Epixx

Hello and welcome to another day of great Japan experiences.

Featuring today: The great mountains north of Tokyo.

So you saw the wake-up view. Well rest assured the day did live up to that expectation. I followed advice from the guesthouse owner to go to a shrine up in the mountains. About 600 meters higher in just 20 minutes...

 On my way to the top!

Beautiful views!!

I also came across a few animals!

a chimp!

a japanese goat or deer so I am told

and a peculiarly looking beetle 😀

On to some culture! Up the mountain was a beautiful and famous shrine with an 800 year old tree that is believed to possess great power. When I touched it I could feel it pulsing strongly (then again I am a treehugger..)

it's a shrine yo. 

After seeing the shrine and awesome tree I found an onsen and went naked.

That's right! Onsens are pretty much like wellness in Belgium, but they emphasize on hot baths rather then sauna.

There I met a nice guy, we started talking and ended up eating lunch together.

Hot sobasoup with mountain vegetables. Very tasty and unique to this region!
After a good talk he suggested to guide me around tomorrow in an authentique town on the way back to Tokyo. Perfect!!

Here are some final shots of a great day that ended in a typical dinner at the guesthouse.

japanese pancakes!!!

And top things - a romantefied version of an onsen for girls

Mhmmm... 😈