Komouro Yama
Last weekend we went to a place called Komouro Yama, which means "Little Omouro Mountain." The mountain itself is only about 500 meters above sea level, but it has a beautiful park surrounding it to which we will return in Springtime because all of the plants will be in full bloom. There were some wonderful flower arrangements at the top of the mountain as you can see here:
The park is a favorite place for soccer games and picnicking. On our way up, we saw several Japanese families sitting in the grassy areas reading and playing with the children. It was quite tranquil. One of the great attractions of Komouro Yama is the cable lift that takes you to the top. A ticket for round-trip is 400 Yen. The cable lift is a one-person ski-lift-type-basket that never rises more than 4 or 5 feet above the ground as it climbs the mountain. This is great for anyone who may have difficulty with heights. It takes about 3 minutes to reach the top, and the view of Ito is 
wonderful from the lift, but spectacular from the top. Here you see Lisa about to board the lift, and then up she goes!
It was very peaceful here, as I said, and on clear days, you can see Mt. Fuji quite well. We are only about 50 miles from the mountain. Check it out on Goodle Earth if you haven't already. I believe I have sent most of our contacts the placemark for our house. Many of you said that Ito looks all fuzzyin Google Earth. If you want more clarity, tell Google Earth to use 3-D buildings so that you can see more clearly where we live, and then let it sit on that loction for a few minutes so that it can download all the pertinent information on the roads and such. Then, use the tilt/zoom option to position it so you can see where Fuji is (a little north and west of us). Anyway, I took some pictures of Fuji San (Fuji is so great a mountain that a simple "Yama" won't do, so they give it an honorific "San" title, litterally, "Honorable Mr. Fuji" UPDATE--Check the comments, as my Friend Aura has helped explain this anomaly in mountain nomenclature).
In the picture I have here, Fuji is the dark smudge covered in clouds in the center of the focal area. Lastly, I have a picture, that I will attempt to retake in the Spring, as it should be dazzling. It may prove difficult, 
as I took this view while on the way down the lift. As you can see if you click on the photo, the lift path is lined with azalea bushes, and the fields down below that look so green will one day be on fire with the colors of spring. Can't wait! After we got off the lift, Lisa and I shared an ice cream cone. Another blog entry will have to recount the various odd flavorings the Japanese like in in ice cream. This one was flavored from some kind of red flower, but I don't know the name. It was tasty, but different. I will go back and take a picture of the flowers on the sign and maybe put them in a blog entry about ice cream flavors. That about wraps it up for this entry. Please feel free to email me with questions or ideas of what you'd like to see in the blog.
wonderful from the lift, but spectacular from the top. Here you see Lisa about to board the lift, and then up she goes!
It was very peaceful here, as I said, and on clear days, you can see Mt. Fuji quite well. We are only about 50 miles from the mountain. Check it out on Goodle Earth if you haven't already. I believe I have sent most of our contacts the placemark for our house. Many of you said that Ito looks all fuzzyin Google Earth. If you want more clarity, tell Google Earth to use 3-D buildings so that you can see more clearly where we live, and then let it sit on that loction for a few minutes so that it can download all the pertinent information on the roads and such. Then, use the tilt/zoom option to position it so you can see where Fuji is (a little north and west of us). Anyway, I took some pictures of Fuji San (Fuji is so great a mountain that a simple "Yama" won't do, so they give it an honorific "San" title, litterally, "Honorable Mr. Fuji" UPDATE--Check the comments, as my Friend Aura has helped explain this anomaly in mountain nomenclature).
In the picture I have here, Fuji is the dark smudge covered in clouds in the center of the focal area. Lastly, I have a picture, that I will attempt to retake in the Spring, as it should be dazzling. It may prove difficult, 
as I took this view while on the way down the lift. As you can see if you click on the photo, the lift path is lined with azalea bushes, and the fields down below that look so green will one day be on fire with the colors of spring. Can't wait! After we got off the lift, Lisa and I shared an ice cream cone. Another blog entry will have to recount the various odd flavorings the Japanese like in in ice cream. This one was flavored from some kind of red flower, but I don't know the name. It was tasty, but different. I will go back and take a picture of the flowers on the sign and maybe put them in a blog entry about ice cream flavors. That about wraps it up for this entry. Please feel free to email me with questions or ideas of what you'd like to see in the blog.
1 comment:
Hello! I hope you don't mind my voyeurism!
Just a comment about Fuji-san. The "san" isn't there to make it honorable. "San" is another way to read the kanji for mountain "yama". Apparently "Fujiyama" meant something else not so honorable, so the Japanese just took to calling it Fuji-san.
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