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north east asia galleries |
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KENICHI has been trying a long time to get me to go to an onsen in northern Japan. Way back in September 2006 he sent me the following invitation: "If you had one 18 kippu left in your hand (or if you don't mind paying JPY3,260 one way), why don't we go to Kashi Onsen in Fukushima (pick-up bus from Shirakawa station => http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~kashi/ ) ." Sounded tempting I must confess, but this was the trough of my great poverty slump of 2006, and besides, I probably wasn't in the mood for a spa. I was too preoccupied with just staying alive. Come the end of 2008 the situation was totally changed. I had the time, I had the money, and most importantly of all, I had the motivation. Not that I believed that merely taking a hot bath would cure me of my panic attacks, but I was willing to give it a try. Of all the aforementioned spa options which Kenichi had thrown at me in his emails over the years, the one near Nihommatsu was the one we settled on. Getting there involved waking up at 4.15am for the first train of the morning from Shinozaki, everyone parka bound. It was Christmas Day. I met Kenichi at Ueno Station about 90 minutes later. We boarded the 6.40ish train to Utsunomiya, an urban sprawl faced on one side by snowcapped hills. I think we changed trains. Sometime later, the sun came up (this being dead winter of course.) To our left (beyond the rice fields, and beyond the mountains) lay Nikko. (See the top photo for a glimpse of this.) It passed. The sky was blue, and the fields outside were the color of dried grass (see the middle two photos for proof of this.) There were many stops and changes of train on the way.
OTHER SITES ABOUT MT ADATARA FROM JAPAN!
Climbing Mt Adatara
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++Australia++
