Hakone & Matsuri Tsukuba

Good day everyone,

has it already been two weeks, again? Sorry for not sticking to my schedule again. I originally planned to visit Hakone last weekend but cancelled in the last minute due to an unfavorable weather forecast. I then postponed the trip to the following weekend, which was a great idea. The weather conditions weren't the best to see Mt. Fuji but I was finally able to see something resembling a volcano.
Hakone is a volcanic complex of overlapping calderas and a spot with a great view of Mt. Fuji. It is highly active due to the numerous fumaroles (I hope you still know what that is). The dispersion of volcanic gas is so bad that all the hiking trails are closed. However, you're still allowed to take the cable car to the top of the valley containing all the fumaroles. And damn, the smell was awful. Usually you can go down into the valley but because of the increased discharge rate of the gases it is closed to the public. You're only allowed to watch from afar. The first thing you notice while going up with the cable car is the sulfuric smell, next you'll see the flora changing, then you'll hear something resembling a jet engine (I shit you not, those things are really loud). After that the cable car crests the ridge and goes right over the valley. There you see huge patches of yellow sulfur and a gazillion fumaroles. It was really incredible. Here are some pictures.

Can you here the jet engine?

The flora doesn't really like the smell either.

As I mentioned, this a a great spot to see Mt. Fuji from. Lo and behold, I was actually able to see it too.

That thing is quite massive.

Fuji obviously sticks out from its surroundings with a summit of 3776 m above sea level. Hakone is not small either with its 1438 m, but doesn't come close. Can't wait to finally climb that bugger in two weeks.

After taking the cable car down to the other side of the mountain I proceeded to take a "pirate" ship across the lake. Yes, a pirate ship. I don't even want to know either. Anyway, here goes...

Lake Ashinoko

The lake and pirate ship.

On this side of the lake there used to be one of the great roads connecting Kyoto and Edo (Tokyo), named Tokaido. There used to be a guarded checkpoint during the reign of the Tokugawa shogunate. Its purpose was to control everybody going into the capital as well as keeping the women from leaving. You might ask why they would do such a thing. One of the reasons that the Tokugawa shogunate was able to hold Japan together was their way of ensuring loyalty from the other feudal lords. The lords (or daimyos) were required to come to Edo every other year and stay there for a while. Their family however had to stay in Edo indefinitely. This ensured that the daimyos never had enough time or resources to plan a rebellion, since traveling to Edo by foot with their whole household was quite a task. If they however would rebel, their family would be held hostage or be killed.

After the fall of the shogunate in the 19th century, these kinds of checkpoints where not needed anymore and fell into ruin. The checkpoint here at Hakone was faithfully reconstructed and serves as an open air museum. Here are some pictures.

Entrance coming from Edo.

Interesting way of building.

The inside.

View from the watchtower.

The view of the lake is nothing to be sniffed at.

The next stop was Hakone shrine. A little shrine hidden in the woods with a pathway from the shore of the lake up to the shrine itself. The lower end of the path literally starts in the water and is marked by a shinto gate (I learned that they are actually called "Torii"-gates, but you know what I mean by now). Pictures from this gate and the lake with the snowy summit of Mt. Fuji in the background are quite famous, nothing I was able to recreate though. Anyway, here are some pictures.

Fuji is covered by clouds.

The beginning of the pathway.

The path.

Hakone shrine.

I was really blown away by the beauty of Hakone. The whole area is mountainous and the villages are all based on the slopes. It's incredibly picturesque. Here is a little train station to give you a glimpse.

Miyanoshita station.

I was really happy that I decided to visit from Friday to Saturday since the weather on Saturday was, well, sub optimal:

Going over the valley with the fumaroles. I could at least smell them.

The same location from before...

I think I am cursed.

On this weekend there also was the Tsukuba festival (Matsuri Tsukuba). So. Many. People.

I came to see the parade. Here, every community in the Tsukuba area presents their own wagon. There are lots of shows, music, dancing and whatnot. Quite an experience.

This wagon was towed buy a lot of children.

Even nicer in the dark.

These lanterns were balanced buy people using one hand or their chins.

There were also a lot of drums and flutes. I really enjoyed the music.

The amount of food booths was astronomical. I quickly found my favorite though:

Mmmmhhhhhh, Yakisoba.

Next I'll go to Hokkaido for 5 days. See you then.

Nils

Izu Ōshima

Heyho,

last week, in my quest to see as many volcanoes as possible, I went to one of the Izu islands, a group of volcanic islands south of Tokyo. To be more precise, my trip took me to Ōshima, which literally means "Large Island". It is also the closest island to Tokyo. To get there I had to embark on a large passenger ship in Tokyo at 11 pm. From there it would take about 6 hours to ferry over to Ōshima. This sounded pretty good to me since it would maximize the time I would have on the island itself as well as reduce the cost since I wouldn't have to pay extra for accommodation for one night. Well, so much for the theory. I wasn't expecting the ship to be THIS crowded. I ended up spending the night on the outside deck at the stern of the ship right next to all the winches and right above the engine. The space was also open enough for the wind to blow through as well as the rain. I had to lie on a thin plastic tarp on the metal deck. I had put on all the clothes I had as well as my waterproof gear which includes waterproof pants and a poncho. Surprisingly I was able to get around 2 hours of sleep before we reached Ōshima. And then it hit me. The moment I debarked from the ship and the sunlight slowly illuminated the area I didn't recognize the place. The layout was totally different from what I expected from the map. After switching on my GPS I noticed I ended up in a different port from the one I had expected. During my planning I didn't notice that there were two ports on Ōshima, and I was also unlucky enough to chose a day where the ferry actually goes to the smaller of the two ports. Well, shit happens. Before I go on with my story I want to show you some pictures of my journey so far.

Rainbow Bridge, this time at night. Seen from the passenger ship.

Tokyo Skyline at night.

There were one or two people on that ship. 

The little town of Okata and the pier I landed on.

So there I was, in this little town, 5 o'clock in the morning with no idea what to do. Thankfully the ticket counter of the ferry service opens for a brief amount of time for the people who land this early. I was able to get information on the bus service to the caldera rim of the volcano of the island. The next bus would leave at 8:33 am. The hell I am going to wait for 3.5 hours. By the way, that last picture kind of tells you something about the weather. It was raining, the whole time. The clouds were hanging incredible low too. Still in my rain gear, I started walking. I was able to reach the bus stop at the top way before the earliest bus would make it there. However, I was drenched. My rain gear couldn't handle being exposed to the rain for such a long time. Although, I can't really tell if I was wet because of rain water or sweat. But who the hell cares at that point. From here I descended into the caldera towards the newest addition to the volcano, Mihara-yama. The last eruption occurred in 1986 which produced three lava flows and lava fountains that reached heights of 1600 m above the vent, which sits at 764 m above sea level. Since the volcano is known to erupt every 20-30 years, Shinji insisted that I bring a helmet, just in case. I was really excited to see the huge caldera with the new cone sitting in the middle of it. Mihara-yama also has a crater that is almost 200 m deep. I was incredibly excited. But, to continue the trend of all my previous visits to volcanoes, it was foggy. It wasn't just foggy. This was the foggiest fog I have ever witnessed. I mentioned before that the clouds were hanging really low. During my ascend I actually entered the clouds. Below the clouds it was raining, inside the clouds the moisture was floating around and sticking to me. Now, you are probably thinking: "Isn't that just what fog does?", and I would agree. But this was simply too extreme in my opinion. I was definitely inside a cloud. I'll show you some pictures of my way to Mihara-yama. You'll probably notice the increase in density of the fog. The path goes over the lava flows I mentioned. Together with the fog it created a spectacular scene.

Out of this world.

I had cold feet (mostly because they were wet).

At this point I was pretty happy I had a GPS with me.

After crossing the lava flows I began my ascend of Mihara-yama. I am sorry I don't have any pictures of the volcano itself. But to be fair, I was happy if I was able to see the path 20 m in front of me. There is a path around the crater of Miahra-yama from where you are supposedly able to see right into the 200 m deep abyss. Well, not today. Check this out.

Looks like the entrance to the afterlife.

You can't even tell on which side the crater is. It was simply amazing. I came to see the volcano but I stayed for this phenomenon. Nature is stunning. Here is a picture of water sticking to the hair of my hand and the fabric of my sweater.

Surreal.

Water wasn't just sticking to me. Look at this poor fella.

Ganbatte!

On my way back I stopped at a hot spring to cleanse myself. It felt amazing to finally be dry again, well, if only my spare clothes would have stayed dry as well, which they didn't. The worst part though were my boots. Totally drenched, my feet were hurting like hell. For my return to Tokyo I choose the high speed jet ferry, which only takes about 2 hours. Hella expensive though. I met a high school girl from Ōshima on the ferry. She asked me a lot of questions for her summer holiday research project but the conversation often derailed and we ended up talking about all kinds of stuff. After having dinner with her in Tokyo I went back to Tsukuba. This was probably one of the most exhausting trips I have done in my life. Here is the last picture I took before leaving the island.

Impressive coastline.

See you around,

Nils

Nikkō

Good morning,

last week I went to a very special place and probably the most touristy place in Japan I have visited so far. A place with a long and significant history as well as awe-inspiring natural beauty. According to Wikipedia there exists a Japanese saying: "Never say 'kekkō' until you've seen Nikkō" - kekkō meaning beautiful, magnificent or "I am satisfied".
Nikkō is famous for its many temples and shrines. The first shrine was erected in 766. Apart from this, Nikkō also hosts multiple temples and shrines dedicated to the Tokugawa family. If you remember from my earlier posts, the Tokugawa family ruled Japan from 1600 to 1868. Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of the three unifiers of Japan who seized control in 1600, died in 1616 and was then enshrined as a deity (or god)  in his own temple complex in Nikkō. It is also the place of his mausoleum. Enough history for now. Let me show you some pictures so you can see for yourself how "kekkō" Nikkō really is.

My first impression: Woooaaaaahhh...

Tokugawa was quite wealthy.

The main temple dedicated to Tokugawa

Apparently the wood work was carved out a a single piece of wood.

The resting place of Ieyasu Tokugawa.

The fanciest purification fountain I have ever seen.

Five story pagoda.

Entrance viewed from the inside.

We haven't been talking much about the natural beauty part. Let's tackle that one. Nikko is located right next to a volcano (Didn't see that one coming, did you.) with the name Nantai. Sometime between 22,000 and 12,000 years ago, lava flows from Nantai dammed the river at its foot. This in turn created Lake Chūzenji. At the place of the lava dam, the Kegon waterfall now drains the lake. Kegon is only one of many waterfalls in the area. I do have some pictures but unfortunately, you guessed it, it was foggy.

Kegon no taki. You can almost see the top of the 97 m deep fall.

This is nice. I like nice things.

Look at them lava columns. Huuuge.

Lake Chūzenji.

I would build a house here.

Where to go next? Shinji and Isoji discussing the plan.

I don't even know what to say anymore.

Nantai-san. Well, almost...

It was really nice of Shinji and Isoji to take me on this trip to Nikkō. I am looking forward to the next one. And I can tell you, I have great plans...

Cheers

Nils

Asama & Stuff

Jo folks,

has it already been two weeks? Sorry that I didn't stick to my schedule of one post per week. So be prepared for a lot of  variety this time.

The weekend before the last started with the open campus of AIST, the research institute I am working at. All the different institutes had stands where they showcased their current research or just basic science stuff. There were a lot of kids after all. In the case of the Geological survey you could smash rocks with hammers and take the result with you as a keepsake. Who wouldn't want to do that? I've got myself a piece of  red obsidian. Pretty neat. There was also a very rudimentary version of the baking soda volcano. It was a huge mess. Glad I didn't have to clean that up. Anyway, here are some pictures:

Cute

This is Japan for you. It is simply not possible in Japan to have any public event, advertisement or anything else involving public relations without some cute characters. In my not so humble opinion, the secret message here is that men don't understand women. Don't quote me on that though. It could also indicate the questions science answers, but that is highly unlikely...

People standing (too close) to the miniature volcano.
At least Shinji is wearing a helmet.

On the next day Isoji took me somewhere special. Maybe you can figure it out from the picture itself:

That's right, we went to a brewery.

The location: Kirin's largest brewery in Japan, and I can confirm, it is pretty huge. We even had a bus that drove us around on the premises. I also good to taste their beer. Good stuff.

The next stop was a giant Buddha statue!

Meet Ushiku Daibutsu, 120 m tall.

Thanks again Isoji, for taking me to places I wouldn't have seen otherwise!

Alrighty, I was pretty excited for Thursday last week because Shinji took me and a researcher from France to Asama, a volcano of course. It is famous for many reasons. For one, it is the deadliest volcano of Japan. The eruption from 1783 killed 1491 people and caused a famine that killed thousands more. The same eruption produced Ashfall, Pyroclastic Flows and Lava flows at the same time. Nobody really knows how that is possible in the first place. Not to mention the massive debris avalanche that moved boulders of up to 60 m in diameter tens of kilometers away from the volcano. Enough with the talking, lets show you a picture of this majestic piece of rock.

What now?

I don't know about you but I see a pattern evolving here. There should be a volcano in this picture, somewhere...

Ah well, we didn't see the volcano itself due to heavy fog, but we drove around and had a look at some outcrops. Here are some pictures:

Ashfall deposit. The bright stuff is from 1783.

Not all outcrops are easy to get to...

A drainage comprised of ash, black sand and pumice.

Welded pyroclastic flow deposits.

Look what the debris avalanche left here.

Then we went to see the famous lava flow. When I say lava flow I obviously don't mean molten rock. You know, that stuff cools down eventually and what stays behind is one of the most unique landscapes I have ever seen:

Nature is claiming back the territory.

Is the fog getting thicker or is it just me?

Shinji for scale.

Mystical

I am somehow glad they've built that path there.

Pretty ominous.

Shelter in case rocks come raining down. Just volcano things.

There is a rather sad story to the eruption from 1783. There was a village that lost 4/5 of it's population to the debris avalanche. The only survivors were the ones that managed to climb up the stairs to the village shrine. In the 1950s they excavated the parts of the stairs that had been buried by the avalanche and found two skeletons. A woman carrying her elderly mother on her back. They were just two steps away from safety. There are stories that the woman's daughter made it to safety just in time, being a few steps ahead of them. Here is the infamous shrine:

1/3 of the original extend of the stairs remain.

Last Sunday Isoji had the idea to try out Zen Buddhism. So we went to a small temple at 8:30 in the morning to pray and meditate. I am not a very religious person but if I had to choose between Christianity and Buddhism I would choose the latter.

The interior of the temple

There were a hundred people or so in that small temple and we meditated for 35 minutes. If you fall asleep the monk will hit you with a piece of wood. Then you have to be thankful that he woke you up again and he bows to you. Pretty funny if you ask me. I think there was a loud "POW" every 2-3 minutes on average. I really enjoyed it even though it was incredibly exhausting to sit in an upright position for such a long time. I would have liked to not being able to feel my legs and feet, it could have dulled the pain.

The temple had a really nice stone garden as well:

I like.

That's it for today. The next trip is already planned. Let's hope no cloud or fog will obstruct my view again...

Cheerio

Nils