Back to Hakodate

I'm riding the ferry to Hakodate today.  When I left my house snow was starting to stick on the ground, and that looked kind of nice.  But on the ferry over all I can think of is that it really looks rather dreary today. 

Shingo Village and Lake Towada

I went to visit a friend's house in Shingo yesterday, and spent the night there.  Today we decided to go see Lake Towada as well.

Shingo is a charming village of about 3,000 people, and is the burial place of Jesus Christ and his brother.  Allegedly Jesus didn't die when he was crucified, but rather his brother Isukiri took his place while Jesus fled to Herai (now Shingo), Japan to become a rice farmer.  He lived to be 106 years old and had a wife and two daughters.

Lake Towada is 40 minutes south of Shingo.  The temperature was hovering just a few degrees above freezing so we didn't explore it to much.  We did go hike a small portion of the Oirase River immediately adjacent to Lake Towada which was absolutely gorgeous.