Hiking in Saitama mountains

My manager was kind enough to grant me a day off today. It was such a sunny day around 25℃, prefect for hiking!

I took on the train to Seibu-chichibu area located in the inner part of Saitama prefecture. Upon arriving at Agano Station, I looked for a map and fortunately found a route good enough for the day, about 11.5km and expected to take 4 hours to complete.

The hiking course is not as popular as Mount Takao. I encountered only 4-5 hikers in the mountains. There were villages and farms up in the hill, lots of nature and chipping sound of birds. My only concern was snakes and bears. Wouldn't want to meet one being alone so deep in the mountains!

Sapporo - Kaitaku no Mura

I spent a week in Sapporo for the Golden Week(national holidays of Japan, in the first week of May). The weather was perfect on the first day of my visit and I had the opportunity to visit this village(開拓の村), located about 15min bus ride from the Shin-Sapporo Station.

I felt like time-slipped to old Japanese community. There were so many old buildings with real furniture. We were free to walk into those buildings and explore to feel their lifestyle. Here I attached the pic taken in the woods village, which I like the most. Nobody came to this part as it was located quite far from the main sightseeing area. I really enjoyed sitting on the field in the sunlight. Only nature, away from Tokyo :)