My latest adventure

Ah, the hills Tohoku. To be more specific, the mountains of Yamagata. This week I took a short journey to the north in Honshu island, and visited some cities with ancient pasts, matched with gorgeous landscape. The trip was amazing (and expensive) and worth all the train hopping I had to do in order to get to some of these places. Now most tourists don't visit the Tohoku region because of its remote atmosphere. Also, there isn't much claim to fame in this place. However, one of my favorite poets, Matsuo Basho, traveled to this place and wrote about it in his famed Oku no Hosomichi.

It's always great to read about something in a text and then see it for real in a different text (i.e. the actual historical setting). My journey took me from Basho's birthplace in Iga Ueno, and ended at his burial site in Otsu. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole vacation, and would love to do it again. It almost seemed like a field trip that some literature class would take. Of course I did some extra things like climbing a few mountains. Hey, here's me at the top of Mt. Zao--1841 meters! It was a great feeling to finally get to the top. I met some nice Japanese people, one of whom spoke English quite well. I need to send her some pictures!