• Kate CarraraJapanese dreamTraveler
    Leaving Tokyo - now traffic jams as so quickly onto the Expressway. Driving on the left..
    Leaving Tokyo - now traffic jams as so quickly onto the Expressway. Driving on the left..Tokyo streetsLake Kawaguchi..Fuji is around there somewhereSuwa Taisha shrineTorii, gate to a holy placeWashing hands and mouth before enteringPrayers and wishes and the sweet smell of woodPrayers were said - make an offering, bow, clap, pray, bow againLowland NagoyaImpossible yellow green rice every corner1Mountain inhabitantsWhy is the mountain road called the Venus Line??More rolling ridgesMatsumoto JoLucky frogs, symbol of MatsumotoOur tatami roomBefore we settled in..oyasumi!

    Alps to Matsumoto

    September 2 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Today we drove from Tokyo to Matsumoto via the Japanese Alps - the clouds covered most of Mt Fuji, its cone just occasionally peaking out, but of course notarized with snow, just grey and end of summery. Bit disappointed but we may have better luck on our way back at the end. The Alps were green and subtropical and rolling, impossible to imagine them as ski slopes (Rico fancies coming back). Gorgeous Shinto shrine at Suwa Taisha Honmiya, all ancient trees and moss and the smell of cedar and dampness, sunlight through the beams, running water and peace. Then over the mountains to Matsumoto, city of frogs and Japan's biggest wooden castle, where we are staying in a traditional.house all a futon..Read more