RSS
 

Nasu Kogen那須高原 – Winter

01 Mar

Solstice.dice2

I realise that every time I start a new blog entry, I apologise for being late and not up keeping it… I mean what’s new? the epitome of procrastination is still herself… well not really so this time. I kinda deserted my entire family during the Chinese New year holidays and flew to my second home, so here’s your long awaited post fresh from the sushi bar…

Two years back I visited Nasu Kogen during the summer time. Two weeks ago I was back there and boy was it a transformation! It’s Fuyu (winter) time in Nippon and I was ecstatic to see snow!  Yes yes there’s no snow in sunny sizzling Singapore…

Anyway it was quite an adventure just getting into gear itself! In an instance, one miraculously transforms into a dumpling being wrapped in layers and layers of clothes. Despite the  ball of fabric that I am, I was surprised that I could still scale some snow covered mini cliffs that leads to the Otome Waterfall. Pretty slippery if you ask me and I couldn’t even make out where the steps were.

Summer : Luscious Greens
Nasu Kogen 那須高原 - Otome Waterfall 乙女滝

Winter: dry twigs
Nasu Kogen - Winter 01

Summer
Nasu Kogen 那須高原 - Otome Waterfall 乙女滝

Winter
Nasu Kogen - Winter 02

The long exposures were quite a challenge because yours truly here is too cold and lazy to set up her tripod. Most shots turned out brrrr. . . i mean blur.

Nasu Kogen - Winter 03

Summer
Nasu Kogen 那須高原 - Otome Waterfall 乙女滝

Winter
Nasu Kogen - Winter 05

Nasu Kogen - Winter 06

Nasu Kogen - Winter 07

Nasu Kogen - Winter 08

Nasu Kogen - Winter 09

Nasu Kogen - Winter 10

Nasu Kogen - Winter 11

Gotta have lunch. Went back to the same soba place last summer. No difference between how soba looks during summer & winter though. LOL

DSC_0720

After the meal, we headed to Onsen Shrine and then to Sesshouseki – 殺生石.  (oooh i love the ring to it) The first stop’s feet onsen!

In summer,  everyone wants to soak their feet
Nasu Kogen - Winter 11

In winter, everyone’s lazy to take off their shoes… me included
Nasu Kogen - Winter 11

Nasu Kogen - Winter 13

Entrance to Onsen Shrine… the smell of sulfur was amazingly strong in winter. Aren’t you glad you’re just viewing pictures here.
Nasu Kogen - Winter 14

Summer
DSC_0720

Winter… i love the snow~!
Nasu Kogen - Winter 15

Walk down to Sesshouseki
Nasu Kogen - Winter 16

Summer
Nasu Kogen 那須高原- Sesshou Seki 殺生石

Winter
Nasu Kogen - Winter 17

Nasu Kogen - Winter 18

Summer
Nasu Kogen 那須高原- Sesshou Seki 殺生石

Winter
Nasu Kogen - Winter 19

Sesshouseki is an area filled with noxious volcanic gas (sulpur) that kills most small animals approaching and there’s where its name came from. The place is also known for the legend of Fox with Nine Tails (No we’re not talking about Naruto here)..

Nasu Kogen 那須高原- Sesshou Seki 殺生石

Anyhoos, the story was set about 3500 years ago. After devastating China and India, a fox with nine tails arrived in Japan by JAL and transformed itself into a beautiful woman named “Tamamo no Mae” and I have no idea what it means. Although she succeeded in winning the emperor’s favour, her aim was to take over Japan (not the world???) after killing him. But after having its true form discovered by feng shui master Yin-Yang diviner Aberno Yasunari, she ran into Nasunohara forest, and was killed by a military tank commanded by Kazuanosuke Hirotsuna and Miuranosuke Yoshizumi (who were nominees in the longest name award).

Nasu Kogen 那須高原- Sesshou Seki 殺生石

So then the monstrous fox turned its figure into a big stone after death; however, the grudge remained as poisonous gas and killed everything approaching it.

After reading the story posted up on Wikipedia, great priest Gennou visited the place. He yelled out and banged the stone with his stick, breaking it into three pieces. It is said that one of the pieces flew to Aizu (Fukushima Prefrecture which I’ll blog about in the next post and yes that means aeons later haha) the other went to Bingo in Hiroshima and the last piece remains at Sesshouseki as the Killing Rock. So there you have it.

Nasu Kogen - Winter 20

Summer: Summer Rain…
Nasu Kogen 那須高原- Sesshou Seki 殺生石

Winter
Nasu Kogen - Winter 21

Was lucky the sky’s clear
Nasu Kogen - Winter 22

Summer
Nasu Kogen 那須高原- Sesshou Seki 殺生石

Winter
Nasu Kogen - Winter 23

Summer: Jizo look wet
Nasu Kogen 那須高原 - Sesshou seki 殺生石

Winter: Jizo looks cold
Nasu Kogen - Winter 24

Nasu Kogen - Winter 25

Nasu Kogen - Winter 26

Nasu Kogen - Winter 27

Just a day before re-exploring Nasu, I stayed over at this really nice inn called the Cosy Inn Antique. Old french cottage styled ambiance warms your heart the moment you stepped in but…

Nasu Kogen - Winter 28

… it’s what warms your stomach that really matters.

Quiche for breakfast
Nasu Kogen - Winter 29

Home baked rolls
Nasu Kogen - Winter 30

With clam chowder
Nasu Kogen - Winter 31

life is short. . .eat the dessert first!
Nasu Kogen - Winter 33

beef  & fish for dinner
Nasu Kogen - Winter 32

onion soup and salad for starters…
Nasu Kogen - Winter 34

Nasu Kogen - Winter 35

DSC_0829

The last Choux pastry’s from Rindarou cafe some where in the middle of no-where. Sells a cup of coffee and a slice of chocolate cake or a Choux pastry for 500 Yen respectively and pottery made by the owner (thou shall not divulge the heavenly pricesssss….

I heard that the imperial family visits Nasu every year…For those feeling adventurous, one could drive up to Nasu via the Tohoku highway. Takes about 2 to 3 hours in a speeding car.

 

Leave a Reply

 

 
 
  1. kasumi

    Tuesday, 2 March, 2010 at 00:03

    Kireii!!!!! The photos are so beautifully taken! Love it! Too bad I didn’t managed to go on that trip with you. Maybe next time!

     
  2. EstoKun

    Wednesday, 3 March, 2010 at 22:46

    Geeze..u can print those out as postcard already hahahaha..jigsaw puzzle also can! i loveeeeee the bread + food + snow +..all

     
  3. AS

    Thursday, 4 March, 2010 at 09:55

    Your comparison pics are very nice ^^. Nice to see how nature in different seasons, it gives a whole new look to it. I love the mini waterfall pics, your camera must be very good to see the individual streams of water bouncing off the rocks.

     
  4. Blowfish

    Sunday, 7 March, 2010 at 04:52

    Oh boy! Those are some great pictures!
    Especially the long exposure shots of the waterfall turned out terrific.
    So you carried a tripod through the wilderness just for that?

     
  5. dice

    Sunday, 7 March, 2010 at 21:49

    @ Kasumi: thanks babe! Don’t worry, there’s always a next time.
    @ Estokun: still needs practice! tonnes of it but thanks! haha
    @ AS: Thank you! Yes the difference’s really huge. Singapore is boring its the same year after year, day after day, so its really quite refreshing to be able to see your surroundings change..
    @ Blowfish: Yeah I carried a tripod… kinda heavy and didn’t put it to much use haha. it was too cold to operate.. my fingers were frozen half the time :D