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posted: January 31st, 2012 |
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This page actually begins with December 31st, 2011 - our 3rd Annual New Year's Trip to the North Country of Akita Prefecture and visit to the Tsuru-No-Yu - the Hot Spring of the Crane. It ends at the end of the day on January 2nd, 2012 - the end of this adventure. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin December 31st, 2011 |
On December 30, 2011 Kazuya and I got up at 3:00 AM, got ready and left for our local train station. We took a 4:37 AM train from there. Ten trains and 11.75 hours later we were in Morioka City in Iwate Prefecture. We stayed the night in a cheap business hotel there and got up at 3:45 AM on the 31st, got ready and left the hotel. We took the 5:22 AM train from Morioka to Tazawako (Tazawa Lake) Station, arriving there at 6:09 AM. We killed time until the first bus at 6:55 AM. The first photo here, in front of Tazawako Station, was taken just a short time before the bus came. We took the bus to Tazawa Lake itself and walked around there for around an hour shooting photos of the scenery. As you can see in the 3rd shot - the sun came out for us. This was the 3rd time we had been here, but the first time it was not snowing! If you want to see what it was like in other years then please CLICK HERE for our trip here for New Year's 2010, AND HERE for our trip here for New Year's 2011.
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Here are 3 more shots of Tazawa Lake. These 3 shots show relatively distant scenery.
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Still at Tazawa Lake - here are 2 shots taken through a tree and the 3rd shot is an interesting hillside.
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This year, after we left Tazawa Lake on the bus we took it all the way to the end of the line, which we had never done before. This is a large Hot Spring area, so this year we decided to check out some of the other Hot Springs in the area. This entire area is known as the Nyuto Hot Spring Area. After we took the bus to the end of the line, we hiked for around 20 minutes to the Magoroku Hot Spring. We bathed in their outdoor pool - very nice! Then we hiked back towards the bus stop and bathed at another Hot Spring - the Ohgama Hot Spring. Then we took the bus back to the entry road to our final destination - Tsuru-No-Yu (Hot Spring of the Crane). Anyway -- The first shot in this row shows one of the buildings of the Ohgama Hot Spring. The 2nd and 3rd shots show the hike to the Magoroku Hot Spring under a mostly sunny sky.
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Continuing the hike to Magoroku Hot Spring. Can you notice that the 3rd shot is merely zoomed in to a specific area which is in the 2nd shot?
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And, still continuing the hike to Magoroku Hot Spring. The 3rd shot is the main building of Magoroku Hot Spring.
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Now we have taken the bus back to the entry road of Tsuru-No-Yu and we'll now hike for 1 hour to our final destination.
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Although it was not snowing this day - there was more snow here than there had been the previous 2 times we were here.
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We are still hiking to Tsuru-No-Yu in these 3 photos. I really like the first shot in this row for some reason - how about you?
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The first shot in this row is zoomed in to a specific spot in the previous shot. In the 2nd shot - we are nearing Tsuru-No-Yu, our final destination. In the 3rd shot - we have arrived!
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WOW! What an amazing blue sky! The 2nd shot shows me in one of the indoor Hot Springs. The 3rd shot was taken from the window of our room.
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We ended up in the very same room we had last year! And, here are the fish cooking in the fireplace once again! They brought a very wonderful dinner to our room at about 6:00 PM and we spent the next hour or more eating that, beside the fireplace. Seeing as there was no snow to shovel, they put the employees to work making holes in the snow banks for candles. Then they lit the candles and we took several shots at various exposure times and various settings of our cameras. Of course many of them were blurry due to movement. Here are 5 of the best ones (this row and the next row).
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Here are the 3 final shots of candles in the snow banks.
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Here is a shot I took of the same indoor Hot Spring as shown above. The 2nd image is actually 2 shots fused together manually, which I believe shows more or less the actual color of this room and this water. It was an interesting challenge to create this image!
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| End December 31st, 2011, Begin January 1st, 2012 - Happy New Year |
Now it's January 1st - HAPPY NEW YEAR! Here is the same passageway as shown in Row 11, but now it's around 6:30 AM and the lights are on. The 2nd and 3rd shots are of the big outdoor rotenboro.
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Here are 3 more shots of the rotenboro - it's still early in the morning of January 1st, so not many people are up and about yet. In the center shot - that's me!
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Now we are preparing to leave. Here is the entryway to the area as we leave. The 2nd shot is the creek beside the rotenboro - you can see steam rising on the left side of the photo. The 3rd shot is Tazawa Lake from the Alps Komakusa bus stop and visitor center. The Hot Spring bus left us here to wait for the municipal bus.
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Here are 2 more shots from the Alps Komakusa Area. The 2nd shot shows Mt. Akita Komagatake. Does that name sound familiar to you? We climbed that mountain in June, 2011 and there are lots of photos of that mountain back with the June photos HERE. We could see this (Alps Komakusa) area from one particular place on one of those summits. After we took the municipal bus back to Tazawako Station we took trains to Kazuya's hometown and spent that night at his hometown.
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| End January 1st, Begin January 2nd |
On January 2nd, 2012 we took trains from Kazuya's hometown - Funagata, in Yamagata Prefecture - to this place Nakayamadaira-Onsen Station. This is a rather famous Hot Spring town. We then walked from the station to the actual Nakayamadaira-Onsen and the next 2 photos show some steam pipes that come up out of the ground. WOW! There were lots of steaming places on the walk from the station to the Hot Spring.
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Here is the most beautiful outdoor bath at the Nakayamadaira-Onsen which we visited. This place was a large and luxurious hotel that had open entry to non-customers from 9:30 AM until 5:00 PM or something like that. I can't recall the precise times when the baths are open to the public. The 2nd shot shows a bunch of masks which were for sale at a restaurant (and mask store?) near the Nakayamadaira-Onsen. After we finished here we went back to the train station and then back to Tokyo - and home by the end of the day. It was a short New Year Holiday this year.
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| End January 2nd, End Page 1 |
| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. Now, please go on to Page 2 for the continuation of this month's adventures. |
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