Summer vacation - Rebun to

 

The picture shows part of the tour, I did. In the center of the map the dot shows the starting point of the steep way up to the highest point of the tour. On the right side you see the start of the long beach in one of the later pictures.

After a very long time without a post now one with a lot of pictures. That is easier than text. The pictures are all from a hike on Rebun island, that I did today. It was a gorgeous day for a hike, sunny with some clouds, warm enough, that the strong breaze from the sea was a welcome cool down and dry up to now.

In case you don't know: Rebun-to is an island in the very north of Hokkaido and with this in the very North of Japan. It´s highest peak is below 500m. There is not much to see but nature but the nature is great. A hole lot of different flowers, some of them as if you were in the alps. But some of them are special and you can only find them on this island.

7

Kelp: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelp Dried on the ground in the sun.

Das Edelweiss von Rebun

And at the end some panoramas

Hanami in Kawagoe

 

はなみ　

Hanami in Kawagoe

Der Frühling ist da und zwar früher als normal also nix wie raus zum はなみ = "Kirschblütenschauen". Anfangs noch bei bedecktem Himmel, später kam die Sonne raus.

 Am Bach entlang

gar nicht so einfach, auf dem IPhone scharfe Nahaufnahmen zu machen...

Im Kitain Temple wird ein Fest gefeiert. Die typischen blauen Planen sind auch im Einsatz

 Variationen von Blüten

Und hier noch einige Großaufnahmen

Ach ja, außer Kirschblüten gibt es auch noch andere Frühlingsboten

März - Hakone

 

Erst mal als Platzhalter, damit die Post-Reihenfolge stimmt. Details folgen.

Januar - Takayama & Shirakawa-Go

In Januar I visited Takayama and from there Skirakawa-go. Takayama has a historic area with a lot of old looking buildings.
The area is famous for Sake and for Hida beef.
This picture is showing a Sake shop. The big ball above the entrance is showing this.

We arrived on Saturday and it was snowing already.

A Temple, covered with snow and loads of snow, piled up next to it.

This alley of trees will look pretty, when its Cherry blossom time.

Here you see the reason for all the ropes, connected to the trees branches. They will help carry the load of the snow on the branches.

This one is in the garden of an old building, that is a museum.

Inside there is a typicall fire place for the area. The 'branch' is hanging from the ceiling and the fish, connected to it is very decorative.

Here you see one way to deal with the snow. This is a sprinkler system, using war water to melt the snow.

Of course we had to try Hidda beef. You can get it in different grades, yields and different cuts. Special A5 filet is the best.

On Sunday morning we were going to Shirakawa-go by bus. It still was snowing. Over night about 30 cm were falling.

Here one of the houses for which Shirakawa is famous.

The snow on the houses was pilling up high and on some roofs, they were taking down the snow. The old houses are built with very steep roofs, so that the snow can slide down.

In these houses the place below the roof is used for

A little river flowing through the village is used to get rid of the snow. The snow is thrown into the river and is floating away.

This is the inside of one of the houses' roof area. All connections are made with ropes. The ropes and the cover of the roof is replaced regularly. These ropes were replaced recently.

Looking from inside out

The bell tower of Temple is deeply covered with snow.

Finally, when we had to leave, the sun came out.

Inside of one of the historic buildings a fireplace. The smoke is going up into the roof area and is 'roasting' everything there.

Another picture with a lot of snow.

Here pictures of another way of getting rid of all the snow. In all streets in Takayama, there are little rivers, flowing below the streets. The covers of the river can be removed and the snow can be pushed in there to float away.

Januar - Kyoto - 7 Nijo Castle & way back home

Last day in Kyoto: visiting the Nijo-jo Castle

The shinkansen, that would bring me home.

Lunch in the train. Look at the expandable chopsticks

Mount Fuji