Simple Christmas

We had a nice and cozy christmas eve at home. It was great to be together at home after such tough and challenging year of work and struggle. We look forward to a productive and successful 2010 together.

Ground control to Major Tom

We also managed to discover the secret headquarter of the aliens, with its giant transmitter, also known as Hakkaku-sanju-to (Built 1289)

Onsen Hanaya tour

We went to the Hanaya Ryokan to have lunch and onsen. The building is very very old and is designated as juyoubunkazai (important cultural property). Food was traditional healthy food in the usual 15-17 courses and we were really full after lunch. And then we jumped into onsen, proving once more that it is not dangerous to go in bath after a big meal.

Is this a god dam?

The fog was really thick and at times we could not see more than a few yards ahead. So our hopes of seeing the Fuji was getting smaller and smaller....
During our trip we passed the Okutamago lake and its huge dam.

I think I am jinxed. Everytime I take a trip to see Fuji-san in its glory, it is too cloudy and Fuji-san is sleeping that particular day. This day was no exception. After 4 years in Japan I have yet to see Fuji on purpose from closer than say Tokyo. I have seen it from my balcony, from the airplane etc etc. But every time I get close to it, it hides from me. Last time same thing happened at lake Yamanakako. And the time I took a tour to climb the big mountain. We couldn't see it although we were standing right on it. Both times due to cloud and fog. And these are just a couple examples.

But although we missed the main attraction, the rest of the trip totally made up for it. Just look at this beautiful shot Ayako took. Wow. And the picture doesn't do the scene justice.

Chasing waterfalls

Just enjoy the nice day.

The incident with the climbing lady

So we set up our camera, and found the perfect spot for us to pose, and set the timer to 12 seconds. Unfortunately this was exactly enough time for the lady ahead of us in the tour to reach us when climbing down from the path we were standing by. The result was beautiful.
This time we had more luck.

Later Ayako found herself in the same climbing down position as the disturbing lady.

Small bus trip to outskirts of Tokyo

We set off on a quest to see Fuji-san rise majestically from amidst the clouds and fog. So we took a bus ride through many beautiful autumn sceneries...
Japan's nature at its best. The first station was Mitake. A half hour or so stop to have some Yuzu-Manju and take a couple of pictures.
Second stop was Hatonosu. We were going higher and higher up the mountains and the nature around us getting more and more poetic.It was a bit wet everywhere from that morning's rain. But it didn't stop us from having a great time.