Akagi Nights

A few nights back, some mates went up to Akagi to get their practice on. I joined them. and got reminded why I prefer Haruna when one feels the need to steer a little more in the corners if you know what I mean…

Naeba (holy shit that’s a lot of snowz!!)

It was a sunny day. My lady was over during the day. I needed a drive. It was the perfect setup for what would become a rather nice little trip into Niigata Prefecture.

The lady is from the mountains. She gets depressed with the lack of snow and flatness (compared to Nagano not Jo’burg) of Gunma. It had been a warm week and thus most of the better traveled roads into the mountains would likely be passable. I set off toward Minakami to show here how awesome the stretch of 17 between Shibs and Numata is (and to get some good cruise on the new sound system)

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Nagano Part 1

On the last day of 2010 I went over the border to The frozen mountainous wild lands of Nagano. Apart from the briefest of visits to the Karuizawa town limits when I drove Usui, It is a prefecture that I had never been to, never wanted to go to and for that matter never really knew anything about apart from the fact that it was cold, covered in snow and had monkeys that bathed in hot springs. It took on a different meaning when I started dating my lady, since it is where she hails from. Over the months we have been together, Her little siblings had grown to know and show fondness for me so We decided it was time that I got around to meeting them. So I boarded a Shinkansen (bullet train) and took the (rather short) trip into the unknown.

Hit the jump to

Gunma’s Nocturnal Wildlife

If you go up to the mountains at night you’re in for a big surprise…

If you go up to the mountains at night  you better have extra tires…

‘cos every drifter that ever there was, will gather there for certain because…

THEY CAN!

Drifting in the Mountains

Jen had some couch surfers over from Sweden and one of them had a particular love for drift and touge driving. After Jen told me how they planned to see real life mountain drifting I decided that I would rather take them instead. After all. It IS my scene here :p.

Anyway enjoy this short clip of what Gunma nightlife is REALLY about!

Snow in June

 

So a few weekends back I went for a drive into the mountains with Yuka. We headed up through Kusatsu onto one of the legendary mountains of Jomo.

Shirane-san.

From Wikipedia:
Mount Kusatsu-Shirane (草津白根山 Kusatsu Shirane-san^?) is a 2160 meter active volcano in Kusatsu, Gunma, Japan. It is called Kusatsu Shirane to differentiate it from the Mount Nikkō-Shirane on the other side of Gunma Prefecture. The summit of Kusatsu-Shirane volcano, located immediately north of Asama volcano, consists of a series of overlapping pyroclastic cones and three crater lakes. The largest of these is Yu-gama, an acidic turquoise-colored lake with rafts of yellow sulfur floating on its surface.

Not the first time I have ever been up this sulphorous beast but it was the first time I got to do it in my car. And as you may have guessed, the actual place was nothing compared to the drive there. 
Though to be fair it was one of those days that made you wonder at the splendour of this planet. The beautiful day also meant I could see Yu-gama which was obscured by mist the last time I went.
  Ok so maybe the destination was epic. While not as energising as the Typhoon was last year, I absolutely love the potential for disaster that active volcanoes represent. The sheer un fathomable power that they can unleash is mind-blowing, and while it would spell my certain death I would love to be there when it goes BOOM.

“I absolutely love the potential for disaster that active volcanoes represent”

I mean the only death better than that would be a heart attack while doing fun things in bed with all the members of SCANDAL and Koda Kumi… Or even better doing fun things in a bed with all the members of SCANDAL and Koda Kumi that happens to be in a hotel on an volcano!!!!

OK that was a bit of a tangent.

It was a great trip really. I got to drive in the mountains which is reason enough to do anything. I got to see snow in summer (albeit packed leftover snow), I got to escape the stifling head of Shibukawa and I got to spend some time with Yuka.

Update – Autumn Drive on Mt. Akagi

Ok so I want to try and get all, or at least most of this year’s backlog out over the next 2 days. First up… some pics of a drive I took on Akagi on the most perfect autumn day in November.

At the bottom the leaves were still in the process of changing which made for a beautiful initial ascent, but as the road got more fun, the tries became more barren… which is probably a good thing.

  Note the marks on the road ;)

 

This sign has something to do with driving on boobs :p

 

The lake was pretty as always but it was not as pretty as I remembered it. I somehow thought that Lake Akagi was prettier than Lake Haruna… but I was clearly mistaken. Being atop a mountain, it was also rather cold up there as well.

In addition to the beautiful Gunma landscape there was of course the local wildlife. None of the larger predators were spotted, however some of the smaller ones were out and about…

  Well there was ONE larger predator about, but it doesn’t count :P

I took the road less travelled home and was rewarded by both an amazing drive but an almost deserted road all the way to Numata and some spectacular views…Even found a back road to Minakami which I will explore when the current winter snows melt away.

 

All in all it was one of those trips that made the price of the Silvia worthwhile.