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Blogs from Yamanashi, Japan, Asia
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October 7th 2012
Earlier this year Sue and I had holidayed on the Isle of Skye and whilst dining at the renowned Three Chimneys restaurant, we tried a Japanese white wine. Whilst expensive at £12 per glass it was by far the best wine of 4 tasted during our meal. We gathered details from the sommelier and vowed to seek it out whilst in Japan. We were told the wine came from Yamanashi which we thought was a town but in fact turns out to be a prefecture similar in size to Lincolnshire. Fortunately our trip coincided with the Yamanashi wine festival and we took the train for the 100 mile journey north west of Tokyo. We met up with a lot of Barney's friends from university and former work places as this festival attracts wine buffs and people ... read more
Fuji beat me to a pulp, but I had the last laugh!
Published: September 22nd 2010Asia » Japan » Yamanashi » Mt Fuji
September 15th 2010
I'm a broken man. Fuji literally pile-drived me so hard that, not only am I still amazingly sore a few days later, NEW problems are popping up (like awful stomach aches and immense back pain) that I can only attribute to Fuji's masterful art of kicking my ass. But I have the last laugh, Fuji! I have pictures and videos of the sunrise that I took while standing atop your lifeless (but still active) volcano crater, you bastard. And I get to show them around to all of my friends that don't have the wonderful opportunity to hike up you for 8 hours in the dark, or to almost be blown away by your shotgun-like wind gusts, or to almost freeze to death waiting for the sun to rise on your summit. Your secret's out, and ... read more
September 3rd 2009
The day after the taifun, I reassembled my bicycle and drove off Tokyo, passing by the Imperial Palace and Shinjuku. A policeman tells me which road to take to Kawaguchiko from Shinjuku. I can hear zikades everywhere where some garden is. Other then that, the city seems to be endless. Every once in a while, I stop by at some Convenience store to refill drinks and food and ask whether I am still on the right track. When I reach Takao, I am finally off the city and its suburbs. Nice steep mountains surround the place, and there is a hugh famous temple on top of Takao san. Wonderfull smell of the woods... Riding further towards Otsuki, still in lovely countryside. There is not much traffic on the roads, it feels comfortable safe to ride the bicycle ... read more
August 9th 2009
1pm on Sunday August 9th and I’m in the quaint, but fortunately comfortable Kawaguchiko station waiting. Almost every muscle in my body aches, I’ve miss placed two people and most of my stuff along with them. Last time I saw them was on Mt.Fuji on the way to the summit. This is a bit of a long story, but I’ll keep it brief. I’m a gaijin (foreigner) living in Japan and like almost every other gaijin I really wanted to climb Mt.Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan, and watch the sunrise. To do this you walk up ½ way up from the 5th station during day 1 and then rest in a hut until 11pm/12am and walk to the top by 4am to watch the sunrise then walk all the way back down to the 5th ... read more
June 11th 2009
It's a song, its a fruit, its a Sakuranbo! Or Japanese cherry (not to be confused with the sakura trees, which are just cherry blossoms.) But, like the sakura trees, its a seasonal item, pretty unique to Japan, that the Japanese can't get enough of. We took a day trip to Katsunuma in Yamanashi-ken. It was foggy in the morning when we left but as we got to Katsunuma the fog lifted and we saw the most magnificent city/town built in this valley of green mountains and low hanging white clouds. I think it was the most beautiful scene I've seen Japan. Because of geography, Katsunuma is a farming town - mostly fruit. Grape vines grew on terraced slopes, and what was not grapes were fruit trees. The season now is for the sakuranbo and peaches. ... read more
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May 6th 2009
Monday morning I woke early and said goodbye to my awesome host Minna and made my way to the nearby subway station. This week is known as Golden Week in Japan and everyone has Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off as holidays. This makes for a lot of people out at night, but luckily it meant that Monday morning was not a workday and the subway was significantly less busy than normal. I managed to figure out where I was going, change stations and lines and arrive at the station where the bus terminal was located. I bought a ticket and was on my way to Kawaguchiko, which is a resort type town near Mt.Fuji. As I arrived I got a pretty good view of most of Mt.Fuji, except for the top which was lost in clouds. ... read more
December 30th 2008
Host father and my dad are pretty much the same...retired, love baseball, love golf. I've been to the range a few times with host father, and since its winter break, time to hit the course. It's warm enough in Tokyo to play 365 days a year. The course was about 1:20 away from the house in Tokyo in Yamanashi-ken. Set in a valley, the course was very hilly but in nice shape for december. Greens were well kept but the rough had died out. I was pretty rust but actually came away with second prize of a king crab and box of beer because of a very odd open format tournament for hte first nine holes. Handicap was based on 4 holes and score was taken from the remaining five. I messed up on the right ... read more
November 20th 2008
Konnichiwa! Sorry, I know I'm really slow with posting entries, but I think you'll forgive me after the amazing-ness of the tales I am about to tell. You're gonna love it, I swear! Sunday (08/30/2008) This day was the start of a festival in Tsuru called Hasaku-Matsuri. It marks the beginning of fall and is a 2-day festival that we were gonna get to have all sorts of fun in. For this first day we met at a temple to change into the traditional Hapi coats of summer festivals and to drag what is basically a huge float with people playing Taiko sitting in it. That's right. We got to be part of a parade! It was awesome!!! Michelle (you remember, the girl that I flew here with who also is from UCSD) does Taiko and ... read more
November 3rd 2008
Hisashiburi! (That means it's been a long time!) Sorry! I won't make excuses...even though I've been busy I should have been writing...So, I'll just get started! 08/28/2008 Every year the Tsuru exchange students climb Mt.Fuji. It's grueling, tough, and one of the most memorable experiences that the group shares. The Thursday before the Friday that we were supposed to climb finally arrived...and our climb was canceled because of "heavy" rain in the area. Amongst grumblings about going and climbing on our own and complaints that it was barely raining, the tutors came up with a plan to cheer us up! We would go do Karaoke!!! The biggest Karaoke place in town is called "Tento" and is wild-west themed. The person at the front desk always wears a cowboy hat and there are old black-and-white westerns playing ... read more
October 7th 2008
Hi everybody! I'm very excited to write this entry because I get to write about one of the coolest experiences I've had in Japan yet. Are you ready for it? Time to grab some popcorn (oh, how I miss popcorn...), sit back, and relax as I present another epic Japanese adventure... 08/26/2008 As a misty wet rain fell from the sky, so did ashes and embers falling from pillars of burning wood. I pushed through the crowd of people, catching my umbrella on the countless other umbrellas squeezing past. I might have put the umbrella down and tolerated the rain, but that might also mean getting singed, so I brandished it like a shield against the rain of fire. What sort of a place was I in? Why were embers raining from the sky? Well, that's ... read more
