Oze trekking

Those up for a slightly more ambitious destination than Meguro to hike in the sweltering Japanese summer may want to consider the Oze national park. These elevated mountains, marshlands and forests can be found about 150km north out of Tokyo, across the quadruple boundary of Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata and Fukushima prefectures.

The photos in here come from a venture from the Gunma direction, through a forest whose bird songs and thick green foliage give it an air not far off a tropical rainforest, and at present the sun here is certainly scorching enough. Then the terrain opens up onto a splendid marsh, vibrant with bizarre plants and creatures sheltered from the rest of the country by looming peaks.

What you'll see is highly seasonal. This is reputedly a superb place to come for autumn colours; but now in the midst of summer, expect the lushness of green from every direction. Click the expander below to see.

Oh, and watch out for bears.

ナマコ?

イソギンチャク?

There are plenty of these around, for the bears...

And a rarity: the emergency helicopter swooping in to airlift some persons in duress out of the field. It is presumable that they came to grief in the heat, which reached up to 37 Celsius at times.

And some further colourful examples of nature:

The team!