I've been in Tokyo on and off for about 6 years and it's been about 5 years and 3 months since I did the tourist thing.
Why I haven't spent more time documenting my travels in Japan I don't know....I've spent my days meeting friends/drinking in Shinjuku, Kichijoji, Shibuya....etc. It's been good, but I can do the bars back in England.
Time to see a bit more of Japan.
We travelled as far west as we could on the Chuo/Ome line, ending up in a small, mountainous place called Okutama.
All that is here is vast scenery, mountains, forrests, a beautiful lake, a campsite, a few grocery shops and a tiny train station, lots of insects, and bears, if you're unlucky enough to meet them face-to-face...fortunately we didn't.
I can't imagine the population living here. There was a lot of visiting university students staying here for the summer holidays, so it probably increased the population tenfold.
We got off the train and read the "Caution bears" warning sign and headed off down a small hill to the lake side.
The feeling of tranquility was amazing. The water was clear and views surrounded us from all angles.
Just the sound of water lapping against the pebbles and the occasional swatting noise on the arm as I tried to kill mosquitos.
Small houses were up on the hillside. Looked a bit unsafe to me, but it was like a different world. A far cry from the madness of Shibuya and Shinjuku.
We headed back up the lake side, and took the opposite route, whilst keeping an eye out for the bears. It was ok though, cus I was armed with my camera, and the missus had a bottle of ice tea and a trilby...the bears wouldn't fuck with us.
It only took about 10 minutes to walk from one end of the town to the other, but we managed to make it last a few hours. Taking in the sights as we did.
It was getting dark, and I'd just about unloaded all my camera film on this place.
One last chance to enjoy the views from the train as we headed home, before the all too familiar neon-mess of Tokyo's city centre reared it's ugly head...
I'll upload some pics.
No comments:
Post a Comment