Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Jukkoku-Toge Pass

 今日のテーマは、伊豆半島の『十国峠』。

英語の興味がある方なら、何卒ＩＤＣＳ英会話のホームページの御覧ください。



Assuming you have good weather, Jukkoku Pass offers photographers and tourists clear views of Sagami Bay to the east, Suruga Bay to the west, Izu Peninsula to the south, and Mt. Fuji to the north. The summit is mostly covered in various kinds of tall grasses, meaning that there are no tall trees to obstruct your view.

For this photo shoot, we (my border collie and I) arrived at the summit around 1:00 a.m.

My first stop was at a small observatory in Himenosawa Park (姫の沢公園展望台). From the observatory, I was able to locate the trailhead to the summit and catch a view of the nightscape of city lights on the coast of Surga Bay to the west.

After reaching the summit of Jukkoku-Toge Pass (十国峠), I made an attempt at astrophotography. Unfortunately, I had not anticipated the amount of light pollution that would be present, and more importantly, I had not considered the wind-chill factor when selecting the gloves I took with me.

With the winds blowing hard over the summit in the dead of winter at night, I should have brought gloves that provide  greater protection against the cold.

I gave up on shooting the stars and went with some nightscape photography Yugawaramachi (湯河原町), a coastal town to the east on the shores of Sagami Bay (相模湾).

Reaching my limit of cold endurance, we headed back to the car to wait out the cold winds until sunrise.

We headed back to the summit just after sunrise as the summit warmed up under clear skies and light winds.

The first shot of Mt. Fuji was mediocre. The foreground has a lot of distractions and manmade objects in the scene. In the future, I would like to come back and reshoot Mt. Fuji with a longer lens. I would also like to scout around for some mountain trails nearby where I can recompose the shot with some trees or grasses in the foreground to obscure the buildings and power lines.

The next shot is looking south along the eastern coastline of the Izu Peninsula (伊豆半島). Again, with a longer lens or shooting from a lower shooting position, I could have cut out the man-made structures.

The snapshot of Suruga Bay (駿河湾) is nothing special. I just wanted to give future visitors an idea of how far away you can see to the west assuming you have good weather.

The shot of the cable car tracks is probably my favorite shot from this outing. The sun was still low enough to not wash out the colors of the roofs, trees, bushes and train tracks. I love the straight lines of the galvanized metal roof and the curved lines of the tracks in the mid-ground. The aluminum parts of the concrete poles have a grayish silver tone that complimented the dark green and gray winter foliage on both sides of the tracks.

The next shot of my dog warming up in a sunny spot under the huge Jukkoku-Touge (十国峠) sign is just the classic tourist snapshot that tourist take. This shot is to simply document the fact that my dog and I were here in person.

The shot of  Mt. Fuji with the cable-car station and grassy fields in the foreground is my second favorite shot. There was a similar photo like this online with drab colors. Their composition is what tempted me to come here and try my hand at shooting this location in hopes of adding drama by making use of early morning golden light. 

Furthermore, this shot cuts out all of the distracting houses, factories, buildings, and power lines that could be seen in previous shots. The contrast of gold in the foreground, brown in the mid-ground, and the deep blues and pure white of Mt. Fuji is pleasing to my eye. I like the three major tones, and the station building on the upper right helps to show the scale of Mt. Fuji I hope.

The shot of me with my border collie was purely accidental. I tried to get her to pose for me so that I could focus my lens directly on her. Sadly, I ran out of doggie treats and she kept following me back to the camera. I set the timer on the shutter and planned on stepping back out of the scene. Later when checking the shot, I realized this was a warm shot between me and her, so I just kept it.

The final shot is my third favorite shot. Two primary colors: gold and blue. And, a small dabble of faint clouds softly floating by. This is more of an abstract shot, which looks like it could have been taken anywhere in the world where tall grasses grow or even on the sides of a corn field in the American Midwest.

I hope you enjoyed this mishmash of snapshots, carefully composed landscape shots, the nightscape photo, and the overall natural  scenery presented throughout the video.


View of Japanese Coastal Resort Town

Yugawara is a small coastal town on the eastern coast of the Ashigarashimo District, Kanagawa Prefecture in central Japan. The town is most famous for its hot-spring onsen resorts. 

This shot was taken at the summit of Jukkoku-Toge Pass, where can view Suruga Bay to the west and Sagami Bay to the east. Distant lights are from the western shores of Shonan Bay, which include the cities of Fujisawa, Kamakura, Zushi, and the rest of the Miura Peninsula.

Snow-Capped Peak of Volcano

Shot of the southeastern slope of Mt. Fuji as seen from the summit of Jukkoku-Toge pass in Shizuoka Prefecture. 

From this view, we can see a crater halfway up volcano on the southern slope. This crater formed on Dec. 16 1707 after the Hoei Eruption, which lasted several weeks. Ash fell over vast regions of eastern Japan including as far away as Tokyo causing mass starvation as crops were destroyed. 

The beauty and grace of Mt. Fuji belies her nature of mass destruction.


Ridges Leading to the Ocean

Located about 100 km south-west of Tokyo, the eastern coast of the Izu Peninsula is rich in geological remnants of crustal deformations, terrestrial and submarine volcanoes, lava flows, lava domes, and many more geoscientific wonders. 

Many small villages and towns have sprouted up in the tiny valleys between each mountain ridge, with several becoming famous for their hot-spring resorts. This entire coastline features lush landscapes, rugged shorelines, and white-sand beaches. 

In 2018, UNESCO awarded the Global Geopark designation to Izu Peninsula for its rarity of numerous geological features.

Port City on the Bay

From the summit of Jukkoku-Toge, Numazu city lies to the west on the shores of Suruga Bay, approximately 130 km (81 mi) west of Tokyo. Records from the Nara Period (710 to 794) indicate that this ancient settlement was the capital of the Suruga Province. 

Destroyed by air raid bombings on July 17, 1945, the city recovered to become an industrial center, financial center, and a major fishing port producing more than half of Japan’s total output of dried horse mackerel. 

The region is also known for its mandarin oranges, green tea production, mild winters, and a major gateway to popular tourist destinations including Mt. Fuji, Hakone, and the Izu Peninsula.

Cable Car to Summit

Operations for this cable car started in 1956 as a way to promote tourism. Rides only take 3 minutes to reach the summit of the Jukkoku-Toge Pass and runs between 8:50 a.m. and 4:50 p.m. 

Although I arrived on the summit at around 1:00 a.m., signs at the observatory revealed that the cable car, rest house, and parking lot were temporarily closed for several weeks due to COVID-19 precautions. Once the pandemic comes to a close, visitors can bring their dog with them on the cable car (¥730 for adults; ¥370 for children; and ¥200 for a dog). 

Mamezakura cherry blossom trees used to grow naturally on the slopes leading to the summit. A local landscaping company planted an additional 80 mamezakura cherry blossom trees along the route of the cable car to celebrate their 90th anniversary in April 2019. In addition, if you visit in spring, you can enjoy azaleas in full bloom. 

Border Collie on Summit

Am always amazed at how resilient she is to the cold. It was about 3 degrees below freezing when we arrived at night, but with the wind, the summit felt a lot colder. As soon as the sun rose, however, she found a warm spot to wait while I finished my photo shoot. 

Field of Grasses on Summit

Just a short walk from the Jukkoku Pass cable car station at the summit, there is a large, wide grassy area planted with picris flowers (bristly oxtongue) that bloom in summer creating a lovely yellow carpet of blossoms.

Japanese pampas grass (susuki) also flourishes under the harsh windy conditions on the summit. The grass is especially beautiful in autumn when the plumes turn a shimmering, silvery gold color.
 
Border Collie on Grassy Summit

We played fetch with a stick for a few minutes. Afterwards, I gave her a treat for being a good girl and great photo companion.

There are actually two dog runs on this summit, but we arrived a bit past midnight and started to head home before the cable car started operating, which is when staff arrive to unlock the dog runs.

Fluttering of Clouds

Sparse wispy clouds slowly floating over the summer gave way to heavy snowstorms only a day later.
The Japanese pampas grass reminds me of corn stalks in autumn. Come summer, the grass will turn green with silver plumes.
Below is a list of the equipment I took with me on this photo shoot.

Camera Gear:

Pentax K-1 Mark II  (K1-II)
https://amzn.to/3gM4KqJ
Standard zoom lens: Pentax D FA 28-105mm f3.5-5.6ed DC WR HD Lens
https://amzn.to/3JlBBPs
Tripod: Manfrotto MT190CXPRO4 (carbon fiber legs with quick locking clamps)
https://amzn.to/2Fqpghd
Ball head: Manfrotto Cloud XPRO Series Ballhead BHQ2 with 200PL locking plate
https://amzn.to/3g6WI9j

Video Gear:

Canon EOS Kiss M/M50 Double Zoom Kit
https://amzn.to/2Ef3mNg
SIGMA 16mm F1.4 DC DN | Contemporary C017 (Canon EF-M Mount, APS-C Size, Mirrorless Only)
https://amzn.to/3axkn1w
PolarPro 67mm QuartzLine Circular Polarizer Filter
https://amzn.to/2FUTBVS
Zhiyun Weebill-S Gimbal
https://amzn.to/32c0FFL
RODE Road Wireless GO Wireless Microphone System WIGO
https://amzn.to/35lygz1

Filters & Filter Systems:

PolarPro QuartzLine ND 64 Filter - 67mm (ND64 6-stop reduction in light)
https://amzn.to/2J9VSOM
PolarPro QuartzLine ND1000 Filter - 67mm (ND1000 10-stop reduction in light)
https://amzn.to/39rwWwW
PolarPro QuartzLine ND100k Filter - 67mm (ND100K 15-stop reduction in light)
https://amzn.to/3q7YHAm
PolarPro QuartzLine Circular Polarizer - 67mm
https://amzn.to/3fOwgCY
PolarPro Summit | Landscape Filter System Custom Kit (Core, Thread Plate, ND4-GR filter, ND8-GR filter, Circular Polarizer)
https://amzn.to/37hjkBv

Pack:

F-stop Tilopa 50L Adventure and Travel Camera Backpack (Essentials Bundle: backpack, rain cover, internal camera unit)
https://amzn.to/2XfjDIE
F-stop Tripod Bag (large)
https://amzn.to/3pXW57n

*Links to Amazon are affiliated links, which means that if you choose to purchase an item that I may get a small commission, which has no effect on your purchase price whatsoever.

Music tracks used in the YouTube video were licensed through Epidemic Sound. Visit this link to subscribe:


“Morning Comes” composed by Christian Nanzell and performed by Mochas.
“Meadow Thoughts” composed by Cody Butler and performed by Cody Francis.
“On A Clear Morning” composed and performed by Sunfish Grove.
“Beach Memories” composed by Niclas Gustavsson and performed by Sum Wave.
“Bermuda” composed by Henrik Olsson and performed by Ooyy.

Creative Commons License
Photos used with permission.
Pix4Japan by Iketani, Daisei is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license are available at Pix4Japan.

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Location: Jukkoku Pass Station, Kuwahara, Kannami, Tagata District, Shizuoka 419-0101, Japan

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