Near Nishinasuno is Nogi Jinja or Nogi Shrine. This is the resting place of Nogi Maresuke , the head of the army during the Meiji period. There is a beautiful park and grounds beyond the shrine that includes a house where Maresuke lived,, The Seisho pond is beautiful all year, but particularly so in spring
I’m struggling to find out anything about this temple, apart from it was badly damaged by a fire in 1908 and rebuilt in 1923 by the Abbot Baian Hakujun Kuroda . It was also damaged in the big earthquake in March 2011, you can see one of the statues is missing from the right of the gate. I love… Read More Koshin Ji Temple
Apparently 85% of the Japanese population own a bike and they all look pretty much like this! Its a cultural icon in its own way… Standard purchase – Bike, basket, rack, lock, stand, bell, light. Upgrades include one or more child seats (hence the name). Anyway, great for whizzing round town, groceries, taking photos… just getting around… Read More Mamachari
While out walking I came across a bike/pedestrian trail track with lots of statues and odd artefacts along the way. Investigation turns up that it’s called Poppo-dori and is what is left of the old Toya Tetsudo (Toya railroad), which ran 24.4km from Nishinasuno to Nasu Ogawa, in the 1920-50’s and used to carry timber,… Read More Poppo Dori
One thing I really miss is good bread, I’m not a huge fan of the light, sweet bread common in Japan. So I was excited when I heard about a bakery called Namakemono (which means “Lazy Baker”) about 4 km from here that makes beautiful bread, European style… Apparently it opens Wednesday to Sunday at… Read More Namakemono
Aoki Onsen is just over 1.5km from home… Probably my closest onsen. Its behind the Aoki hotel… When you walk in (after taking your shoes off – of course) there is a machine in front of you and you put your 500Yen in or note if you haven’t got change and get a ticket, which… Read More Aoki Onsen
Drove to Nikko for a couple of days over the long weekend in March. It was still pretty cold in Nasu and snow was forecast for the Nikko region.As it turned out the weather turned really bad on the drive up and we didn’t get to do much sight seeing.. Almost no visibility and raining on &… Read More Nikko
Shirakawa (白河市) is a city located in the southern portion of Fukushima Prefecture. Its actually the next stop after Nasu on the Shinkansen line.. I went there to visit the Castle, known as either Shirakawa castle of Komine Castle… However, i didn’t realise that the March 2011 earthquake had caused significant damage and it was closed. Shirakawa was known as the gateway to the… Read More Shirakawa
Just Life in Japan 