Mt Fuji

Mt Fuji is the highest mountain in japan and maybe the most beautiful. From a distance, Fuji looks as if its floating on clouds, very surreal. We went to the lake Yamanaka with yuko's 3 aunts and 1 uncle. 1st night at the japanese inn, we went for a night fireworks in the cold winter night. 2nd day, went ice fishing on lake yamanaka which hasn't been frozen solid for 22 years, lucky us. the fish we were trying to catch is called, wakasagi, tiny little things about 3" long. we caught 8 wakasagi in total (5 of which were caught by the owner of the fishing shop who was showing jamie the "correct way" of catching wakasagi.) its very hard. needless to say, they all were deep-fried and eaten by us, yum yum.

Kotatsu

im pretty sure thats how its spelled. this is our dinning room table and living room table, here we eat, drink and keep warm. hopefully the picture are shown in order if not look at my fingers. the orange light is a picture of the heating element.

step 1: get table.

step 2: plug it in

step 3: place rug under table

step 4: place 1st blanket on top of table

step 5: place 2nd blanket on table

step 6: place table top on top of blanket

Ashikaga School

Ashikaga was a capital of japan about 700 years ago... i think. this is a replica of a university once known to be the biggest in the world. lots of shoguns were graduates from this school.






each city has its own specifically designed manhole cover, this is my favorits so far:


very cool modern house:

Red Shrine

yuko's uncle and her cousin showed us outskirts of tokyo.
this red temple, akagibenten, was burried in the mountains of tochigi.
this shrine worships snake and offers sucess in business to its worshippers, great view from the top of the shirne.

more snow pics...

Our first snow

this morning we woke up to a white landscape. the finely manicured trees and bushes were transformed into white marshmallows. the streets are crowded with people hiding under their umbrellas afraid of touching the wet stuff. the young ladies hear in tokyo must be the toughest i've ever seen, no matter how cold, icy or snowy they still brave the elements in their short skirts.

Messing around...

Some people pics...

Misc consumption pics

Misc Pictures

the kimono jackets are old firefighter coats made of leather. i think 200 to 3oo years old. the next photo is a sports complex. the other 2 are pics from a temple 2 days after new years. im not sure what the circle thing is im stepping through.