Monday morning -
Got this shot while I was in the bus
Schoolboys cycling off to school! A lot of Japanese ride bicycles to get around, you rarely see a town without seeing a cyclist peddling on the pavements. Its quite logical really, considering that the countryside has limited public transport, while driving may not be a good choice since the roads are narrow. Even in cities like Tokyo you see plenty of bicycles parked next to the train stations, many times more than say Tampines MRT back in Singapore. Plus its environmentally friendly and healthy! And its not just the youths and guys who cycle, I've seen working ladies dressed in coats and HIGH HEELS cycling to work!
We headed off to the town of Kakunodate, an old samurai town in Akita. The whole area had this really old-school Japan feel to it, with all the old wooden houses and the old yet-to-bloom sakura trees.
That's a very nice looking cherry blossom tree, the way its branches droop down.. Too bad the flowers had yet to appear.
We entered this compound belonging to a samurai family, inside was basically a museum showing all the aspects of being a samurai, from the katanas and armour to their clothes, tools, Noh masks and dolls used for puppetry.
That's one scary looking samurai armour.
Bizzare looking Noh masks.
I see this figure a lot in Japan, I think its some kind of a local mythical character. Looks like something out of a Hayao Miyazaki creation haha.
Thereafter we headed off to Lake Towada, near Aomori for some sightseeing and photo-taking. Its a HUGE lake formed from an old volcano crater.
The view taken from a vantage point way up in the mountains.
After going all the way down to the bank of the lake, we got off the bus to take a short walk along the lake.
There were lots of swans and ducks milling about near the edge of the lake and the reason was apparent later - a provision shop owner threw leftover bread scraps periodically into the lake!
Greedy birds fighting for the food
A grey swan showing off to me hahaha.
This mountain face looks as if someone had written some kind of words on it.
A nearby waterfall fed with water from the lake. That was when I started to experiment with my camera settings, so it came out with that whitish-water-flowing effect haha.
A crystal clear stream, again from the waters of Lake Towada. Looks good enough to drink! I didn't try though, heh. I did practise my stone skipping technique! Managed 3 skips whee hahaha.
There was a sign accompanying this slab of rock which was leaning onto a dead tree. It said something like this: "It is said that a female spirit resides under this rock and would draw unsuspecting tourists into its lair". Spooky huh? I didn't go near it after I read the sign.
Which wraps up a loong day spent travelling here there up and down.
Stayed in this onsen/ski hotel on the top of the mountain, AND THERE WAS NOBODY OTHER THAN US AND THE STAFF.
It goes both ways I suppose -
1) we had the whole hotel to ourselves (yay!)
2) there must be a reason why no one was staying there..... (gulp)
My entire family skipped the onsen for that night. Heh.
Ok that's all for today. Tired zzz.
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