Travel to Shimoda, Shizuoka

During winter break this year I was able to sneak in a refreshing and fun little trip to Shimoda, Shizouka. The small city is a popular tourist destination known for it's history of early foreign trade and political relations with the outside world, as well as it's beautiful natural environment and gorgeous beaches. My friend was living there for a few months during a temporary work assignment, so it was the perfect chance to go for a couple days and see what it had to offer.

Shimoda City, seen from the Shimoda Ropeway going up Mt. Nesugata.

Ryugukutsu Cave (Ryugu Cave) & Toji Beach
Shimoda lies right on the Izu Peninsula coastline, and plenty of cool geographical features can be seen such as Ryugu Cave, located right next to Toji Beach. Although it's called a cave, it's probably better to describe it as a large cavity naturally carved by the crashing waves. A short walk down some steps leads into a the large open cave, where the celling has long collapsed, exposing it to the sky above. Waves enter through a large hole in the outside wall as well, so it's just awesome to be there to experience it with your own eyes and ears.

Cape Tsumeki
A popular area is Cape Tsumeki, which is nicely developed with walking paths along grassy hills and a lovely white lighthouse overlooking the coast. During my visit, white and gold daffodils were blooming on the hills (also called narcissus flowers), which give off a very pleasant sweet smell making the atmosphere even nicer.

Tsumagi Lighthouse

Shirahama Beach
In addition to seeing the beautiful ocean views and playing in the sand, many people enjoy surfing in Shimoda. One of the most famous beaches for this is Shirahama Beach. People can surf year-round here, and local surf shops are nearby for everyone's convenience. Also right next to the beach is a Shirahama Shrine, which is neat to check out while in the area.

Tatadohama Beach
Another fantastic beach is Tatadohama. During my visit this felt much more secluded than the others I had visited, but perhaps that was due to the time of year. As the daylight faded we watched an amazing sunset while surfers got in a few last rides on the waves and a couple small families walked along the beach.

I had a super good trip to Shimoda! I showed some of my favorite places in this post, but it's only half of the places I actually went to. For anyone who loves the beach, the ocean, and the outdoors, this region is really spectacular and I highly recommend it! It's a pretty small town so there isn't necessarily a lot of shopping of nightlife, but it's perfect for a short visit. 

* There's a couple more things I would like to include in this post, so I might update it later with a bit more about the interesting history of Shimoda.

Hiking & Adventures: Mt. Kawanori

Mt. Kawanori (川苔山 / 川乗山) is a mountain in the Okutama Range, located in westernmost area of Tokyo Prefecture. It's one of three famous mountains in the range, the other two being Mt. Gozen and Mt. Mito. In early January, I joined a small meetup group and together had a fun winter hike up the mountain.

The mountain's name comes from the words kawa (川, river) and nori (苔, moss), I assume due to all of the mountain streams, ponds, and waterfalls that can be seen throughout the climb. Although we did the hike in winter, I could easily imagine how green and mossy the trails must be in the spring and summer months. With an elevation of 1,363.3 meters, there was light snowfall on the ground at certain parts of the hike but this didn't affect our climb in any way. Much of the trail didn't have any snow.

The total ascent time took us 3-4 hours with a couple quick stops and a lunch break at the summit. The descent took us 2-3 hours. The hike was awesome, I really enjoyed it. Once on the actual trail, it's a really nice atmosphere. You can hear the mountain streams and see a few waterfalls throughout. On of the most impressive features is Hyakuhiro Falls, a 40-meter-tall waterfall, which was partially frozen during out hike.

The trails were very quiet and there were very few people hiking the day we went. When climbing Kawanori-san, it's all about the natural environment. There are no benches or obstructive signs on the trails, there are no shrines or temples to stop at, there is no restaurant or food stalls at the top.

A bit too cloudy to see Mt. Fuji, but the views were still great

To get there, we first took a train from Shinjuku to Okutama Station. We then planned to take a bus to Kawanoribashi bus stop, but due to some unforeseen delays had to take a taxi instead. On the day we went, you couldn't take bus or taxi directly to the trail head as the road ascending up was blocked by a gate. I don't know if this gate is closed year-round or only in winter. Also worth noting, is that the very first part of the trail was closed due a damaged bridge. These factors meant we had to walked farther up a paved road for awhile before finally reaching the hiking trail. I mention the gate and closed trail because this may change how you reach the trail if you are reading this and plan to go yourself. Coming back, we trail down the other side of the mountain and ended up at Hatonosu Station, from where we returned to Tokyo. 

Christmas & New Year's Eve Parties: End of 2014

I enjoyed a nice, generally laid-back holiday season this year, celebrating Christmas and New Year’s at parties with friends new and old.

Christmas Eve

Since all my usual friends had plans with their families or significant others, I turned to the Internet to find people with whom I could celebrate Christmas Eve. I used the website meetup.com, an awesome place to find people and groups with similar interests to you and to join various events to hangout with together. With a bit of luck I found a Christmas Eve home party and decided to join.

The party was hosted by an organizer of the Tokyo Spontaneous Hangout group, and was a fun little event with a variety of both Japanese and foreigners living in Tokyo. Food included home baked turkey with cranberry sauce, rotisserie chicken, pizza, beef cake, mashed potatoes, and salads. There were desserts such as Christmas cake (a staple in Japan), and various other sweets. And we also had some drinks including glühwein and cinnamon & apple hot wine. It was a good little event and I was happy to join. Below are some pictures:

Christmas Day

Whereas the Christmas Eve party was small but filled with lots of chatting and socializing with new friends, Christmas Day was very quiet but still quite enjoyable. I met up with a friend of mine and we simply walked around Tokyo Station a bit and then had a light dinner.

New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve, my friend hosted a small party at her home (but totally unrelated to the meetup website). The plan was to chill out for awhile, cook and eat some food, have some drinks together, and then head out to Tokyo Tower for the countdown. Friends popped in and out throughout the very casual, fun party. I'm so lucky to have South American friends because (not only their awesome personalities but also) their food is super delicious :-)

When the clock started getting closer to midnight, we started gathering everyone to leave for the countdown but by departed a bit later than expected, missed our train, and thus changed our original plans. Instead of Tokyo Tower, we ended up near Shinjuku Station for the countdown but it was still a good time.

After the quick celebration we headed over to Roppongi for our first salsa dancing of 2015, and ended the night there before we all returned to our homes. There's no pictures of the salsa club (I didn't have my camera and way too dark for and smart phone photos), but it was packed as usual!