Down on the farm in Yamanashi Japan
October 24, 2008 · Print This Article
After a hard day of hiking up Akadake, Aya and I spent a very beautiful day at a public/university run farm in Yamanashi Prefecture. It was recommended to us by the staff of the mountain hut we stayed at the night before and the farm was far better than we could have imagined. I’ve never been to any place like it in Japan before. Aya immediately said it felt like New Zealand, and I agreed, as this place had rolling green hills surrounded by mountains and sheep in the pasture.
Seeing how open this farm was, and that it was run by the local government and a local university for educational purposes put aside any animal rights issues I might have had with it.
This farm is large, and by that I mean large. The initial pastures for ponies and sheep are not small by any account, but once one takes a small road leading through some trees to the cow pastures, then one truly beholds the vast expanses of this farm. It is many square kilometers in size and walking around the circumference would be a day-long task.
There were no other people in at all in this greater area of the farm. Aya and I had it totally to ourselves, save of course for the many cows, who took little notice of us. The views here were sweeping and bold.
To the north we were able to see the face of Akadake opposite to the one we climbed. We could first see this face as we drove to the farm and I remarked that it looked like a very serious mountain, daring any climber to try and summit it. I didn’t know it was the very same mountain we had summitted the day before at that time!
To the south were views of other mountains, including Mt. Fuji. Our spirits were greatly lifted to be in such a wide open space under such a blue sky. I cannot recommend visiting this farm enough.
YAMANASHI FARM PHOTO GALLERY:
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Hands on with animals at huge Yamanashi public farm!…
This huge publicly run, and free, farm in Yamanashi is a great escape from Tokyo. You can pet ponies, sheep and goats. The farm itself is several square kilometers, and largely empty! Stunning views of Akadake mountain and even Mt. Fuji on a clear d…
What a great day to be out hiking. I went to Koiwai Farm a few months ago and it was similar, but it wasn’t free.
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Those pics of you and the sheep, priceless! Ha!
And the one of you closing your eyes to pet the pony. Don’t know why but it had me laughing.
Looks like a great hike!
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Jason Collin Reply:
October 29th, 2008 at 1:22 AM
There are a couple of other sheep and animal photos with me recoiling I can show you the next time you come over. Those animals had a short tolerance for hugs!
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Those pics look like they could be some place in California.
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Jason Collin Reply:
October 30th, 2008 at 12:10 PM
Which area of California? When I move back to the U.S. I wouldn’t mind living in an area like this, as long as it’s not too far from the ocean!
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It kind of reminds me of the central coast area between Santa Barbara and Monterey.
What kind of work will you be doing when you move back?
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Jason Collin Reply:
November 4th, 2008 at 3:03 PM
I’ve been thinking of moving to exactly Santa Barbara so that’s good to hear.
I have no job lined up in the U.S. as of yet, but I’d like to do something in IT or photography and get out of teaching if I can. If you hear of any good job leads please pass them on!
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I was born and raised in Santa Barbara. Lived there until I was 21. One of the best places to live anywhere. But it is a very expensive place to live.
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