With Patience, a Crush Can be Overcometh The golden week started that weekend. But no matter. Our time in Tokyo was finite and Saturday was to be the day for Takaosan. Still, we were completely taken aback by the size of the crowd. On route #1, the entire […]
Sakura, Act 1, 2, 3 Next on our to do list: search for Sakuras. From Taenoyu, we moved on to Hanamaki Onsen in Iwate. Hanamaki Onsen was more a hotel than a traditional ryokan. Nevertheless, it was a good base from which to conduct our Sakura sleuthing. Our […]
Cool friends, Hot baths, and Delicious sake There’s something special/sweet about meeting up with old friends in a foreign land. It’s like getting lost and then getting found. It kinda feels like we’ve gone home. We were en route to meet a group of ultra-running friends who had just […]
To the Highlands! The kanji for Kamikochi 上高地 literally means ‘highlands’. That’s probably because some of the tallest mountains in japan are clustered there, and this is the shrine of the Japan Alps. here, even the terminal station of the Kamikochi buses is 1500m above sea level. Summer […]
Into the Mountains, In Search of the Hidden Villages They are not so hidden now, being conferred UNESCO World Heritage Site status since 1995. But many hundred years ago, deep in these mountains, the residents of Shirakawa, Suganuma and Ainokura led very carefree lives. They built their Gassho […]
the last word 