Autumn festival

We attended Autumn festival yesterday that cooperated with The 2009 Tochigi Hot-Air Balloon International Chanpionshp.

We gathered about half past 6 early in the morning.

She is our leader.She tell that we will do our best all day long today. During the preparation for make rice cake.
Preparation for cooking Shimotsukenabe stew.

They are making a balloon art.
He seems so happy to make balloon art with lot of women :D

Utsunomiya city mayor came.

Shimotsukenabe stew was perfect cooked deliciously.
We cooked three times of this stew.

Rice cake making.
It's very hard work.

Our leader trying to make rice cake.

We distribute Shimotsukenabe stew to a spectator.

Many many spectators waiting in line.

We were able to distribute Shimotsukenabe stew to about 500 visitor.

The show of the comedian, the band performance were performed, too.
It was a very pleasant festival.

Ashio famous copper mine.

Ashio there is a famous copper mine town.

According to the record, the copper mine was discovered in the 16th century.

Furukawa Ichibei comes to do mine development in 1877, and it is after that an Ashio copper mine became famous.

The Ashio copper mine modernized with many new technologies.

There was became a much volume of production in the Orient in 1893.

However, pollution became the problem with production to increase.

The sulfurous acid gas killed all the trees of the mountain.

In addition, drainage including the heavy metal caused the water pollution of the lower basin and soil pollution of the farmland.

The problem of the drainage was able to be settled in 1897.

The measures of the sulfurous acid gas were very difficult and have taken it until 1956.

The Ashio copper mine was closed in 1973.

More than 38,000 people worked by most time, but the current population is 2,800.

Country,prefecture, Furukawa and a lot of volunteers plant it with trees now.

Green gradually returned to the mountain.

Let's get together

We participate in the Tochigi hot-air balloon international championship 2009, on 22nd of Nov.

Unfortunately is not a contestant; as an event participant.

Our team cook the Shimostuke-stew and serve it to a guest.

The other teams do rice cake making.

There are a stage show and a lot of pleasant events.

Please come to Tochigi hot-air balloon international championship 2009.

Let's enjoy together.

A small trip of Aizu, Shiobara & Kinugawa.

We went to Aizu,Shiobara and Kinugawa for a small trip on October 17 and 18th.

It was the clear autumn sky with two days.At first we went to Ouchijyuku at Aizu aria.We enjoyed an old style houses in the Ouchijyuku slowly and took a Japanese soba lunch.

And then we went to the Siobara-onsen(a hot spring) that we stay at there.This Ryokan is keeping to the traditional Japanes style hotel from old days.A famous writer stayed in and seems to wrote novels in early period of Showa era (It is about 80 years ago).

We ate traditional Japanese foods in dinner.

A view of the Shiobara hot spring(In morning of the 2nd day).

We hiked in Kotarogafuchi in the forest.


We ate tea and rice-flour cake flavored with mugwort here.

We visited the big suspension bridge next.

This suspension bridge is called a Momijidani-Ohtsuribasi bridge,

and length is 320m.

And we went to Kinugawa by car from Siobar.Autumn colors were so beautiful on the way to Kinugawa.

We hiked in the famous ravine that is called Ganmaga-fuchi of Kinugawa at the end of our trip.

It was a very pleasant trip. And it became the very good memories.

Autumn in NIKKO

I went to a hiking in NIKKO with my friend Andrej who comes from Slovakia,

and japanese friend on 10th of Oct.

We gathered in the Akanuma parking lot at 6:00 a.m.

The temperature was 2 degrees Celsius, very cold morning.

The reason that gathered in such early time is because

a lot of people gather for colored leaves sightseeing.

We took ODASHIROGAHARA, SENJYUGAHAMA, SAINOKO lake

for about 6 hours and enjoyed hiking.

The autumn colors of nikko began,

but the colored leaves which had begun to turn red and yellow were beautiful.

Lake Chyuzenji, view from SENJYUGAHAMA.

Jumping !

He cannot jump.

Because he is 2 years old.

Lunchtime in SAINOKO Lake.

The lunchtime of the ox.

A warterfall called KIRIFURINO-TAKI.