Doshi Village, Kanagawa

My boyfriend surprised me one Friday by coming over just after lunch. "You're not working today?" I asked. He said: "I want to take you out, so I took a half day off work." o_O Wow.

He then requested I get my map of Kanagawa and explained the day's plan: a circuit drive through northern Kanagawa, west to Yamanashi, south via Shizuoka and east, returning to Kanagawa.

We drove north for about an hour before hitting unspoiled green territory. Along the route, we stopped several times to take photos...

View from a bridge, of a bridge! (laugh)

Looking back at the road: 

The green mountain view:

Continuing to enjoy the greenery, we found a sign pointing to something interesting. I asked to stop the car and explore. We found this.....

.....a suspension bridge! ^_^ This one looked much safer than the one I walked across in Thailand.

Cutenekko walks over: 

View from the bridge: 

View to the end of the bridge: 

Safely across! 

After walking over, we both commented that the experience was so scary! With each step, the bridge bobbed up and down quite a bit. At the end of the bridge, there is a trail leading up to the mountain. The signpost said that takes 3.5 hours, so we agreed to come back another time and challenge the mountain! ^_^

We continued to drive the winding, mountain roads and laughed as the Beatles song: "The Long and Winding Road" came on the radio. Northern Kanagawa is famous for fishing spots and campsites, and we passed many. A rest point on the road provided a map of this area, known as "Doshi Village", which is a scenic, rural road, following the valley river.

Cutenekko points out the current location: 

Close up the map (click to see details):

We entered Yamanashi prefecture, and came across one lake near Mt.Fuji. There are five famous lakes, which are known as "Fujigoko" [5 Fuji Lakes]. This one was called "Yamanaka-ko", but enjoys the nickname "Swan Lake", due to the birds wading here. The mist made it a little gloomy, but still lovely...

Looking out over the lake: 

On a clear day, you can easily see Mount Fuji from this point.

Five hours had already passed, so we headed back, but Samurai suggested stopping at a shopping mall along the route. A guy who wants to go shopping = a rare species! (laugh)

The mall was Gotemba Premium Outlet mall -- famous with Tokyo-ites who want to buy brand name goods at half the retail price. I didn't take photos, as it was getting dark, but there is an excellent website HERE. Highly recommended, even if you don't have money! (laugh)

Kanagawa and its surrounding prefectures are pretty spectacular. I hope you enjoyed today's drive. ^_^

Information about Doshi Mura (Doshi Village) activities and sights, can be found HERE. A map of the area is HERE. Yamanaka-ko (Lake Yamanaka) in Yamanashi prefecture, is HERE.