14/12/2019 / Last updated : 22/03/2023 d.d Hiking / Walking

Mt.Chokai Waterfalls and Namahage Demons　鳥海山、男鹿ナマハゲ

May 2019, Mototaki Fukuryusui　元滝伏流水 A wet night at Kisakata michi no eki but by morning the weather is clearing. Mt. Chokai is still a mass of towering, grey cloud but there are patches of blue out over the Nihonkai (Japan sea). We set off for Mototaki Fukuryusui. This is about 15 minutes’ drive from the michi no eki. This is a natural spring, that forms many small waterfalls. It is fed by the numerous rivulets emerging from the subterranean springs of Mt. Chokai. The whole area is covered in a luxuriant moss due to the damp and shade. There is a pleasant ten minute or so walk through the woods […]

08/01/2019 / Last updated : 22/03/2023 d.d Hiking / Walking

Oze wetland hiking　尾瀬

Summer 2018, Hatomachi Touge　鳩待峠 From michi-no-eki Shirasawa, we drive to Hatomachi touge (Pass) to begin our walk. The road, to the trail entrance, is open so we don’t need to take the expected shuttle bus but pay the unexpected 2500 yen parking fee. We have to wait about 15 minutes for a parking space. The attendant assures us one will soon become vacant. How he knows this is a mystery. A bluff based on experience? While we wait, we watch a construction company helicopter take off, perhaps 20 meters from us. We are advised to close all windows as the construction workers hose down the area to lay the dust. […]

06/01/2019 / Last updated : 29/01/2023 d.d Scenic Drive / Spots

Michi-no-eki in the Oze area

Summer 2018, Oze Hinoematamura michi-no-eki. Michi-no-eki Oze Hinoematamura is very good for a restful night but even in mid-August it was cold. The morning temperature was 9 degrees and our thin sleeping bags not enough even with a blanket. Very early, we put the blankets inside the sleeping bags. This makes a world of difference and we sleep well until, at 8am. Then, sun forces us out of the oven. Today is a driving day, as we plan to skirt round the Oze area to the other, Gunma prefecture, side. This route 252 is a wild ride, until we hit route 17 and the road becomes very dull. Climbing up to […]

02/01/2019 / Last updated : 06/11/2023 d.d Hiking / Walking

Hiking to Ozenuma, Byobuiwa and Hinoemata Kabuki　尾瀬沼、檜枝岐村

Summer 2018, Ozenuma is our destination for today. We leave michi-no-eki Kirara 289 around 9am. It is a place I can recommend, with an adequate onsen, modern toilets plus, steps down to a picnic area, by a small river, that no one seems to notice and is sadly becoming overgrown. Byobuiwa　屏風岩 On our way to Oze National Park, or perhaps in it we stop, by chance, at Byobuiwa. Here is a splendid rushing ,rocky stream set against a sheer rock face precariously supporting quite large pines. A place well worth stopping to see. A hour or so later we reach Miike, where it is necessary to park and take a […]

31/12/2018 / Last updated : 22/03/2023 d.d Hiking / Walking

Jodo-daira and Ouchi-juku　浄土平、大内宿

Summer 2018, Jodo-daira　　浄土平 After leaving Michi no Eki Bandai, we drive the Bandai-Azuma Skyline to Azuma Ko-Fuji. We park at Jodo-daira, at a cost of 400 yen. Due to a landslide, the result of the recent typhoon, from this point the road was closed on the Fukushima City side so, the restaurant was offering all meals at half price. There was a substantial queue, even though it was barely 11am and the restaurant not yet open. We planned to climb to the rim of the small crater and walk the perimeter. The weather, in the car park, was blustery cold with intermittent showers, so we broke out the light down […]

27/12/2018 / Last updated : 29/01/2023 d.d Temple / Shrine

Sazaedo at Aizu Wakamatsu さざえ堂

Summer 2018, Sazaedo An intermittently wet day, so we drive to Aizu Wakamatsu in Fukushima prefecture, via the Bandaisan Gold Line, to visit Sazaedo. This is a spiral, wooden pagoda that was once a temple in its own right. It is situated, naturally, at the top of a flight or two of the inevitable steps. At first we climb to the very top of the steps, to visit the shrine. This is dedicated to the young boy soldiers who committed suicide when they found themselves to be on the losing side of the Boshin War. This was one of the last ditch resistance attempts against the Meiji Restoration’s abolition of […]

20/12/2018 / Last updated : 29/01/2023 d.d Temple / Shrine

Yudonosan Shrine　湯殿山

Summer 2018, Michi-no-eki Nishikawa Michi-no-eki Nishikawa (R. 112) at Gassan proves even better than expected. Though busy, there must have been well over fifty shachuhaku (sleep in a car) vehicles, it is organized and clean. In the morning, I realize, it has a garden with an artificial stream and a pond with Yamame (spotted trout?). Later, returning for lunch, we discover it has a reasonably priced restaurant and the food way above expectations. It has little gourmet touches that one does not usually associated with michi-no-eki. Recommended. Leaving Nishikawa earlier, we retraced our route of yesterday back to the Yudonosan toll road. Here we have a surprise as the 400 yen […]

19/12/2018 / Last updated : 16/03/2023 d.d Arts / Places of interest

Aizu Tsurugajo castle　会津鶴ヶ城

Day 60, November 2016, Unexpected rain in the night and I find my crocs full of water. There is a grey, watery sky but no actual rain. I count at least 42 shachuhaku vehicles in the parking area of michi-no-eki Kita no Sato. Mostly they are camper vans but there is the man in the K (small size) car and a couple in a BMW! Not sure what that was about? After checking the ducks on the small lake – pintail and pocard – we set off for Tsurugajo castle in Aizu. Aizu-Wakamatsu Tsurugajo castle The Tsurugajo castle proves to be very busy even though it is still quite early […]

Tohoku region