Hakone 22 11 2010 002

Dramatic scenery !

Yes, basically were are on the edge of a volcano! The settlement below looks quite close, but with the terrain it is about an hour by car.

I take it it's no longer active? Does it get very cold in winter?:-)

The picture has a magical quality... well-photographed :o)

Hi Bornagain and Terr. Thanks for the comments. Oh, it is very much still active. That is why we have such sulphurous hotspring water (onsen in Japanese). There are vents everywhere, and some times you get a waft of the sulphur. From the natural vents the water is piped to house through pipes and gullys. The clever thing is that the gully is semi open and under one side of the road, so that when it snows heavily (as it always does) this side of the road is, in theory, kept clear of snow. I'll get a pciture of the system next time I'm up there. I was a bit scared once when owing to a semi lifted slab and leaf blockage: suddenly this boiling hot water gushed out of the road, many gallons per second, and kept going for about 10 minutes. Eventually the flow subsided. I guess they probably opened a valve higher up to release some pressure or something, but the thought of this uncontrollable boiling water was a bit disconcerting. It has not happened since, though I have not yet got aroung to clearing the leaves. To answer another question, yes, at 800 metres, we apparently (I have only had the property since September) get snowed in Jan - Feb pretty much every winter. Rgds, ptarotuos

What a fantastic place and such ingenious use of natural resources:-)