Niigata Highway Adventure

Here I am with my free rental umbrella at the top of a mountain overlooking the ski resort town of Yuzawa, which is between Urasa and Takasaki.  I got here my ropeway, and I got to the ropeway by car, and that car was driven by Yoshimi, a friend of mine and Jenevieve's from over 10 years ago.  She had the day off from her work, her husband, and her dog, so she decided to spend it on the roads and highways of Niigata prefecture with me.

It started at 8:30am at the entrance of my university.  We exchanged gifts, Gunma snacks and American macaroni-and-cheese-in-a-box, before we headed out to our first destination: Okutadami Lake, which is up in the high mountains near Urasa.  Unfortunately this region suffered from 3 days of heavy rains.  Many mountain roads were washed out with debris, including the road to the lake.

Plan B was to head for the Hakkai-san ropeway.  Last weekend, Adam received a discount ticket from a friendly young monk at the Hakkai-san shrine but couldn't use it because of his terrible fall.  Yoshimi called to check if the ropeway was open.  Indeed it was, however the road leading to the ropeway was closed.

Plan C was to head for another ropeway in Yuzawa, and you can tell from my introduction that we made it there without a problem.  Unfortunately, as we were about to get on the ropeway, it started pouring out.  By the time we got to the top of the mountain, the pouring rain changed to steady rain.  About 10 minutes later, it turned to a drizzle and then a mist.  Finally after 30 minutes, the rain cleared and the temperature shot up by at least 10 degrees.

Here's a very short video of the mist rising from the quickly heating mountains:

And here is the view towards Urasa, which is nearly as far you can see the valley.  The university is behind one of the smaller mountains or foothills on the right.  Beyond the mountains in the background and to the left is the city of Nagaoka, where one of Japan's largest fireworks will be held this Tuesday and Wednesday.

After we got back down to Yuzawa town, we decided to go get some fresh sushi...by the sea.  So we took to the expressway and headed for the East Sea (or Nihonkai).  Half of the trip was surrounded by these tall mountains, and the other half was either flat rice fields or the seaside.  It was my first time seeing the East Sea since Jenevieve and I visited Sokcho during our last romantic autumn vacation in Korea to Seoraksan.

Actually the seaside tourist spots of Niigata felt very similar to the seaside restaurant area of Sokcho.  Here is a picture of the resort area where we spent most of our time eating and shopping:

In Korea, the restaurants were closer to the sea.  So image the sea or bay is where this parking lot is.  I had some uni, or sea urchin, which I haven't eaten for over 10 years.  I didn't really miss it, and I got to remember why.  It's not the best tasting sushi out there.

Heading back to Urasa, we got a quick deluge of rain...again.  But finally we got to see this for the first time.  It actually got a little bigger then this after I snapped the photo.