Nagano

At the Olympic ski jump you have your choice: high or higher. They jump for joy in the summer. This is possible because the surface is covered with stiff, green plastic “spaghetti.”

We stayed with our friends Tatsuo and Midori Asano at their mountain “cabin.” In winter there are flocks of skiers in Nagano, and in summer flocks of hikers. In the spring when we were there ... just phlox of splendor.

Nagano is full of serious peaks. The right-most tall one Tatsuo climbed ... in winter!

Nagano is full of beautiful flowers. The right-most white one Midori drew ... in pastels.

We hiked extensively and discovered that not all beautiful ponds in Japan are in cultivated gardens!

We tried several of the good cafes in the area, but it was more fun to forage with Asanos. Here Midori has found wasabi, and we ate the leaves.

In Japan there is no food pyramid. For good health, eat 30 foods per day. Midori fixed breakfeasts for us composed of 15 to 17 foods, getting us off to a fast start. Tatsuo’s barbeque finished off the 30. (Those shitakes came from the woods!)