THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN IV: INTO THE MOUNTAINS AGAIN

So we ended up in the mountains again. In Japan I guess it is not such a big problem. If from some reason you think that the country is flat, be ensured that the archipelago is of volcanic origin. That’s about it.

Before I get to the real mountains let me mention my second cycling experience. That one was in fact a little bit more according to my ideas. In Matsumoto mum and I wanted to have a look at the Daio wasabi farm, which is situated approximately 4 km from the train station. There is no public transport, but everybody hires bicycles for a few dollars. I was given a front seat and no helmet = I had a great view. To get to the farm took us maybe 15 minutes so I didn´t have enough time to get scared by how mum staggered from one side of the road to the other. I knew that wasabi was green paste, but what it was made from I had no idea. Now I know that and I also know what wasabi ice cream tastes like. I vaguely remember that mum was telling me something about chewing on the metal parts of the bike seat… On the way back to the railway station I hit my teeth pretty badly and because through the tears I couldn´t see anything I better fell asleep for the last five minutes.

In Matsumoto there is a super nice wooden castle, where we even got discount – probably because it was almost closing time. One can climb up the sixth floor and the last steps are almost like a ladder. But the views towards the mountains are phenomenal.

In the first morning bus to Kamikochi we were almost alone. First we stopped to leave our backpack in Hirayu Onsen, where we were going to stay. I don´t know why mum has to save all the time and she doesn´t simply book us some hotel in the mountains. Kamikochi lies in the altitude of about 1 500 metres in the Hida Mountains, which are the northern part of the Japanese Alps. It is said to be one of the most beautiful areas in Japan and probably to keep it like that private cars are forbidden and you can get there only by bus or taxi. Both are (as well as few local hotels) obviously expensive like hell.

It was overcast, drizzling on and off so we only took a walk along the Azusa River – first towards Myojin Lake and then to the other side to Lake Taisho. All the time mum had a hope that for a little bit we got to glimpse some of those three-thousanders, which didn´t happen. Plus we were already pretty annoyed with millions of domestic tourists who 1. were walking super slowly and 2. wanted to take selfies with me all the time, so we went home.

The plan for the next day was obvious. Well, almost. Till the last minute mum was considering climbing – instead of Dakesawa Hut - the active Yakedake volcano. Eventually we were not climbing anywhere because in the morning it was pouring rain. We stayed in our little town and only went to check the waterfall, which was by the way quite impressive and no one was there. Then we stopped in the onsen. There were a lot of outside pools with water with different temperatures and what was best about it – swimsuits were forbidden as well as nappies. Hooray! I swear that I didn´t pee into the water. Promise.

It was evident that being in the mountains and not climbing anywhere was driving mum crazy. And thus when we woke up to a clear day in the morning and suddenly there were snowy mountains everywhere it didn´t surprise me at all that instead of taking the bus back to Matsumoto we were catching the over-priced one to Kamikochi one more time.

To make the long story short: At 9 o´clock we started to climb up from 1560 meters above the sea level and just before eleven I was already crawling through the heliport at the Dakesawa Hut in 2170 meters. There was heaps of snow everywhere and the route to the 3000 meters high Hotakadake was close due to it, so we couldn´t go further. Fortunately. On the way back mum carried me on her back and the backpack on the front, which I consider a very good idea, especially on the steep snowy slopes.

And that´s about it. On the way back to auntie we got on the only shinkansen which was forbidden even with our JR pass. The next station was fortunately our station and, rather than stopping the speed train doing 300 km per hour to drop us off somewhere in the fields, they let us go. All´s well that ends well.

Your Annie

Some facts

When: 6. – 9. 6. 2017 Where: Nara – Matsumoto – Hirayu Onsen – Kamikochi – Matsumoto - Kawagoe (Japan) How: train, bus (+ a lot of km on foot)

How long: 4 hr. 10 min. + 2 hr. 25 min. + 2 hr. 53 min. How far: 378 + 51 (*2) + 12 (*4) + 271 = 898 km