Totoro Forest!
I struggled bit to find something else to do in Tokorozawa to make it worth paying the train fare and going out there for a whole day, because the aviation museum itself seemed pretty small. I mean, there's the Seibu amusement park and indoor skiing park, but those aren't really things to go to randomly by yourself on a weekend. So instead I looked at google maps and saw that there's two big lakes nearby, the Tama and Sayama lakes. The latter seemed to have more nature around it, including a forest called "Totoro forest"... That sounded intriguing, so I rode the train for a few stations to Kyujomae station to go for a walk there too.
View on Tokorozawa from the Sayama dam... These buildings with the towers on top stand out a lot from a distance =O
A baseball stadium? I think I've seen this dome from the top of a mountain before! The roof is super white and shiny and there's no high buildings around it, so it really stands out among the trees, even from a large distance.
Sayama Dam... No boating or anything on the lake, 'cause it's a drinking water reservoir, but it looked pretty!
Apparently you can see Mt. Fuji in the distance on a clear day, but not today =( It's been cloudy with occasional rain all summer so far, it almost seems as if the rainy season never ended ^^; (Was Tenki no Ko a prophecy???)
The Totoro forest! Or at least one of them! I think the name was given to several areas, 'cause they all seemed to be numbered. It reminded me so much of the forest around Amamiya Shrine in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto! (I think I've heard that one being called "Totoro forest" too, now that I think about it..." Apparently this one is the real inspiration for the movie, though I think I've also heard that before about other places, so who knows...
Interesting mushrooms =O
Totoro Forest number 2, apparently
The sign had Totoro on it :3
The area wasn't all that big, and the trails were wet and slippery and I wasn't wearing my proper hiking shoes, and I was getting eaten by mosquitos and covered in spider webs (with spiders in them D= ) , so I didn't stay all that long... The place doesn't seem very well-visited ^^;;;;; And next door was the "Mushi no mori", or insect forest, apparently >wwww< But this part was so pretty! There were these random tea plantations in the forest too!
And this pretty shrine!
I decided to walk back over this normal road though, because the trails were just too slippery
For some reason the cast of Anohana was at Kyujomae station, even though it takes place in Chichibu? Though I guess it's the same railroad company (Seibu) operating the trains there.
The station seemed needlessly big for the few trains per hour that stopped there. xD 5 or 6 platforms, but only two seemed to be in use at the time. Maybe it's for when there's large events at the baseball stadium?
Anyway, I"m not sure if I'd recommend a trek to the "Totoro Forest" just to see it, as an anime 'pilgrimage' (It's quite a walk from the station too, about 25~30 minutes) but it's a nice place to drop by if you're in the area for something else and don't mind walking. Or if you have a car, I guess xD
View on Tokorozawa from the Sayama dam... These buildings with the towers on top stand out a lot from a distance =O
A baseball stadium? I think I've seen this dome from the top of a mountain before! The roof is super white and shiny and there's no high buildings around it, so it really stands out among the trees, even from a large distance.
Sayama Dam... No boating or anything on the lake, 'cause it's a drinking water reservoir, but it looked pretty!
Apparently you can see Mt. Fuji in the distance on a clear day, but not today =( It's been cloudy with occasional rain all summer so far, it almost seems as if the rainy season never ended ^^; (Was Tenki no Ko a prophecy???)
The Totoro forest! Or at least one of them! I think the name was given to several areas, 'cause they all seemed to be numbered. It reminded me so much of the forest around Amamiya Shrine in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto! (I think I've heard that one being called "Totoro forest" too, now that I think about it..." Apparently this one is the real inspiration for the movie, though I think I've also heard that before about other places, so who knows...
Interesting mushrooms =O
Totoro Forest number 2, apparently
The sign had Totoro on it :3
The area wasn't all that big, and the trails were wet and slippery and I wasn't wearing my proper hiking shoes, and I was getting eaten by mosquitos and covered in spider webs (with spiders in them D= ) , so I didn't stay all that long... The place doesn't seem very well-visited ^^;;;;; And next door was the "Mushi no mori", or insect forest, apparently >wwww< But this part was so pretty! There were these random tea plantations in the forest too!
And this pretty shrine!
I decided to walk back over this normal road though, because the trails were just too slippery
For some reason the cast of Anohana was at Kyujomae station, even though it takes place in Chichibu? Though I guess it's the same railroad company (Seibu) operating the trains there.
The station seemed needlessly big for the few trains per hour that stopped there. xD 5 or 6 platforms, but only two seemed to be in use at the time. Maybe it's for when there's large events at the baseball stadium?
Anyway, I"m not sure if I'd recommend a trek to the "Totoro Forest" just to see it, as an anime 'pilgrimage' (It's quite a walk from the station too, about 25~30 minutes) but it's a nice place to drop by if you're in the area for something else and don't mind walking. Or if you have a car, I guess xD