Sunday, August 10, 2008

Summer Trip to Nasu - Part 2

As mentioned briefly in the previous post, we recently went to Nasu to escape the oppressive Tokyo heat and and enjoy a bit of respite in the countryside.

We hired a house for one night and took plenty of food and alcohol with us for the BBQ. I really appreciated the chance to get out of Tokyo for a short time and enjoyed the peace of the countryside. We ate and drank until quite late and then spent about half an hour lighting fireworks. After a couple of hard weeks at work, I could feel all the stress ebbing away.

The following day (Sunday), we were in no rush to return to Tokyo. At about 10am, we all hopped in the car and drove to a high mountain which was mentioned in the previous posting. Despite us being on a trip to the countryside, it took a long time to find somewhere to park as there were hundreds of other cars. In a valiant effort to completely destroy any remaining tranquility, the car park attendants needlessly shouted out instructions from their handheld loudspeakers. The noise pollution in Japan is one of my biggest bugbears. We got on the cable car and travelled a good way up the mountain before joining the hoards at the top taking photos and eating slush puppies. We all seemed to enjoy the small hike higher up the mountain and I felt a few pangs of regret for leaving the beauty of the countryside for life in the city. A short trip but some more happy memories to look back on.

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Summer trip to Nasu

We all had a lovely trip to Nasu, not far from Shimogo, the town where we lived in for 4 years. Unfortunately, I have neither the time nor the energy to write a longer blog posting, so I have quickly uploaded a picture of Clara which was taken today when we climbed a large way up a 1,915m mountain called Chausudake Mountain.

I'll try and do a few postings later in the week. I will also get broadband connected to my new apartment in about 1 weeks time so I should be fully back in cyberspace soon.