Overview of today:
From a buffet breakfast with people in their blue and white yukata, I explore gold: as a mine, panned for, and drunk in coffee. Next is the brilliant red of the beni hoppe strawberry, soon staining my greedy fingertips. A farmers market adds the colors of winter veggies. I meet a fellow American in his yakimono pottery store, and then enjoy the greenery and water of three Mishima parks, to finish with chasers of dark brown and strong yellow beer handcrafted in by another American now living in Numazu. The trip back to Tokyo is brightened by the white of falling slush.

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Overview of today:
After waking to the sea at my window in the morning at the Senoumi ryokan, I explore a series of spots that give a feeling for the daily life of the regular people who make Izu a special place. I chase cherry blossoms, admire an old house, see an ancient jinja with unusual stucco artwork nearby an entire museum dedicated to stucco and stucco artwork. An old school embraces traditional and modern ways. I take a boat ride into a radiant beauty, miss the sunset, and finally land in a stately hotel in the grand tradition.

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Overview of today:
Today, I explore the arts: professional geisha dance in Shizuoka’s popular resort town of Atami, high art in the Museum of Art, and folk art with waterfalls of handmade little dolls of fabric. Early cherry blossoms struggle to hang on through a cold, rainy, windy day. My evening’s seaside ryokan is enhanced with handmade touches centering on scrumptious fish rendered both artistically and as fine cuisine.

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Overview of today:
A misty mountain morning of wet snow and hot coffee. The bus back down to Senzu station and a one-room steam train museum of love. Return to Kanaya station on a local ancient train past the end-of-winter scenery. To Yaizu station up the coast, a taxi to the Sapporo Beer Brewery for a congenial glass of Ebisu and a tour. More rain and another taxi to the Yaizu Fish Market. A late lunch, and the weather is as cold as the fish, but everyone seems in excellent high spirits. Full of fish, I take a grateful taxi back to JR Yaizu station and onward to Shizuoka station. A bit of quick shopping and I take the Hikari No 480-the fastest way back to Tokyo next to a plane. More cold wind and rain, but spring is just around the corner.

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Overview of today:
From the Kodama #643 Shinkansen to Shizuoka station, changing quickly to the local for Kanaya station. …to the oldest steam powered locomotive in Japan, perhaps the only one! I have signed up for the Oigawa Railway’s “Winter in Sumata” package. There is live entertainment both in and outside the train car. Arriving at Senzu station, it’s back to nature time. I take a bus up precipitous roads to the Hiryu no Yado hotel. An evening stomp in my new mountain boots up into the mountains, through a tunnel, and then walk into the scariest moments of the entire Shizuoka experience, bar none. But, I make it back for wild boar winter soup.

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