posted: February 28th, 2014 |
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This page begins and ends with February 22nd and a trip out to the Mitake and Okutama Areas. After the snowfall of February 15th the train line from Ome to Okutama was stopped for 7 days. The 22nd was the first day this train had operated since the evening of the 15th! We were fortunate to be able to come out and see this much snow. Not many people were out walking around. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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Begin February 22nd |
  As it says up above, after that heavy snowfall of February 15th, the Ome Line train was stopped from Ome to Okutama. That line is the one we use to go to Mitake, Sawai and Okutama - names which you often see on these pages. It opened from Ome to Mitake on February 21st and then on Saturday morning, the 22nd, when we checked the status on the internet, it was reported that it was open all the way to Okutama again! We therefore decided to go out and see the snow! The first photo in this row was taken by Kazuya from the train window and it shows the terrible looking clearcuts as we approach Mitake. The 2nd shot shows 2 trains sitting at Mitake Station and shows a lot of snow on the station platform! The 3rd shot shows a portion of the UGLY Mitake Clearcut as seen from Mitake Station. |
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Feb22_01_Mitake StationAreaHeavySnowRC |
Feb22_09_Mitake StationAreaHeavySnowRC |
  Three more images of the UGLY Mitake clearcut. What a blight on nature. And, did they have to make it so huge? I've been waiting for a record rainfall to super-saturate that mountainside with water and then send the entire thing careening down on to the houses and highway at the base of it. |
Feb22_09_10_12_Panorama_ MitakeStationAreaHeavySnowRC |
Feb22_10_Mitake StationAreaHeavySnowRC |
Feb22_09_10_Panorama_ MitakeStationAreaHeavySnowRC |
  Here is one more shot of that clearcut and then a shot of the Mitake Bridge over the Tama River. Of course you can see the clearcut from here too - you can see it from everywhere in the area. The 3rd shot was taken looking downstream from the bridge. In the 13 years I have lived in Japan I have never seen more than an inch of snow along this riverside. |
Feb22_12_Mitake StationAreaHeavySnowRC |
Feb22nd_36_Mitake WalkingToRiverRC |
Feb22nd_33_Mitake WalkingToRiverRC |
  The first shot in this row was taken looking upstream from the Mitake Bridge. The 2nd shot shows the bank of the Tama River and shows lots of snow! The 3rd shot shows the steps which lead down to the river from near the bus stop in Mitake. |
Feb22_17_TamaRiver_Mitake_ SawaiHeavySnowRC |
Feb22nd_39_Mitake WalkingToRiverRC |
Feb22nd_47_Mitake_ TamaRiver_SnowRC |
  We have not taken any photos of the naked guy statue at Sawai in several years now, so here are 2 of them - in 1st and 3rd position. You always see statues of naked women in parks and other places, but never any statues of naked guys - did you ever wonder why? The center shot was taken from about the same spot where we always take photos of the Famous Mitake Ginkgo Tree in the autumn. The tree which is embossed is the Ginkgo Tree. If you don't know what we are talking about them you can see one photo of it HERE and more photos of it starting HERE. |
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Feb22nd_53_Mitake_ TamaRiver_SnowRC |
Feb22_28_TamaRiver_Mitake _SawaiNakedGuyRC |
  Here's the final photo taken as we hiked along the river from Mitake to Sawai. This is looking upstream along the Tama River. You'll note that they even clearcut right down to the river along this area. Could they have possibly have had any esthetic considerations in mind when they decided to do this? Well, the answer is obvious isn't it? After we finished up our hike from Mitake to Sawai and then ate lunch and drank some sake at the Sawanoi Sake Brewery we took a train from Sawai to the end of the line at Okutama. The center photo shows Okutama Station with a large pile of snow in front of it. The 3rd shot was taken as we looked downstream from the Okutama Bridge over the Tama River. |
Feb22_24_TamaRiver_Mitake _SawaiHeavySnowRC |
Feb22_32_Okutama AreaHeavySnowRC |
Feb22_34_Okutama AreaHeavySnowRC |
  Here are the final 2 shots for this month - taken as we looked upstream on the Tama River from the Okutama Bridge. The 2nd shot is zoomed in to the pedestrian bridge over the river - the snow is pretty deep on that bridge. |
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Feb22_36_Okutama AreaHeavySnowRC |
End February 22nd, End February 2014's Photos, Begin Miscellaneous |