Hiking
Tochiki, Tochiki, Japan
Tochiki is the prefacture I visited the most for hiking. Almost every other train station there is some nearby hill for me to do the daytrip. The famous Ootaira-san has a rich history as it contains very old shrine and temple. It contains very walkable hiking trail where I saw many elderly doing their weekly exercise and it seems I am the youngest among all! On the top there is a line of booths selling the famous food of this hill: the mochi and the grilled egg roll. After exercise it always tastes good to eat all of these.
Mount Fuji, Yamanashi, Japan
This mountain, without much ado, is the most famous and highest mountain in Japan. It is such a popular spot that the hiking trails are crowded and one needs to go one by one along the steep stairs near the peak. Because we wanted to view the sunrise, we have to stay overnight and start climbing around 4-5 am. Unfortunately my head can't stop aching during the trip (probably not because of the thin air because I started having headache during the car-ride). Still, the impressive light and shadow cast by the mountain during sunrise is one of the most beautiful scene I have enjoyed. One amusing fact is that the toilet of the lodge is full of moths and they attack people who go to toilet.
Ashio, Gunma, Japan
Gunma is always a very challenging place to go because one needs a few hours of train ride with multiple transfer to arrive. Still it is a mysterious place for me to go because its hilly landscape has made its own culture unique to the Kanto area (Tokyo, Chiba, Tochiki...). And the place I visited is the hill where the copper ore is one of the major source in early time. We visited there around early spring so it is still chilly. As the photo shows, the mountain area is quite foggy in the daytime too. One major sightseeing spot is the great dam and the manmade lake (reservoir?) that supports the irrigation of the farmland downstream.