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posted: January 31st, 2008 |
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This page begins with December 31, 2007 and goes through January 5th, 2008. You can find trips to Kazuya's hometown in Yamagata Prefecture, a trip to Mt. Takao for Frost Flowers, and finally a trip to Tsuru-Tsuru Hot Spring and White Rock Waterfall. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin December 31st, 2007 & January 1st, 2008 |
On December 30th Kazuya and I took a night bus to his hometown of Funagata, in Yamagata Prefecture. It SNOWED! It started the evening before we got there and continued for the 4 days we stayed. On December 31st we pretty much relaxed and slept all day, after riding the bus all night. We went to the local hot spring and the first picture was taken from the parking lot of the hot spring. On January 1st I took the 2nd picture from the window of Kazuya's house. We also hiked to a local shrine on New Year's day - the 3rd picture was along the road to Sabane-Yama Shrine.
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 Dec31_FunagataHotSpring Snow01RC |
 Jan01_Kazuya HouseSnow01RC |
 Jan01_SabaneYama Snow02RC |
The 1st picture here is a line of small Daruma dolls at Sabane-Yama Shrine. The 2nd and 3rd shots are scenery from the Shrine.
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 Jan01_SabaneYama Daruma02RC |
 Jan01_SabaneYama Snow11RC |
 Jan01_SabaneYama Snow12RC |
| End January 1st, Begin January 3rd |
On January 3rd we returned to Tokyo. I took the first picture from Kazuya's window before we left - compare the snow to the 2nd picture in Row 1. Kazuya took the 2nd picture from the window of the Shinkansen train on the way back to Tokyo.
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 Jan03_Kazuya HouseSnow06RC |
 Jan03_Shinkansen WindowShot01RC |
| End January 3rd, Begin January 4th |
On January 4th we climbed Mt. Takao again in search of Frost Flowers. Being New Year's season, we had to stop at the Shrine and have some Sake for this Year of the Rat. The 3rd picture is a Frost Flower taken by Kazuya.
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 Jan04_TakaoSan Sake02RC |
 Jan04_TakaoSan _Shrine03RC |
 Jan04_I_Ccho_Daira_ FrostFlower08RC |
Here are LOTS of Frost Flower pictures! We found more than we have EVER seen before. By the way, if you want to learn more about frost flowers, a phenomenon which is little understood, then the current state of knowledge about them appears to be most concisely summarized here
(CLICK - will open in new window). Note that the ice is coming OUT OF a plant stem. A Google search for "Frost flowers" will give you more results than you want to look at. These things are SO AMAZING!
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 04Jan_I_Ccho_Daira_ FrostFlower14RC |
 Jan04_I_Ccho_Daira_ FrostFlower14RC |
 Jan04_I_Ccho_Daira_ FrostFlower07RC |
Three more shots of Frost Flowers.
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 Jan04_I_Ccho_Daira_ FrostFlower15RC |
 Jan04_I_Ccho_Daira_ FrostFlower23_BESTRC |
 Jan04_I_Ccho_Daira_ FrostFlower25RC |
And three more shots of Frost Flowers.
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 Jan04_I_Ccho_Daira_Frost Flower32_BESTRC |
 Jan04_I_Ccho_Daira_Frost Flower34_BESTRC |
 Jan04_I_Ccho_Daira_ FrostFlower38RC |
The first 2 shots are also Frost Flowers. The 3rd shot, however is a different phenomena. In the USA we call this "Candle Ice". In Japan it's called "Ice Columns". You have probably seen this if you live in a colder climate.
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 Jan04_I_Ccho_Daira_ FrostFlower37RC |
 Jan04_I_Ccho_Daira_Frost Flower42_BESTRC |
 Jan04_I_Ccho_Daira_ CandleIce05RC |
On the same day (January 4th) we also climbed up to Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro. It was incredibly clear. The first shot is a nice scene. The 2nd shot is merely a zoomed in shot of the 1st shot. The 3rd shot is a beautifully blue sky shot.
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 Jan04_KobotokeShiro Yama01RC |
 Jan04_KobotokeShiro Yama03RC |
 Jan04_KobotokeShiroYama _Scene05_SkyRC |
| End January 4th, Begin January 5th |
On the 5th we went out to Musashi-Itsukaichi and took the bus to Tsuru-Tsuru Hot Spring. The first 2 shots here are inside the "Panorama Dining Room", nice dining area, eh? After we left the Hot Spring we hiked the trail to White Rock Waterfall, where we always find Winterberries. We found the best crop we have ever seen this year! They were also amazingly large berries.
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 Jan05_Tsuru_Tsuru_ HotSpring01RC |
 Jan05_Tsuru_Tsuru_ HotSpring03RC |
 Jan05_WhiteRockWaterfall Trail_Winterberries03RC |
Here are 3 shots of the different levels of White Rock Waterfall. Note that I am included in the 1st shot - for scale - this is the lowest of the 3 levels. The 2nd shot is the next higher level, and the 3rd shot is the highest level.
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 Jan05_WhiteRock Waterfall_04_DanRC |
 Jan05_WhiteRock Waterfall_06RC |
 Jan05_WhiteRock Waterfall_10RC |
Two more shots of Winterberries.
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 Jan05_WhiteRockWaterfall Trail_Winterberries07RC |
 Jan05_WhiteRockWaterfall Trail_Winterberries08RC |
| End January 5th, End Page 1 |
| And, that shows you what we saw from December 31, 2007 through the 5th of January, 2008. Thanks so much for taking the time to look. Please continue on to Page 2 for the continuation of January. |
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