Kawaguchi Lake 河口湖 cycling and canoeing

I spent another weekend with the IAC-Tokyo on one of the five lakes on the north side of Mt. Fuji. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge, a small and reasonably priced 民宿 (hotel) that rents bicycles and canoes, that is tucked into the forest of cedar and cypress trees which carpets the mountainsides.
Yurie organized the group of 10 of us on a bicycling trip on Saturday. My rental mountain bike was too small for me, but that's to be expected. Since the ride was pretty easy, that was no problem; I just stood up on my pedals most of the time. We cycled along the lakeshore and through some mountain forests, eventually passing 西湖 Fuji Westlake and arriving at a traditional village that had been destroyed by a typhoon-induced landslide and flood about 45 years ago and then rebuilt. Before reconstruction, a dam was built in the steep valley above, to catch debris in the case of a landslide and to dissipate the energy of the swollen stream in case of a flood. Together with the dam, a channel was built through the center of the village so that flood waters wouldn't destroy the village again. Together, the dam and channel have protected the village from destruction since, and the village now serves as a museum of sorts, preserving the way of life of feudal times. This lab experiment, in the village museum, shows the destruction caused by the flood and landslide without the dam and channel:
and the protection offered by the constructed works:On the way back to the lodge, one of my companions, Mirin, suffered a nasty fall from his bicycle while rounding a sharp turn and descending a steep hill at high speed. The rest of the group was ahead, but I was the anchor, with Mirin directly in front of me. His fall was worthy of a Hollywood action movie, and I regret not having it on film so that he could see how well he performed the stunt! But sadly he broke his collarbone in the process. All I could do was give him my coat to use as a sling for his bad arm, while he phoned the group ahead of us. They had already returned to the lodge about 5km further on, and Bryce came back with his car to pick us up and then bring Mirin to the hospital, from whence his wife cared for him sweetly; lucky guy!

That night was a heavy rain, and the lodge staff cooked us grilled veggies and 焼きそば yakisoba (for me; the rest of the folks at meat of course). Mirin came back from the hospital dressed like a monk, with a white blanket over his white splint/sling/bandage over loose brown clothes. Another photo I regret not having taken!

The next day Mirin and his wife returned to Tokyo, to get treatment at a bigger hospital. The rest of us spent the day canoeing on the lake and enjoying the view of Mt. Fuji. We paddled to a small island in the middle of the lake, upon which was a forest and a hill, and on top of the hill was a shrine (part of the traditional Shinto religion). The island used to have camping facilities, with water, power, and small boat landings, but these were in disrepair and overgrown with at least 10 years of vegetation. The lodge staff told me the camping facilities were abandoned 15 years ago due to the inconvenience of getting to the island, so now only the shrine is left.
Along the saturday bicycle ride, there was one sign around to ensure us that we're in the land of funny English (though granted, in the US we have our fair share of funny Japanese and Chinese writing around too).
Can't read the sign? Look again.