My family visited Fukushima Prefecture, which is neighboring to my Niigata prefecture, crossing over mountains through tunnels. We drove a car. You might have an unfavorable image about the prefecture due to the disaster which happened last March, but because I do live as a neighbor, I paid a visit, hoping that the disaster-hit area will recover by a lot of tourism. Also, the second Monday on October each year falls on a national holiday called Sports Day, honoring Tokyo Olympics held in 1964. We had a three-consecutive holiday and enjoyed the trip. I'd like to write about it with some pictures.

 

 

 


Fukushima is surrounded by a lot of nature in inland areas. There is a famous mountain Mt. Bandai (磐梯山, Bandai-san). The mountain and its stretch is also designated as national park. There are three toll roads for tourists around the mountains. But this year all of them were free of charge to regain tourism. As they had several resting spaces and tourist spots on the way, many people parked their cars. The first photo is called Fudosawa Bridge (不動沢橋) which gave us a superb view.

 

 

 

Jododaira

Can you see tiny people climbing on the winding road?

 


Next we visited Jododaira (浄土平). It is one of places where most people stop. They had a higher flat land on which you can climb, with low shrubs. On the photo, you could see tiny humans on the winding trail. Many young and old were climbing in the line one after another. Then, we stopped at a gorge, too.

 

 


In addition, this may not be important for you, but personally I felt one thing while staying at a hotel and watching television. My view was, "There are so many pachinko commercials in MY prefecture, which is too many, compared to Fukushima." So-called pachinko in Japan looks like a pinball, but its machine is vertical. There are pachinko parlors across the country. Not to mention, Japanese pachinko is not a sling for kids. The gamble is totally legal but I think we have many ads in our prefecture. Even though I don't have a strong opinion, at least I hope my children will not be addictive to the holiday activity.

 

General image about a pachinko parlor (From Wikipedia)

 


My children and husband seemed to enjoy nature in Fukushima with fresh air. Why don't you visit Fukushima. It's a pleasure land.