Nearly Forgotten HeyGos

[lydamorehouse]

 
Image: Fuji-sama reflected in nearly still waters of Lake Kawaguchi

I have been on so many HeyGo tours with spectacular views of Mount Fuji that, if I ever finally get to Japan, I'm going to feel like I've already seen it. I'm already at the point where, when reading manga, I now images of famous locals and think, "Ah, I've 'been' there!' because I recognize it, like this panel from The Great Pretenders that takes place in Asakusa. Our HeyGo guide walked us right through these famous gates... (here's my previous post about Asakusa:  https://lydamorehouse.dreamwidth.org/595802.html )


Image: a manga panel featuring the gates of the Asakusa district of Toyko.

At any rate, the above tour was one that I went on with Erika. She was there for the cherry blossoms and Fuji-san, though she framed this lovely shot of phlox growing on the hillside near Lake Kawaguichi.


Image: creeping phlox and cherry trees by morning light

One of the things that's always fascinating about going on a livestream tour is the time difference, of course. Erika was up at 7 or 8 am to get us a 7 pm CST tour. I suspect that if I ever make it to Japan I will also be surprised to discover the quality of light after, say, noon. To be fair, I have made it to a few early am (for me) tours, but not a lot of them. Anything that requires me to intentionally wake up at (or god forbid STAY up until)
2:30 am is, unfortunately, a no go.

I think the times I am most impressed with our guides is when they effortlessly ascend steep stairs just to give us a better view. On this tour, Erika climbed 398 stone steps to take us to the Arakurayama Sengen Shrine. I am posting this first shot just so you can see HOW STEEP this mountainside climb was for her:


Image: yep, Fuji again, but LOOK AT THAT HILLSIDE. Steep, steep, steep!!!

I will say that there does seem to be a certain athleticism required to be a good HeyGo tour guide because I don't think Erika once had to stop and wheeze for breath, like this old lady would have. She kept up a steady cam and a steady patter the entire nearly 400 stone step climb. I am IMPRESSED.  I nearly died trying to do the stairs at Devil's Kettle.

The top does, however, afford this, rather  famous image...


Image: The cover of TRAVEL JAPAN by Fodor's, I believe... though I think they shot it from the other side of the shrine.

Otherwise, I went on one other cherry blossom tour, this one to the Fukushima prefecture. I was particularly interested in this tour, because my pen pal lives not far from Fukushima. 

Also this tour was going somewhere more off the beaten track, a place called Hanamiyama (literally: flower viewing mountain). Our guide told us this little nugget (from this website) which is, "Not many people know that Hanamiyama Park is actually private property. The 2nd generation owner of Hanamiyama Park Ichiro Abe and his father Isejiro originally raised silkworms, but at the start of the Showa Period (1926 ~ 1989) they decided to start producing flowering trees."  


Image: the flowers of Fukushima (these may actually be plum)


Image: a slightly better sense of what a mountainside of flowers looks like.

Anyway, cherry blossoms have been over for a bit, I think. It's just taken me some time to get my act together to download these photos for you all.