I saw it for the first time 5 years ago. In the train. Poster. There was a bus running through snow which was higher than the bus itself. Wow. Interesting. Where is it? Kurobe Tateyama Alpine Route. I see. And how I can get there? By train and by bus. Yes. And how much is it? Oh. More than 20 000 yen? So I will not see it. In that time I was a student without money. But after some time I`ve got a job, then salary and money came. I bought even a car. So one nice day I decided that I have to see IT. I packed all my stuff and started the car. I did not reserve any accommodation. I hoped I can find something when I get there. I`m happy that most of the Japanese high mountains are near Okazaki where I live. No more than 300 km away. I had to go almost 260 km because Tateyama is almost on the other side of Japan. I used the highway. You pay in Japan more for the highway fee than for a gasoline. My mini car Suzuki Alto is allowed to run only 80 km/h. I reached Tateyama area and started looking for some accommodation. I found a luxurious hotel called Kuroyon Royal Hotel. I don`t especially like such a good hotels, but there was nothing else.

Kuroyon Royal Hotel That was hotel in classic western style. I reserved the cheapest room for 8000 yen. When I entered the room, I noticed that the room is bigger and better than the one I reserved 10 minutes ago. I was little bit perplexed.

A hotel room When I asked what does this mean, the hotel girl replied, that there was no cheap room left, so they gave me a better one. But I don`t need to be worried, the price will remain the same. OK then. Hotel wasn`t crowded. There was also bydy-building room and big pool, where was nobody swimming. I couldn`t test it because of lack of swimnming suit. But I tried japanese hot-spa onsen. That was fantastic. There was small pool outside, so I relaxed under the heaven full of stars. Next day in the morning the luxurious breakfast and departure. First I had to go by car some kilometers uphill before reaching the Ogizava station. The parking was free of charge (incredible) and was still empty. Kurobe dam was build by the Japan electric pover company in the year 1963 for producing electricity. Because of difficult terrain, some tunnels needed to be built. Those tunnels are nowadays used by tourists. I bought 8000 Yen ticket, valid for whole route and back. First you go by trolleybus through 6,5 km long tunnel.

Trolleybus Tunnel is really narrow. 4 trolleybuses are running from each end of the tunnel and in the middle there is a plase where they can avoid.

TunnelInside the tunnel we crossed the border between Nagano and Toyama prefecture. Japanese like speaking machines, so if you are in the bus or elevator, you are still bombarded by some kind of informations, usually recorded at the tape. So they tell you how they are glad that you use their service. Then all informations about building dam and so on are spoken. On the end they say many thanks again. I`m not against it but sometimes less informations would be better. So we are now in the Kurobe dam station. From now on we have to go 300 m on foot, crossing the dam.

Kurobe damThis dam is the highest in Japan. 186 m. And there is a beautiful Alpen scenery in the sorroundings. I`m lucky. Because I started early morning, the spots are still not crowded. Fantastic. Next I have to go from the Kurobe ko station to the Kurobe daira station by the cable car. The hill is really steep and the vagoon has go through narrow tunnel.

Cable carKurobe daira is a small platform, from which is fantastic panoramatic view. And of course a souvenir shops everywhere.

RopewayThe next was ropeway to the Daikanbo station. The rope is stretched only between two poles, so you can see the terminal station. Then you have to go through other tunnel using trolleybus again and you`ll be in Murodo station on Tateyama mountain. (trolleybusses used here are the only ones in whole Japan) There you can find a hotel, big parking and many tourists which came here by bus from the opposite side. (fortunatelly cars are forbidden to enter) You`ll see here of course many photographers with single reflex lens cameras and tripods. But I can`t forget to write about the biggest attraction here. Yes, that snow valley.

Yuki no otani - snow valleyWhen spring starts and the Tateyama road is going to be open, first bulldozers have to clean the snow. As a result of this, that famous snow valley is created.

16. year of Heisei era, 4. months, 18. dayWhen I was there, the snow walls were 16 m high. Fantastic, I never saw something like this before. Half of the road is only for pedestrians, so they can walk near easily. I eat a lunch and made some small trip in the neighboroughs. And I found interesting board. There was written "POISONUS GUS" on it.

Japanese English It took me a while and I understood that I should be aware of, yes, "POISONOUS GAS"! This bad English is not so rare in Japan. Especially R and L is for Japanese difficult to distinguish. L does not exist in Japanese. There are on the web special pages, where that bad English is collected. You can visit it at www.engrish.com. But you have to know, that English is really difficult to learn for Japanese. So I don`t like making jokes about it and especially I hate those jokes made by the people who can`t speak Japanese at all.

Mountain hutI have to finish, there is nothing more to write. The whole weekend trip cost me about 30000 yen. Travelling is relatively expensive in Japan.
You can find other photoghraphs here.

That`s a question. Probably destiny. I liked from my childhood consumer electronics. Radios, TV`s, tape recorders, videos. Hi-Fi. Like a child we watched those goods in special shops in Prague (in special shops called Tuzex you could buy goods imported from "enemy" West, but you needed special money to buy it) So I could only dreamed about it. Prices were too expensive for me. Also I was wondering, why Japan, country without resources, is able to produce so many fine goods. Ans whole whole Soviet Union can't. When finally in the year 1989 communism in Czechoslovakia collapsed, I started to think about journey to Japan. But! I didn`t know nothing about japanese immigration law, I had no money and no internet connection. So I decided first to study Japanese and then, maybye..... So I bought in Germany Japanese textbooks and due to self-study, my Japanese teacher and watching Japanese satellite TV a miracle happened. After five years, I was able to speak via phone in Japanese. In that time I had some japanese pen-friends and in the year 1997 I made my first three months visit to Japan. But again! I understood, that this short time is not enough to improve my Japanese language. So I decided to study Japanese in Japan.

The Yamasa Institute in Okazaki cityThe school I found on internet is called The Yamasa Institute and from that time is connected with me. First I studied here for 18 months and then I got job here. I`m administering school servers, developing databases and distance learning system and other things. So that`s all for today. See you next time.

I noticed that thing last time when I was in Nagoya. And even Japanese citizens from Tokyo were surprised. There`s nothing like that in Tokyo yet. And Japanese like to be first. Nippon hatsu. That`s in. And now Nagoya is number one, not Tokyo. Coin lockers are located outside in modern area called Oasis 21. The "never seen before" thing is the locking system. After putting luggage in, you enter your mobile phone number. And then, when you want to open the door, all you have to do is call the coin locker number, which is written there. I didn`t test it so I`m not sure but I think that doing that phone call, the coin locker fee is automatically paid.

Oasis 21 with water roof

How to start? That`s a question. I should write something about why I decided to write blog. I used to send to my friends some mails about life in Japan but I stopped it. So why I`m starting the similar thing again? To be honest, there is so many blogs about Japan now but some of them really strange. Sometimes I`m wondering myself, if I really live in Japan. Of course even my opinions about Japan are subjective. That`s enough for today.

Kyoto autumn