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14:24:12
We stopped off at Chofu on the way for complicated ticket related reasons, which also gave us the opportunity to buy some food - so in this random picture you can see Chie with shopping bags, plus a complete stranger in the foreground.
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15:05:55
So here we are at Takaosanguchi now - this is the cable car / chair lift station at the bottom.
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15:09:13
From our previous visit we had learnt that the chair lift is significantly more fun than the cable car (more of a rack railway), so the choice on the way up was an easy one!
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15:09:49
...so there now follows lots of chair lift pictures.
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15:09:59
An unfortunate pose/angle makes me look a bit fat in this one.
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15:10:24
Looking back down the chair lift course.
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15:10:41
Chie eating rice crackers on the way - bless her.
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15:12:12
A surruptitous (?) picture of the photographer who takes souvenir photographs of people, presumably only on the way down.
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15:13:31
At the time, I couldn't seem to get bored of taking chair lift pictures...
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15:14:35
...the view off to the left of a forest covered mountain side was very nice, not sure it really comes out in the pictures.
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15:14:45
At some points the whole thing is suspended above the tree canopy, with just a sort of wire mesh to catch anything/one that falls of the chair lift.
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15:15:18
More trees by the side.
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15:16:19
The view to the rear gets better and better the further you go up.
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15:19:31
...pretty much the same thing again.
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15:23:31
I think we must have got off the chair lift now, which deposits you must of the way up to the top.
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15:25:13
Hazy as always, but still some nice views to be had!
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15:26:43
Very mountainous around here...
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15:38:06
A very Japanese scene - a sakura tree by the side of the steps up to a temple / shrine.
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15:38:33
More sakura. The great thing about Takaosan is that the altitude makes it a bit colder, so the sakura blooms a little later than in Tokyo. So just when you think it is all over and done with for the year, you can take a short train ride and virtually speaking set the clock back by two or three weeks.
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15:42:15
Another very Japanese scene...
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15:42:28
Chie with some other blossom - not sure if this is a type of sakura or not.
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15:42:56
Me under the tree, probably looking a bit out of breath after having quite rapidly ascended a large number of steps!
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15:53:50
So I think we're at the official top bit there, where we stopped for a bit of a picnic... and of course, yet more cherry blossoms.
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15:53:58
A very nice tree, under which we sat for our hanami.
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15:54:13
Chie tucks into a very late lunch, with the sakura in the background.
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15:57:58
I think this was a kind of deep fried tofu.
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15:58:25
It was quite warm at this point, especially after our rapid ascent (we were hungry) and thus my very summery attire.
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16:07:56
More sakura and lovely blue sky.
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16:08:12
Hard to stop taking pictures of these trees!
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16:08:16
Lovely.
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16:17:55
A nice view out over several layers of mountains, from the top of Takaosan, nearby where we had lunch.
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16:18:01
The sun was quite bright, so all of the foreground came out very dark unfortunately...
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16:18:17
Still, you do at least get the layered effect on the mountains...
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16:21:06
Chie admires the view.
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16:21:56
A self timer shot of me and Chie, mostly obscuring the view behind us!
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16:23:28
Chie and the sakura tree where we'd had lunch again.
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16:26:12
A close-up on some of the flowers.
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16:26:24
Chie looking very happy underneath the sakura!
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16:26:56
Taken as we were leaving the lunch place...
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16:35:26
We decided to walk back to the cable car / chair lift station by a different route which was a bit quieter and more foresty.
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16:35:31
Errr, not much point to this pictures - just trees really!
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16:38:21
I like these little hollows in trees - I always imagine gnomes living in there.
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16:38:27
Chie drinking a can of hot tea, bought from the vending machines on the top (you know you're in Japan when mountain tops have restaurants and vending machines).
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16:42:42
A mountain pigeon.
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16:42:51
He seemed very domesticated.
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16:48:17
An tree with very interesting roots - it looks like it could wander off if it felt like it.
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16:52:07
A suspension bridge.
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16:53:16
Me on the bridge.
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16:54:00
Chie on the bridge.
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16:56:37
A very tall sakura tree.
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17:07:56
At the end of our walk now - unfortunately the chair lift closes a bit earlier, so we had to return by this, what the Japanese call a cable car (we'd probably say rack railway in England).
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17:15:32
Chie on the cable car, or whatever you call it.
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17:16:04
This sign here says something about "Mr. Ben" presumably nothing to do with the English kids TV series...?
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