After an exciting evening out with Nicole and friends, we decided to do a little sightseeing on Sunday. We ventured out to a mountain at the seaside in western Chiba. It's called Nokogiri mountain, and features a gondola ride to the top. The "Ropeway" was totally out of a 1970's James Bond movie! We even had a fully uniformed "Ropeway" girl who talked into a microphone the whole way up (even though there were only 4 of us in the gondola). Once we got off, we found this super old cafeteria complete with an old school arcade. Check out the "Magic Mushroom" air hockey game. Strangely enough, there's also a temple founded in 725 A.D. Plus, the temple has Japan's largest Buddha that was carved out of the mountain side. I guess the magic mushroom metaphor is fitting because it was like going back in time!
This is where I provide a link because I don't have a camera:
http://www.town.kyonan.chiba.jp/nokogiriyama/nokogiriyama.htm
There are some really great photos, especially of the views from the cliffs that overlook the forests and ocean below.
Luckily, Shun (one of our Japanese friends) had a cellphone/camera, so there are some low resolution photos.
Every trip to a famous Japanese temple usually entails lots of exercise, and Nokogiri-yama was no exception. In all, we climbed nearly 2,000 steps to the different areas of the temple. It was nice to see young and old people alike huffing and puffing to see stone carvings from the 1700's. Plus, there wasn't a single liability release form or 'climb at your own risk, blah blah' sign anywhere! Nice to be back in a country that doesn't assume everyone is an idiot.
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