The end of our Japan trip by “Carrot”
Donating money by buying a shingle for the Hojo Temple roof...includes a wish for world peace!! So going back a couple of weeks Google maps once again had us camping at the end of a closed road next to a closed campground. The road wasn't meant to be closed but looked like a goat track, and a big closed barrier. It was in the mountains next to a river and no one else there so no complaints from us. Next day a search on the net then led us to the opening of the Zao-Echo Line, a high road that is closed each winter. This is a big event. In the town there was a parade, marching girls, school band, excited parents and dark suited, bowing officials. After the parade we drove up to the gate for the 11.00 hrs opening. Two news helicopters overhead, motorbikes, classic sports cars and even a lone lycra cyclist waited for the snow wall lined road to open high in the Japanese alps. We were about number 10 in a convoy of hundreds. Walls of snow 3 metres high, sunny and then...