Lake Tazawa has the distinction of being the deepest in Japan. I went for a swim, diving off a rock ledge at an isolated spot on the northern shore, and realized that the shore went STRAIGHT down. Normally I'm not queasy, but I just happened to remember all those old ghost stories about water spirits who occasionally like some warm company . . . and then felt silly about it a few minutes later (on shore). This gold statue depicts one of the three legends about the three lakes that used to exist in this area. It seems that the largest one, second in size only to Lake Biwa, was filled in (!) shortly after World War Two in an experiment with mechanized agriculture that was obviously a colossal flop. Leave it to a bureaucracy.

After circling the lake, and enjoying it immensely in the glorious weather, I returned to hang out at the beach area on the southern shore, where this mad mountain biker was getting his kicks by seeing how far he could ride his bike into the lake. At sunset, it made quite a surreal picture, and happily I was able to preserve it in a real one for posterity - and I even used it as my New Year's card (nengajo) for the year. We mad cyclists have to stick together. . .