Oze National Park

This is Genko and me hanging out in the Oze National Park in Gunma prefecture where I had the unique and fantastic opportunity to stay in a traditional Japanese home with my YTT friend Yoko. This is her darling nephew who happened to be staying with his grandparents while I was there.

To say this park is gorgeous would really be a gross understatement. OK, after a typhoon in Taiwan and an earthquake my first night in Japan, I was ready for something serene and beautiful. I was lucky enough to go with Yoko and her family on their planned hike which was a 16 km loop through Oze National Park. What a day it was without a cloud in the sky and absolutely gorgeous scenery throughout.

The part of the park we hiked is a huge wetland area with km after km of raised wooden walking paths as you can see below where Yoko is headed off the distance. There were tons of wildflowers in bloom and yet it was not the peak wildflower time. The rest stations throughout the park were huge houses with the opportunity to rent a space to roll out a futon and sleep for a night or longer. I was quite fascinated with the enormous range of hikers out on this day including very small children and many mature adults, some that were easily in their seventies.

Our hike was supplemented by delicious homemade rice balls thoughtfully prepared by Yoko's Mom. These wonderful rolls were stuffed with tuna, Japanese pickles, black sesame, and other interesting vegetables. Delicious.

This was view while walking through the wetlands. They are lotus ponds throughout the wetlands and the lotus flowers opened up in the afternoon. It was very special indeed.

This is one of the informative signs at one of the rest areaS. Apparently bears poop on toilets and this is good for the environment. LOL!!! The Japanese toilets are pretty special...I'd want to use them even if I was a bear.