Pension Yuhodo Hokuto

... y si no van dormidos (que es lo más probable) se dedican a escuchar música, ver videos o no se que más millones de cosas pueden hacer con ellos...

... also nicht so breit... Wir trafen keine Menschenseele... die Riesenspinnen hi** (gold mit schwarz) v**anlassten mich sogar dazu gleich direkt neben den Weg Mutt**s Natur Ruf nachzugehen... - DA GEH ICH NICHT REIN; SCHAU DIR DIE SPINNENNETZE AN!!! - Wobei direkt vor mir die Hülle ein** Semi (riesenzirkade) lag ...iiiiigitt!! Von den Gelsen red ich **st gar nicht... ich glaub ja auch das die Gelsenlotion diejenigen eh** anzieht als abwehrt...
Oben ...

... of some really beautiful flowers and just enjoying the mountain air. I wandered through a couple of neighborhoods/residential areas that were near the lake and took some pictures of typical Japanese style homes. There is something really intriguing to me about the way the Japanese build their homes. It seems to be a mix between eastern and western architecture. The gardens are usually really well kept ...

In Tokyo's Shinjuku station (one of the world's biggest with 740,000 passenger/day) I took a train to Kofu in Yamanashi district (near Mt Fuji), known for hosting Japan best vineyards.
Here they grow Koshu (Japanese grape) and mostly French varieties. I visited a few wineries and wine is very decent! See more info on Japanese wines in Vinum wine magazine on Asian wines coming out this Fall.

Nach Kawaguchiko. D.h. erst mal Metro nach Shinjuku. Dann JR Richtung keine Ahnung mehr. Umsteigen. Lokalbahn nach Kawaguchiko. War nett und sehr heisst. Das Wetter war heiss, versteht sich. Dort angekommen haben wir mal das Hostel gesucht welches im LonelyPlanet vermerkt war. Ist noch recht teuer. Glaubs 2700 Yen pro Nacht. Auf jeden Fall zu viel fuer dass man um halb 8 am Morgen mit traditioneller, japanischer Musik ...

Kawaguchiko is the largest of three lakes in the Japanese lake district just North of Mount Fuji. Mount Fuji, one of few symbols which immediately reminds us of Japan, and depictions of it in different forms were painted throughout Japanese art history, from centuries ago, to Hokosai, to contemporary studies.
So it came as some disappointment to us, than on the day of arrival, that you couldn't see more than a few hundred metres ahead of you let alone where the ...

From Obuse, we travelled further along the train line, into the mountains and to a place called Yudanaka. In the winter you can go skiing around here but obviously there was no snow whilst we were here, just a bit of rain. The reason we came here was to visit the snow monkeys. These monkeys are macaques which come down the valley and are partial to bathing in the natural onsen (hot springs). We got a bus ...

... they are willing to share information, it just takes time. The ride back was filled with American and Japanese chatter, as we had all become good friends at this point. Bonding over questions and beer is never a bad thing :) We will be meeting up with a bunch of the students this thursday and most of them are coming to Boston this summer, which is really nice. We will be able to show them our home, as they have graciously shown us theirs.

... the goddess spirit will be revive as about 70 bonfires of firewood over 3M tall are set on fire.

Unfortunately, whithin an hour we were at the main stree, it began pouring so we left the festival early. We, however, enjoyed the spa (with 5 different kinds of "onsen" (hot spring) mineral baths and sauna).

... exactly the ideal weather for crawling up rocks, especially wearing jeans (which later turned into me hiking in Andy's bathing suit). We definitely were attracting attention as " foolish tourists who had no idea what they were in for." The ascending trail alternated between scaling large knobby rocks separated by deep mud puddles and steep inclines of red rubble that crumbled and sank beneath your weight, making even more effort required to climb. Stakes ...