Shizuoka - Part I

Fujika, our Japanese daughter, and her family invited us for the weekend to Shizuoka.
It’s a small city but it’s set in a fabulous location. Fujisan, Mount Fuji, is by far the most outstanding backdrop any city could ever hope for.
Fujika met us at the train station and took us on a tour of this great city. We took a bus up to Nihondaira. This is a park/tourist spot where there is a fabulous, photo opportunity view of Mt. Fuji. There are wonderful trails to hike around on and fantastic shots. It would be a great place to go year-round and get pictures of the mountain during all seasons. There’s also a shrine there that is only accessible by cable car…we saved that for another trip. Next we traveled back down to Shizuoka and went upstairs in a large office building. Believe it or not, they have dedicated on whole floor to tourists – you have a fabulous view of the entire city up on the 14th floor (or thereabouts). It was a great way to see the entire city - as well as Mt Fuji. We went down to Sumpu Park, where there once was a great castle, though all that now remains is the gateway. They have a fabulous garden there as well as many walkways and places for the children to play – great for just relaxing. It is so well cared for that, believe it or not, the gardeners were carefully pruning the tree to give it the Japanese bonsai look. We were probably there for an hour and they (3 men) were still working on the one tree.
Fujika kept telling us about the lights we could see at night and oh my gosh – I was not prepared for them. The city has lit up a few city blocks – the entire length of a mid-city park and a number of streets around it. It is so reminiscent of the zoo. Every tree, every light pole, everything available was a cascade of colors. The large building at the end of the park area had a huge tree displayed on it, making you think of Rockefeller Center. It was really spectacular! The streets are closed to cars on the weekends so shoppers were combing the streets for special deals. Every story was playing Christmas carols. It really was a walk down Disneyland Main Street at Christmas – only this time it was in Japan!