Japan day 15 The low/midrange hotel that I stayed at served breakfast at the tenth floor, which meant a nice view if the comparatively low-rise Matsumoto and all if the surrounding mountains. Amongst others there was natto for breakfast, which is fermented soybeans, and I guess very much an acquired taste. Somewhat like tempeh, but with the bitterness turned up to eleven. There was also something like the takoyaki balls but sweet and with pieces…
Japan day 14 Slept badly in the communal sleeping room, though that hasn’t really been a major problem for me before. Got probably four hours before I got up to watch a magnificent sunrise from the mountain ridge. In the far distant i saw a completely triangular shape but with the tip removed . It looked like a cardboard cutout, but a female hiker confirmed that it was in fact Mount Fuji. Right after that,…
Japan day 13 Half past five I set off with little faith in getting where I wanted, which in general is on top of things, this time literally. In particular on top of Yarigatake a.k.a. Mount yari. I had caught a cold and wasn’t feeling that well. Also, thunderstorms were predicted from before noon. I could always turn around, though. It started off with a winding gravel/forest road, which later turned into a quite jumbled…
Japan day 12 The majority of the day was spent in various forms of public transport. It hadn’t been that easy to figure out as Google Maps were missing important busses and various operators driving in the remote Northern Japanese Alps, where I was heading. It mostly worked out, but when I finally made it to somewhere in the midst of the Alps with only a few buildings around, and the bus had already left.…
Japan day 11 Back in Kyoto, where I had slept, I first set out for Kinkaku-ji. A three-storied Buddhist temple located near a pond and surrounded by a finely cultivated Japanese garden. The name literally means “The Golden Pavilion” and that’s not exaggerating as the to upper stories were covered in gold leaf. It was incredibly shiny and it seemed almost supernatural with so much gold. The building itself wasn’t open for visitors, though, but…
Japan day 10 A tram and a train brought me the twenty-ish miles to Nara, and a bit of walking brought me the remainder of the way to the central park, Nara-koen. Said park was home to innumerable docile deer that that hung out near the small booths selling special crackers for tourists to buy and hand them. The deer were mostly cute, but also pooped a lot, and let me just say that I…
Japan day 9 After grabbing breakfast and a train I soon stood in front of a seemingly infinite stretch of red torii-gates. This was Fushimi-Inari, a Shinto shrine, and probably Kyoto’s best known landmark. It was on the foot of a small mountain, so of course I wanted to get to the top of it. The forecast said 38 degrees Celsius and that it felt like 45 due to the humidity, so I was soon…
Japan day 8 Checked out, walked across the island and found a proper bike rental place that kept my luggage as well. Yay for a bike with gears! After crossing the island yet again I got to Minamidera, a minimalistic black wooden building. Getting a timed ticket for half an hour later I was admitted along with a group of other visitors into complete darkness and were seated. Then nothing continued to appear. Ever so…
Japan day 7 Three trains, a ferry, and a bus brought me all the way to the small island of Naoshima some 150km (100 miles) east of Hiroshima. The bus was so stuffed that I didn’t make it off at the stop that I had wanted, so I got a bit longer of a walk to the already remote guest house where I dropped off my pack and went to the Town of Honmura’s bike…
Japan day 6 Went to the peace memorial museum first thing in the morning. The staggering death toll makes little sense emotionally. But when you hear the individual stories and see their pictures and artifacts it is all but impossible to stay emotionally detached. By the end my eyes were starting to water up and the guy behind me was sniffling. Later there were copies of documents, one stating that Japan was allusively told that…