Weekend in Tohoku.
Monday 31 August 2009
I spent a weekend in Tohoku - the northeastern region of Japan. The biggest attraction of this trip for me was my 6-year-old neice who lives in Sendai, spending the whole weekend with her was really wonderful :)We also went up to Yamagata prefecuture, only one hour drive from Sendai and visited a place called Yamadera which literally means "Mountain Temple" and is famous for the "Narrow Road to the Deep North" (Oku-no-hosomichi 奥の細道) where a haiku poet Matsuo Basho stopped by and penned famed haiku poem. The "Narrow Road" leads up to the top of the mountain with a hard climing of over 1000 steps, and another 1000 down to come back which nearly killed me but the view along the way especially from the top was really rewarding. And "onsen" (hot spring) afterwards was also devine!
Back in Tokyo it's heavily raining and rather chilly (typhoon is approaching), seems like this summer is ending so much faster. But I will be going to Taiwan and Vietnam in a couple of days, back to a really hot weather! All the yummy foods are waiting for me and I'm very excited. yay!
Oh the last picture is great !!
ReplyDeleteI love panoramas like that but I always forgot to do some when I'm travelling...
You seemed to have passed a great week end !
Fun !!
it's super hot here, dear hiki, please be prepared !
ReplyDelete:)
it looks truely beautiful in northern japan.
ReplyDeletehot springs are wonderful, especially when it's chilly.
i made sure i went to some when i was back in nz at christmas - although it was really the wrong season for sitting in steaming water :)
lol! I'd have skipped the climb and headed straight for the onsen!!
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful trip and take lots of photos. We'll miss you.
i love that panorama you put together. oh, all your japan photos looks so beautiful.
ReplyDeletei'm from up north, and it really is beautiful just like your pictures show. my mom is from yamagata.
ReplyDeleteI have been to an onsen in North East Japan, with my Japanese Friends and the whole experience is still alive in my mind after so many years...the onsen hotel...the wonderful food served by the Geisha, the sulfur hot spring, the tatami mats to sleep on at night, the wonderful breakfast of gohan, iwashi and natto and soup in the morning...then the bullet ride back to Tokyo...wonderful, wonderful, unforgettable experience...I'm so glad you had a good time with your niece...have a good trip to Taiwan and Vietnam
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice trip! How lucky you are!
ReplyDeleteThank you all for lovely comments! I surely did have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteMary, yes NZ has wonderful hot springs too I heard! The ones we get in Japan are always VERY hot, but the ones I went in northern Australia were just a bit warm. How hot are they in NZ?
ai-san,
ah you are from tohoku? i didn't know much about tohoku before, but it was lovely! i saw all the peach and apple farms along the driveways in yamagata and that was so nice!
Baron's Life,
ReplyDeleteyou seem to have had the best experience! Geisha serving you food??? wow that must be really special!
your photos from this trip are beautiful! I love the first photo!
ReplyDeletethe 1000 steps is an accomplishment!
such beautiful photos! now i'm really anticipating visiting the tohoku region one day (i have old family friends in yamagata). maybe soon :)
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