marble and other materials in which you can learn how to put your \u201cheart,\u201d the very essence of your inner self, into solid form. People come from all over Hokkaido and beyond, and these classes are occasionally led by Yasuda Kan himself. Once you see this place, you\u2019ll want to return again and again.You\u2019ll see right away why it\u2019s so many people\u2019s favorite place.<\/p>\n INFORMATION<\/p>\n
\nNestled in among all this nature and art is the Caff\u00e9 Arte<\/a>, a place to relax and enjoy coffee ground and brewed on the spot, or other drinks and a light menu.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/bibaikanko.jp\/machimise3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/P1050626.jpg\")
<\/p>\n