gassan - moon mountain - 月山

love the way this mountain peeks out in the distance, bright white, it's one of three holy mountains in this area.

looking down...

from mt zao, how little snow there is for this time of year...

man makes mountains....

42 story apartment block in a valley of low mountains, the sales point is the great views....

mt gando

just love this white peak poking out on the horizon..the highest mountain in the area..

Merry Christmas!

Japanese style...with strawberry cream cake and fried chicken...although this year, i did a full english dinner...phew...

no white christmas....

very unusual, but am sure the cats don't mind!

only in japan....

import the guiness flat and then make the bubbles with ultrasonic waves....really!!!

exactly...

359.2 kms to yamagata from tokyo...

weekend in tokyo..

so many huge name brand flagshops in tokyo....really love their luxury brands in this country!

peeking out...

from the clouds..

what a colour!

continue on the food thing.....beetroot soup...yumm

strange collection for dinner...

it was a dinner of slimey mushroom soup, steamed bok choy, vegetable curry, brown rice with black rice, veg pickles, blowfish rice topping, roast lamb and mustard sandwich, and a cuppa tea!

more mountains..

from yesterday..

kahoku town..

these shiney...copper/bronze? roofs on mini shrines caught my eye..

kaki .. persimmon tree

bamboo...

bending under the weight of the snow..first big dump of the year...earlier than usual..

mt chitose

the city mountain 'chitose' dusted with a little snow..

orange tree caught my eye..

with a peek of distant mountains...

a peek of blue...

and first snow on the mountains...

black eared kites..

i found out the name of those birds...

a lot of these...

swooping around these last few days, not sure what kind of bird, a kite or hawk perhaps...anyone know?

two

space amongst the trees...

temple dweller..

same temple...

visit to a temple...

on my way home from work, a beautiful wooded area in town..

a feast...

for the butterflies....found them all munching on this rotten persimmon...

jinmachi soba...

buckwheat noodles, this was absolutely delicious, and pretty cheap too, about 3 quid ; )

drove up this time...

i decided to take another trip up to okama, by car this time to take photos, again foggy and freezing, this was about all you could see.....now the road is closed for winter..

autumn skies..

finally..

after 8 years, I plucked up the courage and cycled the 36k, most of it up hill, to the crater lake....although when I eventually got to the top, after 5 and a half hours, this was the view! it was soooo cold, and foggy and rainy, my hands were frozen...but at last i did it!

tomorrow...

when I first came to Yamagata, and drove to Zao Okama, a crater lake in a dormant volcano, I thought how nice it would be to cycle there....

fancy dinner...

this was the first course, and perhaps the best, especially the seasame tofu....

more morning view..

early morning road to the sea...

end of a wine filled day...

wine tasting....

well this was the party after the tasting, we got this years fresh pressed grape .... not quite juice, not quite wine....

local vinyard...

the grapes seemed too sweet to be made into wine tho....absolutely delicous, although not sure we were allowed to be eating them...

big drum..

one of my kindergarten students....came and placed himself, very proud of his drum, infront of my camera..

new statue...

for the temple around the corner..

they finished...

their test and promptly fell asleep on the desk!

autumn taste of..

chrysanthemum, soy beans and some kind of green leafy vegetable, with vinegar and soy sauce, absolutely delicisous!!

off he goes..

heron relaxing after brekky...

sunshine..

harvesting rice..

harajuku style 3..

harajuku style 2

harajuku style 1..

harajuku is where the 'young and fashionable' especially around high school age hang out at the weekends, said to some to be the origin of many a new fashion..

shinjuku...