Inspirations

These women have my dream job:  marrying fashion and technology

Amber Venz Box

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/27/rewardstyle-liketoknow-it-sparks-1-billion-in-retail-sales.html

and Chloe Watts

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/dream-job-chloe-watts-fashion-technologist

My favorite quote is from Chloe- "If you dream job doesn't exist, create it"

Weekend at Dog Woof Resort

I am the world's biggest dog lover, or close to it.  Most people who know me say I spoil my dogs a little too much, and I don't disagree but I see it as extra loving and I think it's fun and it makes me feel good.  

Recently we went to the Mt. Fuji area for a long weekend.  One of the best parts was we took the punks with us!!!  We stayed at Dog Resort Woof in Yamanakako near Yamanakako lake, one of five lakes in the Mt. Fuji area.  I have mixed, and sometimes not so mixed feelings about this country, but my feelings about that area is as clear as the lake water- love it!!!  

First up, the grounds and facilities.  Nestled in the gorgeous trees on the east side of Mt. Fuji, there is one main building that houses most of the rooms, reception, cafe, restaurant, shop, pools, massage facilities, and exercise area.  Dogs are allowed everywhere.  Premium rooms (or cabins) are available, they come with a private fenced in area and meal delivery.  

There are half a dozen dog runs, all but one are outdoors (the indoor one is good sized and was probably a three court indoor tennis facility.)  There's plenty of room for dogs to run around and sniff butts and do their business.  Our punks didn't run as much as some of the other dogs, but they sure enjoyed being outdoors and off leash and meeting other dogs.  And coming from a ho hum industrial city, we reveled in the fresh air.  

Quite difficult to get all three to look in the same direction (especially without treats)

Playing freely in fresh air.  Imagine that

Gorgeous grounds

The "forest" run

One side of the resort faces Mt. Fuji, and we splurged and got a room facing the great mountain.  Worth every penny (or yen.)  This was our view at sunrise.  So beautiful to wake up to, after being awaken by the Redhead.

Not photoshopped and no filter

While this is a resort, our room was fairly spartan.  We had two single beds, a desk, vanity, dorm room size refrigerator (came in handy for drinks and dog food,) a coffee table, and a couch.  The beds were firm, which we like, but the pillows were too hard for my taste.  I probably ended up not using it.  There was also an AC that worked well. Note: dogs are not allowed on beds, they are to be in their crates when you are out of the room.  There's a 3000 yen fine for dogs on beds.  I am not sure how they would know if your dogs were on the beds or not, but you've been forewarned...

Although our room was rather plain, the toiletries smelled and felt fancy.  I am not familiar with these brands, but I used everything:  shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body oil, and body lotion.  They all had pleasant, not overpowering scents, and did their job rather well.  I will be looking for these in stores.

Food at the resort is available in the restaurant (two seatings a day, breakfast and dinner) and in the cafe.  There is no food vending available, so after 9 p.m. you will have to venture into town.  This being a dog resort, and a dog resort in Japan no less, you can take your dog to the restaurant and the cafe.  There are large hooks to latch your puppy's leash onto.  

Breakfast at the restaurant is a buffet with both Japanese and Western food. I love places that offer both.  Dinner is a salad, entree, and dessert, in addition to all you can eat soup, rice, bread, coffee, and tea.  Dinner is served like this:

Beef, lobster, and pineapple ice cream dessert

Not our dog, but so cute!!!

Aesthetically pleasing but our entrees either lacked taste or tasted weird.  You can order beer or wine.  By comparison, breakfast was much much better tasting.

We took our punks to breakfast.  It was their first time in a restaurant and although we did not order food for them (which you can do from a separate menu,) you bet they got some table scraps.  I'm sure they were overwhelmed.  I'm proud to say they behaved much better than some of the other dogs.

Daddy keeping an eye on them

Yes I need a haircut

We took advantage of the beautiful weather (much better than Nagoya, surprise) and walked around Lake Yamanakako and did some hiking.  There were signs warning of bears in the woods which made me nervous, but my better half said Japanese bears are small.  To me, a bear is a bear.  Honestly I was unable to fully relax.  I devised a plan in case we came upon one, but thankfully we didn't.  We did have a bunch of deer run across the woods, a little close to us, which got the dogs very excited.  I was nervous about that too, probably because I am a city girl.

We exited the woods into the Yamanakako Hanano Miyako Koen, which was just breathtaking and full of people.  All the flowers against Mt. Fuji was like being in a painting.

After recovering from our hike we took the punks back to our room for their nap.  Then we made our way to Lake Kawaguchi and Kachi Kachi Mountain.  En route we stopped for lunch and of course it had to be at a brewery.  We went to Fujiyama Brewery in a large rest stop which also houses Mont Bell, a general store, farmers market, kids' indoor playground, and is one of the popular starting points to trek up to the top of Mt. Fuji.  

Flight of the three beers offered (pilsner, dunkel, weizen)

Beautiful copper tanks

The menu is typical Japanese family restaurant, which is to say there was a smorgasbord of offerings from katsu to pasta to salads to burgers to pizza and so on.  The food (and beer) came out amazingly fast.  It will never cease to puzzle and amaze me how slow some things are in Japan, and how fast other things are.  I do wish for more in the latter category.

About 10-15 minutes down the road, we arrived in the town area of Lake Kawaguchi.  Its beauty is reminiscent of the southwest Bavaria area of Germany, especially where the "Cinderella" castle is located.  We took the tram up to the top of Mt. Kachi Kachi, which offered this view:

This being Japan, you can buy Japanese snacks (including soft serve) and trinkets where the tram drops you off.  The large deck provides 360 degree views of the surrounding area.  And if you are so inclined, you can hike down the other side of the mountain.
Mount Kachi Kachi is the home of the famous folklore "Kachi Kachi Yama," which I had heard of but did not know in detail.  Suffice it to say I was greatly disturbed by the violence of the story, and the statues portraying the rabbit and the tanuki (Japanese racoon dog.)  For a country obsessed with kawaii, I find it strange that cute animals were used in the story.  I think they should have used a wolverine (or other not so cute animal) instead of a rabbit, at a minimum.

You can read all about the story on these boards

Looks cute, but the rabbit is really torturing the racoon dog

Now, back to cuteness.  A few more pictures of my family at the resort:

One last thing...no dog would ever do this, so the resort should find a new sign: