Mount Omuro

All our Japanese friends had left the hotel now (well, except for our new friends, of course). We were also told that the busy season was starting on Thursday. Thankfully, this did leave us Tuesday and Wednesday to get into the routine of things, under the watchful eye of our boss, Captain.

Anyway, we did have time to do a little bit of tourism also, as Captain kindly suggested to us to check out nearby Mount Omuro. Mount Omuro is a bit of a local landmark on the Izu peninsula. It's an extinct volcano, "only" about 580 meters high (the Japanese say it's shaped like an inverted rice bowl), but it can be seen from most places in the Izu Kogen area, where we are located. 

Rather than walk up, we decided on the lazy option and take the ski lift up. The weather is pretty scorching and super-humid in Japan this time of the year, but the main reason was of course (I mean, surely you can't imagine a bit of heat putting us off a bit of hiking?) that we were a bit short on time (had to get back before the lunch service started).

The views from up there were pretty nice - Izu Kogen sprawls between Mount Omuro and the coastline, whereas the view is a bit more "non-urban" towards the West. Apparently, one can see Mount Fuji on a clear day - unfortunately the sky wasn't particularly clear the day we were up there. Still, we had a nice walk around the crater (took us about 15 minutes in all), then we took the ski lift back down to the car.

A nice enough way to spend a summer morning!