Unless you have the Japan Rail Pass, you have to buy two tickets for a one way trip from Itoigawa to Matsumoto. JR East trains come up to Minami-Otari because there are several ski resorts in the area in the winter.
@@trainview1980 The problem is that electronic passes like JR East _Suica_ and JR West _ICOCA_ don't work on many JR local lines. 🙁 The Seishun 18 Ticket (青春18きっぷ) maybe, but that's limited only to certain days per year.