Shiroito falls, views of Mount Fuji and Yoyogi park

No post yesterday as I...Well pretty much spent entire day sitting in my room! Needed to do laundry for the last part of JR pass usage period, do some planning and weather was awful. Add to that that I wanted to save little bit of cash I opted to spend day just reading after doing the planning and laundry. Might have been very good for my legs though. Shoe sores are much less of an issue today than they had been before.

 Yesterday's breakfast. Curry udon(noodle soup).

 Dinner. Some sort of ramen. I like ramen!

This too for dinner. Some sort of bread with cream(?) inside it. Not that bad though I hate to think of calories inside it. Well I'm on holiday.

Anyway for today plan was to go to see Shiroito falls, reputedly one of the most beautiful falls in Japan if not THE most beautiful. Fairly close to Tokyo so good target for daytrip. Weather had also improved. I was in luck! When I had no problems staying in Tokyo it was bad and when I go to see some sights it clears up. Groovy!

I arrived to Shinagawa station early up so got bit of practice on reading Shinkansen timetables. I was able to deduce that no hikari goes to station I would need so therefore time to use the "stop at every station" shinkansen. Those are good to avoid if you can since...Well they stop at every station! Making trip slower so if you go to Nagano or Kyoto or even further good idea to use the Hikari. But thankfully target was close enough it wasn't issue.

On my way with non-shinkansen I got blessed by beautiful view of Mount Fuji again. And with weather being so good I could even see the top well. I was feeling like fist pumping all trip. Day promised to be a good one!

Quite a nice view all the way to the top!

After getting to Fujonomiya station it was time to use a bus. Takes about half an hour. Spent most of the time staring at the Fuji mountain and repeating "I have GOT to be nuts to consider climbing there!". But then again if I can do it views are probably quite nice. Not to mention feeling of achievement from doing it!

Climbing out of the bus couple old ladies(later one commented after asking my age that I'm about the age of her son so I would guess her age somewhere between 50 and 60 with other probably being close enough) who greeted out and asked if we would go together. Well that was nice :) Always nice to get some chance to chat with locals. Trip to the fall itself was very short(about 400 meters) along which there were some souvenir and food stands. I saw some amazing paintings of Mount Fuji and was sooooo dying to buy one but apart from being expensive(cheaper ones were like 200 euros) they were also big so getting one to Finland would probably require posting by mail. Ugh.

Before the main dish(so to speak) there was however one more smaller fall on the way. Otodomae falls. Not bad waterfall either. Just not as impressive as the one next door.

 I was in LUCK as there was nice rainbow visible. Something the old ladies also commented excitedly.

 All in all Shiroito falls are 150 meters wide and 20 meter long drop.

 Some of the smaller falls along the edges.

 Whole fall.

 As usual getting photo of myself was no problem :D Only time that is problem is when you are alone!

 On my way bought these(plus box of something I haven't yet opened, saving it for tomorrow). Peanuts! I started to love eating these in Finland though there I bought them without that outer shell. Makes bit annoying to eat due to the mess it causes. But good! Should have bought second bag. 1 bag for 300 yen, 2 for 500. And I eat these quite fast.

The guy selling these also started chatting with me. And conversation took odd turn when he asked if Finnish women are good or would I want Japanese wife. Weird topic of talk with total stranger who is clearly just visiting tourism spot :D

 On my way back. This is how you know how much to pay(if you don't use IC card). Well one of ways. There are also flat rates "pay X and that covers anywhere bus stops). You get on bus, you pick up ticket. Ticket has number. Then when you want to get off you look at the number matching your number(so in my case above 6. Though this was early up. Ended up 620 yen). When you go off you drop ticket and coins to machine. Simple actually. There's cash changer if you don't have coins available as well. Groovy.

 No idea what these are. Just something I noticed while sitting on bus.

 Don't think I have ever heard of word "wicket" before. Kanji letters were actually more of sensible for me than the English this time! (not that I needed either!).

It had occured to me also that it would be nice to go to at least Fuji 5th station and see what it's like there but alas buses indeed don't go there this time of year so getting there would require renting car and this time didn't bring drivers license that would be accepted here so guess I have no choice but to wait for next year.

It's been getting chilly here at nights so throat is tad sore(not alarmingly though). But enough I felt like taking hot(and I mean HOT!) drink. Japanese don't do anything half-heartedly. Not even hot drinks. They really are bloody hot.

Well getting to Tokyo I opted to make a walk through Yoyogi park. It's my favourite park in Tokyo and start of holiday it was closed to dengu fever carrying mosquitos. It had been opened shortly before my JR pass period opened but apart from two quick visits when it was already dark hadn't had time to walk there yet.

 Still early for the autumn leaves :(

 Around here in park was a lot of people with dogs. And dog park. I love dogs so seeing lots of them was nice treat :)

 Walking this I actually stumbled across camp for lots of homeless people. When the fever issue came up there was some arquments about where to put all these homeless and if the whole park evacuation isn't just goverments attempt to get rid of homeless from the park in the first place.

 Don't recall seeing this last year though need to check photos to check(I'm 100% sure I took photos of this if I saw this) or I managed to find corner of park I hadn't yet seen yet!

 I like this pond a lot. Stopped here for a break eating the peanuts(mmmm) and reading manga I had with me until it started to be so chilly fingers were getting tad numb.

Afte this I went back home dropping off at the book off store nearest to my home for some reading material. Running short of those again.

 Dinner. Again ramen. Love ramen!

This was one of the books I bought. Japanese history in manga-style. 13 book series. Not sure if I have room in bag for all but at least couple will be bought FOR SURE. This one describes rise of the samurai. Next 2 I will buy will cover next period(Shogunate) and Heian period. Those are the most interesting for me so good place to start I suppose(well start was also obvious alternative :D).

Tomorrow: Mount Ooyama. Will be going with friends to Jigokudani and then on my own toward Osaka. Not sure how much posting I can do next couple days. Could be sunday for next opportunity and then on tuesday when JR pass ends.