J Day + 21, 22, 23 and 24....

We are now back near Kagoshima and have been amusing ourselves with walks along the beach, the Tokku or Kamikaze museum at Chiran and the city, whilst Tom has been working. There are lots of photographs and stories to tell, but they will probably have to wait until we get back to the UK towards the end of next week. As many others have commented, sometimes real life gets in the way of  blogging which is exactly how it should be! 

A couple of days were blurred out with a migraine, but this has thankfully now passed and we as I type we are driving north of Kagoshima to climb Mt Kirishima. The weather is brighter than it has been for a few days.

Sakurajima is performing again today. In fact it performs most days and when we were in the city on Thursday we came home feeling decidedly gritty and dirty, as the wind direction was blowing the fall out over the city.

Just in case you think that food in Japan is all about sushi and sashimi, or that I might be fading away, then check this out...

No, I didn't eat it all myself! Tom needed a session on the bike to work it all off ;0)

J Day +17, 18, 19 and 20…

I’m a little behind with my postings and daily count up since arriving in Japan. You can be assured that it is mainly because we’ve been busy enjoying life.

Since the middle of last week I’ve been experiencing some visual disturbances. A quick check online had me assuming the worst retina problems, and treatment with a gas bubble leaving me unable to fly. Simon suffered dreadfully with this last year.

I sought advice from Jean, an expert who knows about these things and so much more. Although very reassuring about what the condition probably was, she obviously couldn’t make an accurate diagnosis by remote control so advised that I had an eye check.

The easiest thing seemed to be to go to a hospital. The first state of the art newly built one didn’t deal with eyes, but a very helpful English-speaking triage nurse pointed out the correct hospital and even rang ahead so they would be expecting us.

After a short wait where the most important thing seemed to be that our insurance and means to pay were verified, I was seen by an excellent young opthalmologist who was extremely thorough.

His diagnosis – floaters. Spot on, Jean! Thank you.

The cost 8250 Yen, about £50. Irrelevant, but which happens to be our travel insurance excess.

What a relief…

J Day +16 On the road, again

A long journey south today, but nothing seen en route to compare with this small stretch of road which leads up to the 5th Station of Mt Fuji.

A view from Fuji…

Check out this link to a video we took on our way up the mountain…

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205991178315477&fref=nf 

Only in Japan…

J Day +15 A Yen for them... (updated)

Rain!

All day! 

We count ourselves fortunate that although it rained all day Wednesday and all day Friday, Thursday was bright, sunny and cloudless for us to view Fujisan and walk around one of the five lakes. Our hotel was above Lake Yamanaka, so the Fugi view was very different

We took the toll road (2,400 ¥ around £15!) up the mountain. We hadn't realised it was a toll road until too late. It was a bit of a disappointment, to say the least. The further up we climbed the less we could see of Fuji, although we had some spectacular views of the surrounding mountains. We passed an enormous queue of coaches (around 40) all trying to drive up to the 4th station, when the car park could only take about five coaches. I dread to think how long the people (mainly Chinese) in the coaches had to wait for their view! the 5th station used in the summer months from which to attempt a climb to the summit was obviously closed. Thank goodness Tom wasn't with us or he would have had us hiking up!!!

We quickly decided that being pushed around at the viewing station wasn't for us and headed down to Lake Kawaguchiko, found a good parking place, collected our bento and  set off to see what we could see.

The view fo Fuji from the lakeside....

This is for Tim F. We found a small amount of blossom to frame the shot -taken with my Ipad.

There are a number of sculptures around the lake one of the most fascinating being 'Source', by Seibo Kitamura, thought to be to be Japan's greatest sculptor. He visited the lake at the age of 101 and was deeply moved by the magnificence of the mountain scenery and the mysterious quality of the lake. He then spent the next couple of years creating the work to give form to his feelings of wonder.

Not bad for an oldie...

J Day + 14 Fuji continued....

Blogging 'on the go' via iPad. The rain we had yesterday was worth it. Today the weather is fantastic and the views of Fuji are stunning...

Although the cherry blossom is out in Tokyo, the mountains around Fuji are a bit behind. It is just starting to blossom in sheltered, sunny areas.

More later...

J Day +14 Mt Fuji…

I got up at 5am and captured this shot from the balcony of our room.

Still not the perfect view, but we live in hope…

J Day +13 A Japanese Poisson d'Avril....

After a seven hour drive from Shikoku, via Kobe, we've arrived at our next hotel. It's a lovely hotel in the mountains with a Mt Fuji view, which I know you will all be wanting to see...

A bridge in Kobe. 

It rained for most of the journey, but as we've had excellent weather for the past couple of weeks we shouldn't really complain. We just hope the weather clears up in the next three days and we get to see Mt. Fuji in all it's glory...