On the way to the Werewolf Shrine in remote Chichibu, locals have enterprisingly turned the frozen waterfalls that spangle the cliffs and caves alongside the Arakawa River into a winter wonderland!
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“The Samurai’s Octopus…is a truly remarkable book, one that surprised and charmed me at every turn of the page. You’re in for a treat.”
—James Ziskin, Anthony, Barry, and Macavity Award-winning author of the Ellie Stone mysteries
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
Only In Japan 
The icicles look incredible, I think I would prefer it without the rainbow LED show though,
Vanessa
You’d get your wish! They actually cycle through a plain white light version too, it’s just that my pictures didn’t do it justice. (><;;) Walking up and down the river in the daytime was amazing – gigantic icicles, as far as the eye could see!
Well, if you’re going to be a slut about something, that’s a good something to slut!
Few enough opportunities to embarrass myself, for sure! How are you? Been missing your blog posts, so I bet you’re busy with that pesky thing called life….
You should be in Portland, right now, for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpBsseMjdFE
That was last year; this year, which we’re missing because of crazy-icy weather, looks equally awesome.
Oh, that looks fantastic! I am such a sucker for illumination art. （≧∇≦）
Damn, that looks super cool. But probably a bit far for my normal one-day train adventures.
Like last night, I was gushing to the GF about Musashi (we watched the first film in the Samurai Trilogy and I’m a Musashi fanboy; one of his names is Bennosuke, even) and realized you can totally visit Ganryu island, AND there’s even a pair of statues commemorating his famous duel with Kojiro! But then I saw how freaking far it is from here: twice the distance of Osaka.
For a small country, it covers a lot of ground. 😦
Yeah, I know what you mean. Plus, it’s always: get on a train, then another train, then another train, then a bus, then you walk and FOUR HOURS LATER you’re finally there. (When we came back to Tokyo from the igloo festival in Akita last year, in order to make a one hour detour to Fox Village along the way, we rode ELEVEN different pieces of transportation in twelve hours O_O eek, now that I write that, I realize I’ve probably crossed some kind of been-here-too-long threshold that that plan seemed NORMAL. heh.)
Jeeeeeeeeez, I don’t know if I could handle that…. regularly. 😀
When you do (note I say WHEN not IF) you’ll know you’ve joined the club!