Anonymous Friends

I like the city. Esspecially Japanese cities. Safe cities full of people. A collection of culture and ideas viewable in the eyes of the crowd.

Walking the streets in a day dream. Letting the unknown faces make their way into my thoughts. Dreaming about how it would be if we knew each other. Who are you? The dream escaping the reality.

Never alone, always anonymous. A chance.

Joyfull

If life in Japan has taught me one thing, it is the Joyfull is open 24/7. At any time if you so choose you can enjoy the company of strangers exchanging glances across the smoke filled room and drink an endless cup of coffee while downing fried delights.

Such as life, a life of joy is always available to you if you take the good with the bad and make the bad better. A 24 hour roller coaster with high and low points. All of which should be enjoyed both out of exhilaration of the ride and the moment you know you've survived. Just as the smoke filled room, the moment you leave you can feel joy for the clean air that has been discovered.

This too shall pass, so take notice before it is gone.

Yakushima: Day 3 - The Last Day

My last day in Yakushima wasn't a whole day. Most of it was spent repacking everything and checking out of the hostel.

The night before I went out to a izakaiya with about five people staying at the youth hostel. Besides the ancient trees and moss covered everything, the people I met on this trip will be just as memorable. The nights drinking shochu in the hostel and a few fantastic dinners made this one man trip anything but lonely.

Just to spite me Yakushima gave a sunny day after driving a motorbike through torrential rains. In order not to waste the day I rented a bicycle and headed out to a hot spring about 10 km away. So I slipped on my neon green plastic sandals, a temporary fix to my soaked shoes, which were five sizes too small and headed out.

The onsen was very tiny and to my surprise the only other guy in there was a foreigner who was also in Japan on the JET program. An even more interesting occurrence was that he knew the guy who I shared a hotel room with in Seattle before I departed for Japan two years ago. Apparently he is a Kumamoto JET and the guy I stayed with in Seattle, Jason, is going to be the Kumamoto Prefectual Adviser. It is a small world indeed.

After a soak I finished my last meal in Yakushima with black noodle ramen.

Yakushima: Day 2 - Riding Not Walking

A delayed story. Yakushima continues.

I didn’t have to start my day until 9:30, which was fine after a long day of hiking and a night of drinking. This is when I would rent my 50cc bike and ride it around the island for a day. It is also something I would highly recommend, more than a car, despite the rain since the air is sweet with the smell of Jasmine.

It was a rainy day, something I thought of as normal. I was a little surprised when the rental shop asked me if I was sure I wanted to go today. My response was natural in that it rains every day in Yakushima. I think I even received a discount. I should have taken this as a clue.



So I headed north on my bike going around the island counter clockwise. My first stop was a beach that in a few short months would be the nesting grounds for sea turtles. Since there wasn’t much there I just spend a few minutes admiring the rock formations carved from the ocean.

Onward I hit the NW coast, with narrow winding roads climbing up above but along the sea. Here is where a 50cc bike makes it worthwhile, since buses and large vehicles are not allowed on this road. Normal sized cars are fine, but there is something about smelling the sweet jungle air mixed with the ocean breeze as well as passing monkeys and deer not from behind a windshield.



I little ways up I stopped at a lighthouse.



I continued on, by this time my gortex pants were already failing. Slowly water began to seep in. By the time I reached the first waterfall, I was 80% soaked. After enjoying the waterfall I continued on. Passed a few hotsprings, including one that was in the ocean, and decided it was time to find refuge from the downpour that began. I found a small café & restaurant and went inside. I got a few stares since I was dripping water by this time, forming a small lake under my chair.

At the counter I enjoyed a few cups of free coffee and order a miso pork cutlet. I also started a conversation with the old man next to me. He was trying very hard to use English, and it turns out he used to live in Tokyo before retiring in Yakushima. I explained some of my history and purpose for coming to Yakushima and taught a few interesting facts about Montana. It wasn’t long after finishing my meal that he asked me if I wanted to go to an onsen.

Honestly, I wasn’t very keen since I was already soaked and really didn’t want to take off the clothes just to put them back on again. I also wasn’t keen about being naked with a strange old man. However, there I found myself in his car no less, heading to an onsen. It must have been his broken English telling me that travel is suppose to push someone beyond their boundaries. So I guess I leaped.

I entered the hot spring. And to call it hot is an understatement. It was near boiling. However, I decided to store up as much heat as possible before I had to put on my wet clothes. Apparently, I was too “rushed” though according to the old man. He couldn’t believe I was finished so quick. However, I agree. Both the situation and water temperature didn’t necessarily make it completely relaxing.

After being taken back to the restaurant where I parked my bike, I headed onward to another waterfall. This one had a sweeping view that made me feel as if I was some explorer in the Amazon. After a quick photo, I pushed forward. By this time the rain was falling hard. To ride over 50km/hr made the rain hitting my face feel like gravel. I took off my rain hood and tied it around my face, bandit style. This helped quite a bit, although there was a small space on my forehead that kept getting pelted.



I finally reached my last destination goal. By this time the rain had washed away my cheer. I almost decided to pass the hiking trail to the last waterfall, however I know opportunity only knocks once even if it’s when you aren’t ready. Not to mention, it would be the first time I would see a waterfall that fell into the ocean. So after a short hike and a semi obscured view of the waterfall, I mounted my bike and headed back to Miyanoura as fast as possible. After about 50 minutes at max speed I was back and returned my bike.

Soaked to the bone, I had to figure out a way to get dry shoes.

Yakushima: Day 1 – Shiratani Unsuikyo to Jomon-sugi

I wasn’t the only one up for the early bus and on the trail head at 6AM. Early on I met two girls, in their mid twenties, and we exchanged a few words. But I had a mission, so I hiked on up ahead. I had to try to complete a 12 hour hike in 11 hours in order to catch the last bus into town.

According to Yakushima locals, it rains 35 days a month. Although not the best hiking weather, it is the constant rain that makes the island so special. Everything is covered in moss and the enormous twisting trees send you away to a place I thought only existed in fairy tales. I was in a real rain forest. So fantastic that it seems enchanted.

Even with the nonstop rain, somehow there is more forest than rain. Life sprouted from everything, from old stumps, around rocks and even from other living trees!

I hiked through ravines, over winding roots, rock paths and under thick canopies. These were the forests that inspired artists in the Japanese anime, Princess Mononoke.

The first half of the trail had many people, but the farther into the forest I went the less people were seen until it was only me and the deer. Anywhere else in the world, I may have feared an ambush by some wild animal. However, Yakushima is special in that the wild population mainly consists of deer, monkeys and an unaggressive poisonous snake.

After about 4 hours walking through Shiratani Unsuikyo it merged with the main trail that starts from Arakawa, the more popular trail to the Jomon-sugi. From here, the biggest obstacle was people. The trail itself followed an old rail road, which made the surface flat. It was about as difficult as walking on a sidewalk, except when trying to pass large groups of Japanese tourists flooding to see the ancient trees for Golden Week.

Upon reaching the end of the railroad, I headed up back into the mountains. First passing Wilson Stump, a giant stump that rivals the size of my living room, and also having a special feature resembling a heart.

Onward, up wooden stairs and rocky trails for another hour or two, I don’t know the actual time since my phone was destroyed by the rain shortly after Wilson Stump, I reached Jomon-sugi—the 7000 year old cedar tree. Or so people think it may be that old. Scientist speculate it can be anywhere between 2000 and 7000 years old. However, it is old. The tree isn’t dead, but the first thing I noticed was that the leaves didn’t look like cedar. They were normal green leaves. Then I realized, those leaves were not cedar leaves from the tree. They were trees growing out of the main tree and in order to see the cedar you had to look up through the strange symbiotic relationship to the highest tree top.

It was an amazing sight; however I wouldn’t consider it more amazing than what I had seen on my hike thus far. But if it is truly is 7000 years old, it is more or less to satisfy the imagination than to admire its beauty. Asking a fellow hiker, I learned it was 11:00. I was making good time. I decided to take a 30 minute break and eat some chocolate and a rice ball.

By the time I began my return trek, I was soaked. My Gortex pants meant nothing and my shoes were so wet I soon forgot the dampness. I would have been dryer if I was naked in a swimming pool.

After hiking for about 2 hours, I ran across the two girls I met at the beginning of the hike. I asked the time and they took a picture with me. Again we parted ways, since I was now on the return route. I was hoping that I would see them on the bus home so we could swap stories.

At about 1:30PM I re-entered the Shiratani trail. My muscles were fatigued and my feet were aching. To my guess, at around 3:00 my muscles were almost stopping. Honestly, I never felt my legs so tired in my life. It was as if they would soon just collapse. Every 15 minutes or so, I had to take a break for a couple minutes, otherwise it would have just been impossible. To my surprise I reached the end of the trail head at 4:00, 10 hours. An hour before planned. I grabbed the 4:10 bus and sat in what felt like the most comfortable seat in the world. The 30 minute ride restored strength to my legs, although they were still fatigued, nothing a hot Japanese bath couldn’t help.

I never met the two girls from the trail. However that evening I met another of my roommates, his name slips my mind but we ended up drinking Yakushima shochu (potato alcohol) late into the evening with a few other Japanese hikers which would become a ritual for the next couple nights.

Yakushima: An Isle of Life and Rain

A night in a Kobe capsule hotel could not supply dreams to surpass the beauty of tomorrow’s destination. The early Skymark flight brought me back to my Japanese roots—Kyushu. Arriving at the Kagoshima airport, sharing a table with strangers at a crowded restaurant, and departing from the harbor on a Toppi Hydrofoil was only the beginning of an epic adventure.

After a few hours at sea, the high speed ship pulled into Miyanoura Port. With only minor planning, I was lucky to have see my youth hostel on the coast upon arrival. Recalling from memory I headed to Miyanoura Portside Hostel, where I was met by Miki. Here I was given vital information about the island which would form my plan the next day.

I originally thought of hiking from the Arakawa Trail Head to the Jomon-sugi, but Miki insisted that it would be possible to go from Shiratani Unsuikyo. He said it was a challenging hike and in order to do it in one day I would have to take the first bus departing at 5:30AM and be back by 5:10PM to catch the last bus back to Miyanoura. However, Shiratani Unsuikyo is considered to be hundreds of times more beautiful, and less crowded, than Arakawa Trail Head. Due to the Golden Week Holidays, more people were in Yakushima than usual, but buses also ran one hour earlier making the Shiratani hike possible.

With this plan decided, I checked into my dormitory room. Soon after I met one of my roommates, Daisuke. Also traveling alone we decided to head out for dinner together. Daisuke worked for a French auto parts company in Tokyo. Upon recommendation, we waited for about an hour at a famous restaurant that served Yakushima specialties.

I ate flying fish, including the flying part.



Daisuke was surprised that I was going to hike from Shiratani to Jomon-sugi. He said, it is normally a two day hike. That did not deter me, instead I made sure I packed my sleeping bag in my pack, just in case.

That night I headed to bed early to wake up at 4:30AM and catch the 5:30AM bus that would bring me to the Shiratani Unsuikyo Trail Head.

Monday Reflection

I realize I find myself in sometimes ridiculous or unbelievable situations. However, these situations are not the first time they are experienced. Actually, it's how they are usually experienced when they reoccur.

I now realize they are extraordinary because someone was there to tell me that it was after experiencing it.

The extraordinary is rare, however familiar. So for me, it is an ordinary thing to experience rare extraordinary occurrences. Sometimes awkward, sometimes difficult. However, always memorable. This is what I enjoy most about my life. However, to tell the stories is difficult because I think them ordinary.