Urabandai Mountain Walks


A trail walk at Grandeco under the azure sky 青空の下、裏磐梯グランデコの森林遊歩道を歩く



A view of autumn foliage seen from a gondola ゴンドラから眺める紅葉


Urabandai Lakeside Walks


Goshikinuma hiking guide map

(L) Lake Yanagi and lakeside trail 柳湖と湖畔遊歩道 (R) Ao Pond aoike 青池

Akanuma Pond
Akanuma ("Red Pond") is a small pond actually greener than it is red, but with a unique reddish
outline from the high iron content of it water seeping into the roots of the reeds in it and tinting them red.
赤沼は赤というより緑色に近い小さな池、鉄分を多く含む水が葦の根に染み込み、赤く染まることで、独特の赤みがかった輪郭をしています

Tatsu-numa ("Dragon Lake") is distinguished by having numerous little cascades of water flowing
into it, and having water that is particularly changeable in color, tending towards green in winter,
and bright blue in spring.
龍沼（「竜の湖」）は、無数の小さな滝が流れ込むことで特徴づけられ、冬は緑色、春は鮮やかな青色と、水の色が特に変化に富んでいます

Benten swamp　弁天沼

(L) Benten swamp Benten-numa (Benten is the Japanese goddess of the arts and wisdom): the second largest of the five lakes, and
perhaps named after a goddess for the almost mysterious depth and mix of rich blues and greens visible in the water.
弁天沼（弁天は芸術と知恵を司る日本の女神）：五つの湖の中で2番目に大きい沼。その神秘的な深さと、水面に浮かぶ濃い青と緑が織りなす
色彩から、女神にちなんで名付けられたのかもしれません
(R) Midoro Pond
Midoro-numa ("Deep Mud Lake") is a butterfly-shaped pond surrounded by reeds and bulrushes, and its water is, much like Akanuma,
emerald green but with reddish tinges in its plant life.
みどろ沼は、葦やガマに囲まれた蝶のような形の池で、水色は赤沼と同じくエメラルドグリーンですが、植物には赤みがかった色合いが見られます


Lake Bishamon　毘沙門沼

(L) Vines with purple-colored fruits of akebi were found in the forest close to a lake. 湖畔の森で紫色の実をつけたアケビの蔓
(R) Lake Bishamon: Mt Bandai is far in the back.毘沙門沼の奥には磐梯山が



Goshikinuma, the "Five Colored Marshes," is a group of very picturesque lakes and ponds on a highland plain
in Bandai-Asahi National Park, , about 3 km north of the foot of Mt. Bandai. They have existed only since 1887,
when Mt. Bandai erupted, generating a cascade of displaced earth and rubble that blocked in various places
what was a river, creating ponds and lakes. From this the mineraloid, allophane
(consisting mainly of aluminum and silicon), leached into the newly formed lakes, and the sludge at the bottom
of the most of the lakes contains this and other chemicals that give the water a distinctive deep-blue tint
that changes subtly with the sunshine. Furthermore, a combination of iron oxide and various kinds of plants
and algae in the lakes produced a reddish tinge often evident in some of the lakes. Each lake or pond,
therefore, has a different, unusually vivid, color, which can change day-to-day or throughout the year.

The 3,300 m-long hiking trail takes nearly two hours to walk, while photographing the landscape. It takes
hikers around mysterical five lakes and ponds of Goshikinuma, which means 'five colored lakes and ponds.'
There is a slight elevation change, caution is needed due to scattered rocks and mud caused by rain.


「五色沼」は、磐梯朝日国立公園内の高原平野に点在する、絵のように美しい湖沼群です。磐梯山の麓から北へ
約3kmの場所に点在しています。沼は1887年に磐梯山が噴火して以来、その姿を現しました。噴火により、
土砂や瓦礫が堆積し、川筋が堰き止められ、池や湖が形成されたのです。この噴火によって、アロフェン
（主にアルミニウムとケイ素）という鉱物が新たに形成された湖沼に浸出しました。また、ほとんどの湖沼の
底に堆積したヘドロには、アロフェンをはじめとする様々な化学物質が含まれており、水は独特の深い青色を
呈しています。この色は、日光によって微妙に変化します。さらに、湖沼に生息する様々な植物や藻類と
酸化鉄が混ざり合い、赤みがかった色合いを呈しています。湖や池は、それぞれが異なり、非常に鮮やかな
色をしており、その色は日々、あるいは一年を通して変化します。

全長3,300メートルのハイキングコースは、景色を写真に撮りながら歩くと約2時間かかります。 五色沼の神秘的な
5つの湖沼の標高差がわずかで、雨による岩や泥に注意が必要です。



(L) A blue clear sky after long rainy days: The picture was taken from a shinkansen bullet train.
(R) Inawashiro JR Station　JR猪苗代駅

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Urabandai Lakeside Resort

Urabandai Lake Resort is a huge hotel, which has 324 guest rooms. It was built in 1990 at cost of 32 billion yen
( 364 million Us dollars ),at the time of the peak of the bubble economy. In December 2016, all guest rooms became
smoke-free. A smoking room is provided on the first floor; however, the entrance door is sometimes not closed.
Smoking is allowed in the bar on the third floor. During a business hour,door is kept open. They appear to ignore to
prevent a harmful side smoke.It is located in the starting point to walk to Lake Hibara and Goshikinuma,
"Five Colored Marshes." A free shuttle bus is operated from JR Inawashiro station three times a day.


(L) Exterior ホテル外観 (R) Entrance hall with a decoration for a Halloween ハロウィンの飾り付けが施された玄関ホール

(L) A long corridor 長い廊下 (M) A powder room パウダールーム (R) A twin-bedroom ツインベッドルーム

(L) An indoor public bath 屋内大浴場 (R) An open-air hot-spring bath 露天風呂

(L) Drawing fashion collection 展示室 (R) A library and Mt. Bandai 磐梯山を背景に円形図書館、会議用にも

(L) A hotel guide for yukata, no-smoking in a guest room and the place we can use Wi-Fi.　ホテルガイド
(R) A smoking room

(L) A playroom and bar プレイルームとバー(R) A course Japanese cushion 和式コース料理

A course Japanese cushion　和式コース料理

Morning buffet　朝食ビュッフェ

(L) The newly built an entrance lobby 新しく建設されたエントランスロビー (R) An elevator hall エレベーターホール

(L) Reception desk (M) A replica of Qin's bronze chariot 秦の青銅戦車のレプリカ (R) hotel corridor


　A giant resort hotel at Urabandai, Fukushima

Hotels for young people and families seeking ski and hot-spring:

It fell short of expectations when we saw the guest room, because the actual impression is so much different
from the photos displayed on the hotel's home page. We reserved one of the best guest rooms on the top floor.
However, the room is so old, just like a past local-government-made accommodation. There are two public
bath facilities. One of them is new. The pillars and ceiling of the bathroom are made of giant cypress trees.
It is an extremely precious existence in this era. A bathing people can enjoy watching white Hakuba mountain
ranges in a 41℃-Hot-spring water. All hotel staff are friendly and helpful. The hotel turned its policy, and
all guest rooms became smoke-free from April 2018.

Smoke-free Hotels in Japan
A summary of non-smoking-room rate studied in local hotels of Japan

H
Smoking Restriction at Hotels in the World: Actual Survey
The ratio of a smoking guest room to the total hotel rooms was calculated,
based on-the-spot investigation.


裏磐梯 (五色沼および裏磐梯レイクリゾート）
執筆　医学博士　宮本順伯
★This Web site is link-free.
This information was provided by the Smokefree Hotel and Travel.
The article was written in Octobr 2017.
All photography was taken by Dr. Junhaku Miyamoto inOctober 2017.
Copyright (C) 2017 Junhaku Miyamoto, PhD. All right is reserved.

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