Despite the fact that a 90 or so minute journey from the capital on a suitably bound shinkansen can easily deposit one deep into snowboarding territory, Tokyo and its surrounding areas get surprisingly little snow — and even when there is some it’s generally just a gentle sprinkling.
Yesterday, however, more of the white stuff fell than I’ve witnessed in a long while, making trains late and commuters even more crammed than usual. But at the same time, it also had the power to make this lake, which was once popular but is now largely unvisited and relatively rundown,
seem largely worth a look.
And all in all, really quite welcoming.
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh wow! I love these photos and I wanna go there someday. (I’m from the other end of the world unfortunately)
Wow. The last photo is unreal. The clear winter air and your camera really bring out the color of a monochrome setting. Nice work per usual.
Absolutely breathtaking. ^_^
Last pic is fantastic…
Thanks!
Funnily enough the pictures were something of an afterthought as the main reason for going there was to explore an abandoned youth hostel just out of shot in the third photo. But the rather fortunate snow covering meant I couldn’t leave without photographing the lake itself too.
wow. where is that?
wow. where is that? whats the lake called?
It’s in Saitama oskar, not too far north of Tokyo, but I can’t remember what the lake is called.
ah okay, thanks. “lived” in saitama once. in warabi, not quite as naturely beautiful thou…
This is really a beautiful scenery. We have snow here in Slovenia, but it’s slowly melting. It seems that it has lost that pureness.
It was only beautiful for a short while here too. The snow has pretty much all gone now.
Excellent pics! Pity the boats had to be cheap plastic ones, but nice composition nonetheless. Can’t have everything!
Thanks! Yeah, I know what you mean about the boats, but it’s amazing how the snow made even them looked pretty. If I went back today it would be a very different sight indeed.
The snowy hillside looks very nice. I was in Japan when it started snowing and left the following day. So I was happy to see snow and play with some before I left for back home. I came home to gray skies and heavy rain though lol.
Very cool find Lee, and yes it is not often to see snow or snow photographs from the surrounding Tokyo areas. I like the composition of the last photo.
Cheers Jason. Yeah, it was lucky. Would have been a very different place without snow. The second was is the one I prefer though.
uuf its freezing out there..