Canon Japan Tour (Day 7) Kawaguchiko
Hello, travelers. This is Kumi. I guided Canon Australia's Japan tour for two weeks. Let me show you how we enjoyed the tour. This is about Day 7.
The tour start time was 9am, but six of us voluntarily gathered at 5:30 and headed for a photo location. It was really, seriously, completely dark!
I didn't feel sleepy at all. Just excited.
Somehow, I heard the song "Stand By Me" in my head. Yaa, it was that exciting. :)
I couldn't specify the exact spot on this Google map, but we found a good location near here by the shore.
When the lake is calm without wind, you can capture the reflection.
Hmm... Lovely! Mt. Fuji is getting pink.
I happened to have taken an interesting photo by the lake. It's mysterious, isn't it?
Later, the wind started to blow and the reflection faded away.
So I headed back to the hotel while...
others were still taking photos there. Can you see the people by the lake (the center of the photo)?
It should be about 25 minutes walk to go back to the hotel but I stopped so often to take many photos of Mt. Fuji so it took longer.
Anyway, it was the prologue of Day 7. The official tour started at 9:00 and our first stop was Shiraito Falls.
Oh? They started talking to a Japanese guy.
Ha! He is a Canon user! He was surprised to be surrounded by Canon Collective members.
This board says "Shiraito Falls." Did you notice the peace (victory) signs?
You may wonder why Japanese people often show peace signs for photos. In western countries, people use this sign for victory or peace, but in Japan, this sign became popular in 1971 when a comedian showed the peace sign in the TV commercial for Konica's camera. People have been using this sign since then, and nowadays, not many people know why we are doing this. It's more like automatic. :P
Oops. Digressed. Back to Shiraito Falls.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6368.html
Shiraito (白糸) literally means "white thread." As the falls look like beautiful silk, they are called "Shiraito Falls." The height is 20 meters and the width is 150 meters. Spring water of Mt. Fuji is flowing down.
Hey! You're wearing a nice shirt!
This is the tour leader's artwork. I was surprised to see the maple leaves, mountains, and the blue sky in the same frame!!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrHBi7vgsHp/
After Shiraito Falls, we headed for Narusawa Ice Cave. On our way there, Mt. Fuji was always with us.
Here we are. This is the entrance to the Narusawa Ice Cave.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6911.html
We wore helmets and went into the cave. It was cold but not as cold as I expected.
We saw a bit of ice here.
They look like miners, don't they? LOL
After Narusawa Cave, we enjoyed hiking in Aokigahara Forest.
https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/1335/
It is said a lot of people got lost here as the forest grew on Mt. Fuji's lava and compasses didn't help. Also, this area is notorious for suicide.
Whoa! This sign behind the guy says "Your precious life is given by your parents. You should think about your parents, siblings, and kids. Don't try to handle everything by yourself. Ask for help." This was installed by the local police's suicide prevention section and it shows their phone number, too.
What a dark forest! This is at 12:30 in the afternoon.
I may have depressed if I walked here alone, but with these happy people...
I had a lot of fun even in the scary Aokigahara Forest.
In fact, it turned out to be a lovely forest.
I learned who you're with is more important than where you are.
We went back to Lake Kawaguchi area for lunch. By the way, let me tell you why we have some different expressions like "Lake Kawaguchi" "Kawaguchiko" and "Lake Kawaguchiko." 川口 (Kawaguchi) is the name of the lake and 湖 (ko) means "lake." So in Japanese, we call this Kawaguchiko. When we say this in English, we want to tell that this is a lake, so some say "Lake Kawaguchi" and some say "Lake Kawaguchiko," so actually, "Lake Kawaguchiko" is redundant. However, this may be the most helpful expression for both visitors and Japanese.
Anyway, we enjoyed houtou, traditional food from Yamashi area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C5%8Dt%C5%8D
As the architecture of the restaurant was very unique...
of course, they tried finding the best spot to take photos.
Did you take good ones?
We finished lunch around 2:30pm and visited Lake Yamanaka (Yamanakako).
As Mt. Fuji is very high, the sunset (?) is quite early. This is the tour member's shot. So ambrosial!!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs3lIOFFdWG/
After Lake Yamanaka, we visited Oishi Park by Lake Kawaguchi...
and enjoyed shooting...
until it got dark.
Let me talk a little bit about Mt. Fuji.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2172.html
This is Japan's highest mountain (12,388 feet or 3,776 meters) and is very popular for its almost perfectly symmetrical shape. It is an active volcano, but the most recent eruption was in 1707. There are a lot of shrines and temples around the mountain and some people have been climbing up there as a religious practice. Nowadays, the mountain is more open to the public and so many people are flocking to the mountain in July and August.
A lot of Japanese people get excited whenever we see Mt. Fuji even from the distance. There have been a lot of novels and art featuring Fuji. You can see Hokusai's ukiyo-e woodblock printing on this website.
"36 Views of Mount Fuji"
https://goo.gl/gpng5k
The collection is called "36 Views of Mount Fuji" but he added 10 more pieces later, so the actual number is 46.
Anyway, "To Mt. Fuji. Cheers!"
We enjoyed dinner in yukata. That was a fun, relaxing night. We decided not to have any photo session or editing seminar.
We did a lot anyway...
The tour start time was 9am, but six of us voluntarily gathered at 5:30 and headed for a photo location. It was really, seriously, completely dark!
I didn't feel sleepy at all. Just excited.
Somehow, I heard the song "Stand By Me" in my head. Yaa, it was that exciting. :)
I couldn't specify the exact spot on this Google map, but we found a good location near here by the shore.
When the lake is calm without wind, you can capture the reflection.
Hmm... Lovely! Mt. Fuji is getting pink.
I happened to have taken an interesting photo by the lake. It's mysterious, isn't it?
Later, the wind started to blow and the reflection faded away.
So I headed back to the hotel while...
others were still taking photos there. Can you see the people by the lake (the center of the photo)?
It should be about 25 minutes walk to go back to the hotel but I stopped so often to take many photos of Mt. Fuji so it took longer.
Anyway, it was the prologue of Day 7. The official tour started at 9:00 and our first stop was Shiraito Falls.
Oh? They started talking to a Japanese guy.
Ha! He is a Canon user! He was surprised to be surrounded by Canon Collective members.
This board says "Shiraito Falls." Did you notice the peace (victory) signs?
You may wonder why Japanese people often show peace signs for photos. In western countries, people use this sign for victory or peace, but in Japan, this sign became popular in 1971 when a comedian showed the peace sign in the TV commercial for Konica's camera. People have been using this sign since then, and nowadays, not many people know why we are doing this. It's more like automatic. :P
Oops. Digressed. Back to Shiraito Falls.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6368.html
Shiraito (白糸) literally means "white thread." As the falls look like beautiful silk, they are called "Shiraito Falls." The height is 20 meters and the width is 150 meters. Spring water of Mt. Fuji is flowing down.
Hey! You're wearing a nice shirt!
This is the tour leader's artwork. I was surprised to see the maple leaves, mountains, and the blue sky in the same frame!!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrHBi7vgsHp/
After Shiraito Falls, we headed for Narusawa Ice Cave. On our way there, Mt. Fuji was always with us.
Here we are. This is the entrance to the Narusawa Ice Cave.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6911.html
We wore helmets and went into the cave. It was cold but not as cold as I expected.
We saw a bit of ice here.
After Narusawa Cave, we enjoyed hiking in Aokigahara Forest.
https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/1335/
It is said a lot of people got lost here as the forest grew on Mt. Fuji's lava and compasses didn't help. Also, this area is notorious for suicide.
Whoa! This sign behind the guy says "Your precious life is given by your parents. You should think about your parents, siblings, and kids. Don't try to handle everything by yourself. Ask for help." This was installed by the local police's suicide prevention section and it shows their phone number, too.
What a dark forest! This is at 12:30 in the afternoon.
I may have depressed if I walked here alone, but with these happy people...
I had a lot of fun even in the scary Aokigahara Forest.
In fact, it turned out to be a lovely forest.
I learned who you're with is more important than where you are.
We went back to Lake Kawaguchi area for lunch. By the way, let me tell you why we have some different expressions like "Lake Kawaguchi" "Kawaguchiko" and "Lake Kawaguchiko." 川口 (Kawaguchi) is the name of the lake and 湖 (ko) means "lake." So in Japanese, we call this Kawaguchiko. When we say this in English, we want to tell that this is a lake, so some say "Lake Kawaguchi" and some say "Lake Kawaguchiko," so actually, "Lake Kawaguchiko" is redundant. However, this may be the most helpful expression for both visitors and Japanese.
Anyway, we enjoyed houtou, traditional food from Yamashi area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C5%8Dt%C5%8D
As the architecture of the restaurant was very unique...
of course, they tried finding the best spot to take photos.
Did you take good ones?
We finished lunch around 2:30pm and visited Lake Yamanaka (Yamanakako).
As Mt. Fuji is very high, the sunset (?) is quite early. This is the tour member's shot. So ambrosial!!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs3lIOFFdWG/
After Lake Yamanaka, we visited Oishi Park by Lake Kawaguchi...
and enjoyed shooting...
until it got dark.
Let me talk a little bit about Mt. Fuji.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2172.html
This is Japan's highest mountain (12,388 feet or 3,776 meters) and is very popular for its almost perfectly symmetrical shape. It is an active volcano, but the most recent eruption was in 1707. There are a lot of shrines and temples around the mountain and some people have been climbing up there as a religious practice. Nowadays, the mountain is more open to the public and so many people are flocking to the mountain in July and August.
A lot of Japanese people get excited whenever we see Mt. Fuji even from the distance. There have been a lot of novels and art featuring Fuji. You can see Hokusai's ukiyo-e woodblock printing on this website.
"36 Views of Mount Fuji"
https://goo.gl/gpng5k
The collection is called "36 Views of Mount Fuji" but he added 10 more pieces later, so the actual number is 46.
Anyway, "To Mt. Fuji. Cheers!"
We enjoyed dinner in yukata. That was a fun, relaxing night. We decided not to have any photo session or editing seminar.
We did a lot anyway...
