I managed to rearranged my two classes I have on Wednesdays and take the day off to hang out with Mama and Lars. I debated a lot on where to take them, but decided on Mt. Myogi since it was nearby, and I had never been to the shrine. Luckily, although the day was cloudy and wet, it hadn’t started raining yet. We set off pretty late at 10 am. It’s impossible to get Lars up early, that sleepyhead. I parked the car by the shrine, at the visitor stop and we walked over to it. I didn’t realize the whole shrine is placed on a steep hill! So many stairs! The shrine was stunning. Huge cedar trees, filled with a rainy mist. Every corner had cool parts tucked away. We spent over an hour exploring the grounds, before returning to the car. I picked up some hiking maps at the visitor center and we drove over to the art gallery and lookout park to have lunch.

We were invited in by some staff to check out the art gallery inside the building so we postponed lunch. All the art was of Mt. Myogi. Some really stunning paintings. It was definitely interesting to see, especially the little kids’ art on the third floor. We had lunch after on a bench by the empty dirt fields where cosmos grew in the fall. Afterward, I moved the car to the closest parking lot to the trailhead we wanted to take. A brief bit along the road, and we were off climbing a steep paved path that met up with the top of Mt. Myogi shrine. We split off into the woods. The trail gradually ascended with quite a few stairs. Everything was damp and green.

We climbed out to one outlook area, passed a waterfall, saw a forest crab, and a snake! Along the way, Lars shrieked several times when something got stuck to his leg. He said it was an inchworm, but later I noticed some stuck on my shoes and leggings. My legs were covered completely. They were little forest leeches with quite a bit of sucking power! They liked to hide inside your shoes too. Luckily I only got about three on me. They move really quickly! We turned around at the second outlook point. There was a chain to get to the top, but it was way slippery and not well attached. We just ended up rock climbing the small distance. The view was really pretty! I climbed over to a small outcropping. It was tricky to get there as there was really nowhere to place your feet. Lars even made it up there although he is afraid of heights. Getting back down was harder for him and required some butt sliding. He had worn the wrong shoes too.

The way back went much more quickly and we managed to complete about 4 km in almost 3 hours. We made it back in time to be able to go to the onsen. Mama managed to feel comfortable enough to try it out, and Lars was actually excited at this point. The soak was great. We left shortly after 5 pm and headed off to get dinner at the same sushi place I took Lars earlier. It was really empty this time, being a weekday, and we had to order everything verbally. Mama and I shared an expensive eel plate that got flambeed with a torch! It was delish.

Lars and I arranged to meet the parents at Shibukawa station at about 11 am. Lars and I stopped by Mister Donut for breakfast. So we came up from the south, and they took a bus and train down from Takaragawa. We headed off to Ikaho and I remembered where to park! A showed me a great spot last time. I wanted to try and met up with her, but she was going to Ikaho later in the day around when we left. We started at the bottom of the 365 stone steps. I pointed out the water running underneath the stairs, and we stopped by the footbath for Lars and Papa to try. We got some free tea there from ladies advertising the Tomioka Silk Mill. I actually managed to tell them that I lived there.

We had lunch at a cafe with a sweet interior design. I had cold salad udon and it was delicious! Something I could easily make myself. We finished climbing the stairs and visited the shrine. Then we headed over to Kajika bridge which looked quite different now in the spring! The family tried the gold onsen water and the silver regular stream water before Papa and Lars went to take their first proper onsen bath without towels. Mama and I hung out next to the water source bubbling up from the ground. Lars told us afterward that he ran into a guy with full body tattoos! All the other Japanese guys moved from one pool to the other. He didn’t know that they guy was a yakuza. How crazy!

On the way back down the stairs, we stopped by a shop that sells soft serve ice cream. I spent some time trying to deciphering mixed in katana, but had my orders all set when I went to the window. She then handed me an English menu, haha. After getting ice cream, we also stopped by my favorite store filled with cat themed things. I ended up getting a bag like the one I got my sister for Christmas. Either as a lunch bag or for makeup. It’s so cute! We got back to the car and set off for Takasaki station to drop my dad off so he could make the trip back to Osaka. Mama needed to get a Starbucks too so we waited for her while she had to pass through a gigantic line filled with high schoolers.

Lars desperately wanted to visit an anime/manga store so I took them over to Mandai Shoten. Both were promptly impressed. I managed to buy some nice things and Lars was happy with his pokemon card purchases. We drove back to Tomioka and stopped by the grocery store by my house. Mama bought a lot of alcohol ha. We just ate bread and salad at home.

Last night, my family (my dad, mom, and little brother) arrived in Takasaki at 9 pm. So crazy to finally have them here! After a quick stop at 7-11 to get some food, I drove them back to my place. We were up pretty late chatting and unpacking. We managed to fit two people in each of my rooms. Saturday morning, we left home at about 9 am to drive up to Tanigawadake, a mountain on the border of Gunma and Niigata, in Minakami. We parked at the ski area parking garage to head up the ropeway on the side of the mountain. It saves you a three hour steep hike up the side of the mountain. Although it was pretty warm at the base, the top was pretty windy and chilly! I wished I had brought my sweatshirt with. The views were stunning at the 1300 m, and we decided to take the second, shorter lift to the very top of 1500 m.

Wow, just wow! Mountains and greenness everywhere. The peak of the mountain is at about 2000 m and the surrounding mountains still had some snow on them. We scrambled over a rocky area to have lunch while admiring the beautiful view, although our seats were rather uncomfortable. We ended walking to the shrine on the opposite side of the lift too. On the descent, I noticed that the rest of the road we wanted to drive to Ichinokurasawa Gorge was closed. Back at the center I asked and found you had to take a bus to the gorge. Sadly, we had just missed the bus, and it’d be too late to catch the next. We decided to head over to Takaragawa Onsen where Papa and Mama would be spending the night at the ryokan as an anniversary present.

On the drive over, Papa wanted to stop by the dam. The roads were crazy curvy and small, but it was a fun ride! The lake was so empty. Everything is really dry before the rainy season. Arriving at the onsen was confusing, because there was a guy at the gate who wouldn’t let us park down by the entrance as I had done last time. We tried explaining to him that some of us were staying overnight and that Lars and I were just going to the onsen, but it was too hard to get our point across. We had to park at the furthest lot, just outside the entrance while Papa and Mama pulled their suitcases down to the main ryokan entrance. It was actually hard to find! Completely tucked away, down the road, over a bridge, past all the parking, and around the corner.

After dropping them off at the reception, Lars and I slowly made our way to the onsen entrance for the non-overnighters. The guy there actually spoke really great English and was surprised to hear that it was my second time there. Although he overcharged us each by 100 yen according to the signs around and what he typed into the register...not sure if there was a recent price increase or what. It seemed fishy, but this is Japan… Lars and I rented a towel as well. We walked past all the old timer decor and the black bears in the small cages, before stopping and hanging out by some tables. Papa and Mama still hadn’t shown up about 30 minutes later.

I wanted to find a toilet next, but the signage was really lacking. I ended up asking a staff member who for some reason had trouble understanding me (although I’ve asked this many times before with no issues…). There was one in the ladies bath which she then went to show me the way to. Then I explained to Lars how to get changed and what to do with his clothes. Lars finished quicker than me, and had started heading into the water when I came out. I had to explain to him again that we need to pre-wash first around the corner. The water that had felt so cold in the winter was hot now! We rinsed off and got in the first bath which was really hot. Lars was freaking out a bit about all the men who were not covering themselves properly, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. We tried out all three baths and hung out in the last one the longest because it was much cooler.

Lars started getting red quite quickly so I had to remind him to sit outside and cool off. I went to see if I could track down the parents as it had been over an hour waiting for them. Finding people with blurry eyesight was a little tricky, but I finally spotted them coming down the path and waved Lars over from the opposite side of the river. Once again, I explained bathing etiquette and we joined the parents for a short round two. They didn’t stay in the water as long, and we both ended up getting changed around the same time. This time, I learned that the guy’s changing room was much bigger than the woman’s. Makes sense with the higher number of men there. Also as a guest of the ryokan, the baths are open 24/7! You could go for a dip in the middle of the night.

After saying our goodbyes, Lars and I made the trip back to Tomioka where we stopped at a kaiten sushi place for dinner. It’s the closest one to my house that I haven’t tried yet, but the fish was amazing! A step up in price and quality. It was crazy full on this weekend night. You had to order from the servers directly, but Lars is a pro. He immediately just picked up the menu, said sumimasen, and pointed to what he wanted. He’s already adapted well to being in a country where he can’t speak the language.

As it gets light out so early, I woke up at 4:30 am with the rising sun. Plus, it was freezing cold! The sleeping bag I had borrowed from GAJET was barely thick enough with my wool leggings. Papa had bare legs in his though! He popped out of bed quickly, got dressed before heading to the restrooms. He came back at a run though asking for my camera to take shots of the lake all misty! This was enough to convince me to get dressed as well. Pulling on all the layers helped get me moving too. After a restroom stop, where I could put my contacts back in and stop being blind, I also went to the lake shore. The mist, rising sun, water and marsh was amazing. Absolutely breathtaking. Completely reaffirmed Oze as my favorite spot in Japan. There was thick frost everywhere! That means it was a little below freezing overnight aka -1 C or so. Way off from our 9 C prediction for the night. I tried to find Papa to get my camera back, but no luck so I only have cell phone photos.

By the time I got back to the tent, Papa had already dismantled it and rolled up our sleeping bags. He was so quick! We grabbed our packs and went to eat breakfast - granola and yogurt - on some benches by the water. It was still so cold out my fingers got numb! We hit the trail shortly before seven with our packs a bit lighter with less water and food. The trail was isolated and calm. It got warm pretty quickly with the physical exercise and sun. We made it around the lake and switched from flat trails to hilly ones that headed to the great marsh. The famous white skunk cabbages were blooming in full force around the lake. We encountered more and more people, even huge tour groups. Around ten, we hit the second campground area that was surrounded by many restaurants and shops. I definitely preferred our campsite. We ate a snack here before starting the marsh boardwalks.

The scenery was quite different than from that in the fall. Much less water! The marsh was really dry with the skunk cabbages growing in sparse patches by the last bits of water. They were all past their prime bloom and wilting. We encountered more and more people as we headed towards the end. We took a break for some early lunch before pressing on to the last campground and hut site. Papa and I were exhausted and our legs no longer wanted to cooperate. We had time for a 20 minute rest before doing the last leg of our trip: upwards to Hatomachi Pass. This was really rough especially the second half as a yellow trail was pretty steep. Having a heavy pack makes all the difference. And there were so many people and tour groups that it was much less fun at this point. We did ascend pretty quickly, in under an hour.

I got us bus tickets back to Tokura, but this time the buses were all parked in a different lot! We got a bus that left 15 minutes later at 12:40 pm. After a curvy, hot ride, we got dropped off at the main bus station in Tokura. A guy helped us at the counter ask when the next bus to Oshimizu left. We had to wait 30 minutes this time because we had just missed the bus. It probably would have been cheaper and faster to use a taxi because first part cost us 780 yen and second part 540 yen. Papa wasn’t that happy we had to wait because we were on a deadline and would just barely make it in time back to Takasaki station for his 4 pm train to be able to pick up Mama and my brother, Lars, at Tokyo station! Despite barely being able to walk, we still stopped on the way back to get a quick photo with lupines, my namesake! What an exhausting, but fun weekend!

Last night, I picked up my papa at Takasaki station! He’s working in Osaka for three weeks so he came up to spend the weekend with me! I spent Friday afternoon getting cheese and a membership at Costco, as well as grabbing burgers with S. S actually got to meet my dad as well when I dropped him off at the train station ha. This morning we left at 7:30 am to head up to Oze National Park for a bit of hiking and camping. The last leg of the drive was quite beautiful with all the flowers blooming: irises and lupines. Because the temperature is colder there, there were more types of flowers than I normally see.

We parked at the Oshimizu entrance for 500 yen a day. I had to pay a lady who emerged from the omiyage shop and tell her we were leaving tomorrow. It seemed this was a popular spot for overnighters to park. I used the Hatomachitoge Pass entrance last time so I knew nothing about this route. My dad and I both had our overnight packs with sleeping bags, food, and a tent on our backs as we started the upward sloping gravel road. I knew our first stretch to the campsite would take about 3 hours and be 7 km long. What I was surprised to find out was that about half of it was along this stupid gravel road! We were surrounded by tons of butterflies and chirping cicadas, but still! Finally we past the first hut/rest stop area and the trail actually became a wooded trail tucked along a river. So much nicer.

Sadly the trail turned into some steep switchbacks. I had to take lots of short breaks to catch my breath. The trail was lined with beautiful pink flowering trees and at one point we could drink fresh mountain water. Cold and delish! We finally made it to the top of the pass and realized we had just covered a 600 m difference in elevation from our start point! With our packs! My papa last went backpacking 30 years ago and I’ve only done it once in college, but we did it! From 1180 m to 1762 m. We stopped here for our lunch break before pressing on.

We finally made it down to the lake! It was gorgeous! There was a bit of a small pebbled beach and sandy beach. After snapping some photos, we walked the last 20 minute stretch to our campsite area. I stopped at the visitor center to get another Oze map in English plus some other pamphlets. They also told us where to go to check in. It was a little tricky with their lack of English and the lack of signage. We wandered a bit in a circle before I saw the sign Hute in katakana on one of the buildings. Managed to fill out the paper form there okay with the receptionist minimal English and told him we were only two people instead of four. It cost us 800 yen per person for our site and we got a number to hang on our tent.

There were 26 wooden platform sites in our campground. About 10 were filled. We took #2 as it was closer to the bathrooms and a bit more wooded. The toilets were pretty nice. Apparently they helicopter remove all the waste from the park to keep the water fresh. We set up the tent easily although I had left the directions at home - a standard model. After transferring water and snacks to small packs, we headed out to do some more hiking. We decided to do a smaller loop since we were both tired. After briefly passing through the marshy area, the trail branched off into isolated woods. There was no one besides us and the trail was much less maintained. Very peaceful. At the top of the pass, we emerged into a stunning marshy area with pools. The wooden boardwalk disappeared halfway through into old wobbly planks. Clearly they were doing some renovating. Nothing like practicing our balancing acts!

Once we started our steep red marked descent, we ran into a couple other people. We definitely picked the better route upwards. We emerged at the other side of the trail that runs through the campground and grabbed our pasta salad dinner. Almost all the campsites were filled at this point. We decided to have dinner while relaxing on the beach. As it was quite a bit later, many of the park’s visitors had already left. Dropping our things on the beach, we went to soak our sore, tired feet in the cold water. It was not too chilly in the shallows. But we had to watch out for glass! Broken pieces were laying on the beach from litter. We both ended up relaxing on the beach after dinner watching the sun slowly go down and the temperature drop. Papa decided to run back to the campground to get dressed more warmly since he was only in shorts and a t-shirt. I at least had my fleece jacket.

The sunset was pretty nice, but it was really restful and calm. A thicker cloud cover along the horizon made it tricky to see the sun completely set. We headed back to our tent to get ready for bed although it was barely 7 pm. We were both so exhausted! Plus it was cold out! It seems in one of the cabins, you could stop by to watch a performance with piano and hang out with the other overnight guests. I was surprised to see there were two other groups of Westerners camping too. Papa somehow managed to fit diagonally in the tent and fell asleep quickly while I read for another hour. People kept walking by so it was noisy at first, but it calmed down later. I did wake up a lot because I was uncomfortable. No side sleeping on a platform with only a sleeping bag cushion!