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  • Uncle Woully

Japan

And off the beaten track first time exploration of a completely new to me culture. En savoir plus
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  • Uncle WoullyJapanVoyageur

    Ryusendo cave

    30 avril 2024, Japon ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Easy day. Took train and bus to Ryusendo. Did the cave tour which was kind of interesting and I have to admit that it felt a little creepy to be that far underground knowing that earthquakes do occur here rather frequently. On the other hand this cave has been here for eons. It is filled with rushing water and it has an underground lake that is 98 m deep.

    After the cave I had a nice conversation with Oliver. I went to an Onsen, got warm and did 40 minutes in a massage chair. Now I am super relaxed and sitting on a rock by the side of the road waiting for the bus which comes in an hour. That's what Zen does for you.

    I'm definitely cutting it close I'm catching a bus that gets me to the last train of the day and the station master shuts the entrance right behind me. That brings it home, you can get stuck out here.

    Just when you thought you had today sewn up you get presented with yet another surprise. I get a ride on the most beautiful train I have been on. It's the local and it stops at every station. It is retro and comfy. All trains should be this way.

    Take nap, do some admin and make some more travel plans over a miso soup dinner.    En savoir plus

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  • Uncle WoullyJapanVoyageur

    Jodogahama

    1 mai 2024, Japon ⋅ 🌬 13 °C

    Blustery day in the '50s. Got my coat on and I should have brought my hat. Might have to hide in a cafe.

    Serow is a Kamushka in Japanese, I'm told by the motorcycle guy who rides a Yamaha Serow 250cc.

    I walk around the Yodogahama beach, practice my knots for River guiding, getting a bit more rest. The next three days are going to be long hikes in sunny weather.

    The seagulls get fed by the tourists so they fly all around begging for food. The food in the cafe is presented in the same jagged shape as the peaks at the beach.    En savoir plus

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  • Uncle WoullyJapanVoyageur

    Kitayamazaki cape

    2 mai 2024, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    The weather is back to sunny and no wind, it promises to be a fantastic day as I set out to what is hailed to be the best part of the entire thousand kilometers. It does not disappoint.

    Starting my walk in Tanohata, first along a road but soon on a single track right on the rocky coast, the trail leads to an island dotted with seagulls. I could have just stayed there for an hour but I know today is a long hike.

    The trail is steep and the steps are big, this makes for a good push today and I'm pretty rested after the last two. Up down up down but then all of a sudden it's such a steep down and I don't see where we could possibly be going up next. Then I see it we're going into a hand dug tunnel right on the water's edge. The Japanese are the kings of infrastructure but sometimes you really wonder why some things are built. This tunnel is such a case.

    Coming out of the first tunnel there is rockfall so I wait for a little to let it settle, then I dash out of this tunnel up some stairs into the second tunnel. Next is three sets of ladders to get up some steep rock.

    I'm at the top of the cliff now and I look down a set of stairs The steps are at least 12 in tall and it goes so far down I can't even see the end as it goes around one curve and the next curve and by the time I'm all the way down I realized that there must have been some 600 steps meaning we drop at least 200 m from the top down to the beach. I'm at the bottom of Kitayamazaki cape. I make myself comfortable on a rock have some of the food I brought and I hang out there. I see some grass and I feel a little tired so I lay down and I took a 1 hour nap to the sound of the crashing waves. The ringing of bear bells wakes me up. A young Japanese woman stands over me. She is only the fourth person I've seen this morning and all of them have been around this viewpoint.

    I have lunch at the restaurant to charge my phone and set off again for the next viewpoints about 10K away. The scenery changes to more foresty paths.

    I see another Serow deer that also just stands there and so do I as we look at each other I got to soak up some more forest bathing.

    What a glorious day!    En savoir plus

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  • Uncle WoullyJapanVoyageur

    Tanesashi coast

    3 mai 2024, Japon ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    I catch the 5:00 a.m. train and make it all the way up to Ikoku station by 8:30. It's sunny, it's warm but the wind is blowing very hard. I walk onto the beach and enjoy stepping in the sand. Walking along the trail in the thickets under the trees there is no wind but my intuition tells me there is something on the right and I bust through some of the vegetation to find a big flat rock that offers a wonderful panoramic view of the coast. I sat there for almost an hour just lost in the beauty.

    The path follows along the big natural lawn and a long beach. The wind mostly went overhead as it was coming from inland. At the end of the beach I take my shoes off, walk in the sand and put my feet in the Pacific Ocean. It's a wonderful spot. But I have not been able to find much for food except for extremely busy tourist cafes. So I decide to walk into Hachinohe. Unfortunately it's a city and I'm fully exposed to the wind which is gale force. I'm still grateful for the beauty of this morning.

    I catch the 2:45 back for the 3 hour return trip Get off midway and find home made fresh tofu, is melt in your mouth smooth. The hostel is quiet tonight.    En savoir plus

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  • Uncle WoullyJapanVoyageur

    Funakoshi

    4 mai 2024, Japon ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    I get a late start had breakfast in the hostel. By eleven I disembarked the train and started walking towards the coast. Ran into a Japanese family and we briefly spoke after I had taken a family picture for them.

    Taking a side track to the beach I find another marvelous rocky spot, sun drenched, peaceful, not a soul. It's golden week but the tourists aren't here, neither are the 8 billion other people on this planet. I get a little drowsy and could go down for a nap but instead i decide to hike again to see more of this coast, there is a viewpoint to possibly reach, it doesn't look too far despite the late start. I have to jump start my energy again and start climbing back to the track. Back down to the beach again and then up. It kept going up... all the way to 305 meters, which is the highest place I have been on this coast. Feels good to have a nice sweat. Back down I have lunch, but it might be time to take the short cut back to town and the train. I get saved by the bus that drops me off at the hospital no less, hey I'm not that bad off - just a bit tired.

    While waiting on the bus back I climb the dyke to be in the sun and be a good Dutchman by putting my finger in it.

    In the hostel I meet Ben from Ireland who lives in Japan and a Japanese student who lived in Fort Collins when he was 8. Nice conversations and some intel on Tokyo.    En savoir plus

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  • Uncle WoullyJapanVoyageur

    Ryoishi reboot Goishi coast

    5 mai 2024, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    I chose to go to Ryoishi. It looks like the trail hugs the coastline, but it turns out to be a forestry road and absolutely no views of the ocean. I thought about Goishi coast - the initial plan - and that today is the last sunny day. Google says there is a bus at 9:19 it is 8:32 and Google says it's over an hour away. I didn't hesitate and started running, recovered my big backpack and while I never thought I would really make it I actually beat the time by 7 minutes. I'm super sweaty.

    On the bus I said to a talkative young Japanese woman who just visited her parents for Golden week, now she's in her way back to work, coffee roasting in Tokyo.

    The instant decision to go to Goishi Coast pays off. On this fantastic 80° sunny day I walk along a beach and reach a single track that overlooks rocky crags and I manage to break through some more thickets, this one was tough, but it is absolutely worth it. Mesmerizing wave action in thunder cove. The Pacific swells hit the coast in such a way that they produce a deep loud thunder on impact.

    It's 2 p.m. and I reach the Onsen. I was wondering if there was a bus but there isn't one. The old son has a restaurant but I am too stinky, so I decide to go in the Olsen and risk relaxing too much in the hot bath because I know I still have a 2-hour walk back to the bus terminal. I have a fabulous meal of meat, rice, seaweed and other vegetables on the terrace overlooking a rocky bay.

    Long day, I'm pooped and I'm on the bus, 56 minutes to the new hostel.    En savoir plus

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  • Uncle WoullyJapanVoyageur

    Kesennuma

    6 mai 2024, Japon ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Leisurely ride on hostel bike through the port and fish market. Cruise on a tourist boat with seagulls flying all around catching snacks thrown by the tourists.

    Ebike rental enables ride around Oshima island. The Michinoku trail goes around it and I pick a few miles to hike and viewpoints.

    A black swallow tailed butterfly eats the nectar from the Azaleas, so occupied I can get fairly close and observe.

    I'm packed for tomorrow's train ride and go out for sushi. It's a chain but I really enjoyed it. Order a plate, it comes on the conveyor belt, order another, by the end I had quite a stack of plates and a full belly. Delicious.    En savoir plus

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  • Uncle WoullyJapanVoyageur

    To Kusatsu Onsen

    7 mai 2024, Japon ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    Time for a break from the active days on the coast. I'm leaving Tohono for the Nagano Alps via Tokyo, it's an 8 hour trip. I'm booked in an actual hotel with an Onsen.

    I saw my third Serow as it was running down the railroad track in front of the honking train that was riding through a tunnel of forest along a swift rocky creek.

    I'm standing in the Omiyo train station and I'm hearing bird song up above coming from the metal rafters while I'm looking out at the concrete jungle through the windows of the station, but when I close my eyes I'm right back in the green jungle that I spent the last 8 days in.

    I fall asleep on the Shinkansen and over each by a few stops. Oops on a bullet train that's a long ways off. I back track and catch a later bus.

    Tonight is my Japan splurge, a hotel with an Onsen. I soak and sleep at will until the morning.    En savoir plus

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  • Uncle WoullyJapanVoyageur

    From Onsen to Tokyo

    8 mai 2024, Japon ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    After check out I get into to another Onsen, this one turns out the best one so far. While walking to the bus I can feel and taste all the minerals my skin absorbed.

    In the station I meet the engineer who was involved in the building of all the giant train stations that I traveled through. He is part European and I can't tell at what level he operated in the company, he is so unassuming. We rode together on the train as well.

    In Tokyo I brace for the big city, I'm in a relatively quiet part and I walk around, so many tourists. It's cold and windy. I get a nice bowl of noodles and vegetables.    En savoir plus

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  • Uncle WoullyJapanVoyageur

    Tokyo Day

    9 mai 2024, Japon ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    Relaxed start of the day with a cup of coffee and tying some knots in preparation for my river guide class. I booked a massage for 30 minutes later.

    At the Sky Tree tower I find out I can book dinner on top for tomorrow so I defer the visit today. Then I set off for the Bonsai museum, which is just as long a walk as a combination bus and subway ride. It's sunny so I walk the hour and a half. Part of it is by a nice canal and I get lost a bit as my phone battery died. I charged it again in a 7 11.

    I spent 2 hours looking at the Bonsai. The trees I saw were hundreds of years old. If you crouched under the stand you could visualize being in a forest looking up and from that perspective these little trees were just as impressive as the big ones on Yakushima. The master was working on trimming a three foot tall Bonsai with an 8 inch diameter trunk as apprentices watched and helped repot this ancient tree. How many masters have worked on this living organism?

    I set off to Shinyuku by metro but it is so dissonant with this theme it will have to have it's own entry.    En savoir plus

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  • Uncle WoullyJapanVoyageur

    Sunny Tokyo

    10 mai 2024, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    I'm staying in Asakusa, the gate and temple are nearby. It's a bright sunny day and I get some cough drops for the bunk mate who coughed all night.

    Into the metro to visit Emperor Naruhito's East gardens. I walk through the downtown office area, it's fairly quiet for a weekday, but in Japan people now work more from home just like in the West.
    The gardens are closed today, so I check out the moat and take the metro again to Ueno where there are street markets and museums.

    The weather couldn't be better. For dinner I go to the restaurant on top of the sky tree this is my last night in Japan and I am making it a treat. Fantastic views of the sunset and nightlights of Tokyo. Next to me is a single man also in his 60s. He's from Germany, Markus and I speak for a long time over dinner. He lost his wife to cancer last year, it was sudden she was perfectly healthy. Yet another reminder not to hold back. He retired when taking care of his wife now he could go back but he doesn't see the point of it anymore so he's traveling. His life revolves around his two sons who are on two different continents, so he tries to get them home for Christmas in Germany. The conversation moves to my meditations and I explain that I wrote the shortest book on Amazon and he goes online and buys it. I told him I would come to Karlsruhe to sign it for him.    En savoir plus

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  • Uncle WoullyJapanVoyageur
    1

    May 11 - Tokyo

    11 mai 2024, Japon ⋅ 🌬 23 °C

    The feeling is definitely that this kind of travel is for me.

    What I will miss about Japan? The Onsen and the food, how neat and organized everything is and Japanese punctuality. Despite the reputation for being extremely urbanized, which isn't untrue, the country has a lot of nature to explore. The people are great especially when you can speak a little bit of English with them. But there's also an element of reservation and a certain kind of closedness of their culture to us westerners which has been ingrained over the centuries. It wasn't until admiral Perry presented his fleet in front of their coasts in the late 1800s that the pressure mounted for them to open up. The feudal system, the samurai ways and what we consider disregard of life has engendered the need for an extremely regulated and rigid culture.

    I make it easy for the last day. I was hoping to jump on a city double-decker open air bus on this almost 80° day, but those reservations needed to be made a few days ahead. So I went to the imperial garden had some lunch and I'll be off to the subway shortly to get to Haneda airport.

    The slight flight delay is not much of an issue but does prompt me to get my flight simplified. I'll fly right into Denver and have more time in SF. I'll be looking for some live music tomorrow, wait no that's still today courtesy of the dateline!

    The flight out of Tokyo is like a joyride, the pilot manages to take a left turn, dips the wing down just right to get me the best view of the tower and the downtown that I just viewed from the restaurant yesterday. It's a fantastic flight, you couldn't have asked for better. It's so good to be alive in this time.    En savoir plus

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  • Uncle WoullyJapanVoyageur

    May 11 - San Francisco

    11 mai 2024, États Unis ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    But wait - there's more. Courtesy of the dateline I get to live May 11 twice!

    SF: I know this city really well having lived in California for 9 years and first visited in 1981. Coming in from Japan the difference in culture is quite obvious. But it becomes really obvious in the evening when I walk by a Cafe where there is a live three-person band from Columbia that is just ripping it up, I haven't seen anything like that in Japan in the whole two months. Sure the Japanese have excellent musicians but they're very exacting yet restrained which fits with their culture. If you're looking for live music in Tokyo you will pretty much only find jazz. Now I'm sitting on a terrace outside in San Francisco. Those do not exist in Tokyo, even less with a live band right there halfway in the street. Yes there is a pile of trash on the corner and you won't see that in Japan. I'm on my second Irish coffee and it feels great to be back in the USA, it's just so much more alive. San Francisco is not even 1/10 the size of Tokyo but it has 100 times the life!

    Just as it couldn't get any better then it does! Thanks John Hartford for letting me use your lyrics. I walked into this bar ...

    A drum set stood in the corner, the bass player is getting ready and I talk to him a bit. Conversations! Finally! I'm already happy but there is more music to be had and the Bart doesn't go to the airport until 1:06am, I've got time. Well it just turns out that this was the best evening in a bar in all my life! The guitar player was powerful, clean, super showman and the rhythm section was pounding. The crowd communicated back to this charismatic star. The energy flowed back and forth, as he was having fun coaxing on the ladies and they responded. I danced with the kids and we all had a riot of a time.    En savoir plus

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    Fin du voyage
    11 mai 2024