Japan - Day 12 (Towada Lake)

It's been a long day. We got up early (8:00. Hell, its my vacation!) and drove out to Towada Lake with Chika, Chika's mom, and her uncle. Admittedly, I didn't have much faith in this trip...I expected it to be much like most nature outings in Japan. Concrete, guided paths, more people than should be permitted, etc. Everything most Americans would find annoying, distasteful, and disrespectful to nature. Happily, this was not entirely the case. We arrived at the "start" of a gorge. We parked and hiked up what was a broad, welltrodden path along the river and saw many lovely waterfalls. Lots of buses and tourists, but no concrete and no buildings anywhere in sight!
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