Hakuba – Part 3
The view from Matsukawa Bridge (松川橋) of the Japanese Northern Alps (白馬三山) and the Matsu River
Another shot from Lake Aoki (aokiko or 青木湖)
Note that if you have a big screen you can see larger versions by clicking on the photos.
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Posts tagged nature
Hakuba – Part 2
I can’t imagine Lake Aoki (青木湖) being any more beautiful than it is in October. That said, October is when the fewest people are there. The lake was empty when we weren’t on it. We took a break on the banks and skipped some rocks. With no wind, the rock skipping was very successful.
The surface of Lake Aoki was like glass, and from our vantage point in the canoes we could see large fish in the clear water.
We ate lunch at the bottom of the chairlift on Happo-One. The colors were great, and an occasional paraglider came over the ridge. The mountain side was covered in ススキ (Japanese pampas grass).
Hakuba – Part 1
We did our first, overnight excursion in Japan as a family last week. We took an 8 a.m. bus from Shinjuku to Hakuba in Nagano Ken. The difference four and a half hours on a bus can make in your environment is incredible. Hakuba is absolutely deserted this time of year.
The above photo is of the Hakuba Ski Jump which was built for the winter Olympics held in Nagano in 1998. We had a great view of the jump site (and the Japanese Alps) from our hotel. The plants getting in the way are called susuki (薄 or 芒 or Japanese Pampas Grass). We were supposed to walk through a field of susuki in Hakone but ran out of time and had to just see it from the bus. We got to walk through lots of susuki in Hakuba, though, so missing out on the experience in Hakone doesn’t feel so bad anymore.
On our first full day in Hakuba we did a tour which included canoeing on Lake Aoki (Aokiko or 青木湖) and mountain biking. Our guide, who has been canoeing and kayaking on this lake for years, said he had never seen the water so calm. There was no breeze, the sky was mostly blue, the temperature was a pleasant sixty something degrees Fahrenheit (about 18 degrees Celsius), and the leaves were turning colors on the trees (紅葉). We were the only people on the lake. Needless to say, you will be seeing more pictures of this incredible lake in future entries.
More Copenhagen cloud photos (and some commentary on religion in Scandinavia)
Today’s clouds are from the Botanisk Have again.
The above steeple is part of the International Church of Copenhagen. We didn’t go inside, but a fellow faculty member went to church there once. I think it is the only place in Denmark with services in English. I asked him how it was since religion is mostly dead in Scandinavia. He said there were only about 20 people at the service. The place holds hundreds.
When we were in the Vor Frue Kirke their service was about to start. The place seemed big enough to hold several hundred people–maybe even 500–but there were no more than about 30. They all looked pretty unhappy and pretty old. The average age was well over 50.
Of the tiny percentage of the population that attends church in Denmark, some are still atheists who attend for social reasons. Even a Danish priest, Thorkild Grosboll, came out as a non-believer and his congregation supported him.
Many, if not nearly all, of the churches in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark only continue to exist because of state support. Some have been converted into museums, restaurants, and other facilities. We saw one in Gothenburg, Sweden that had been turned into a fish market.
I wonder how long it will take the rest of the world to follow Scandinavia’s lead. In my own town, in the U.S.A. even, churches have shut their doors permanently because of a lack of interest.
