One Monday afternoon in April 2016 I got to see something which, once seen, has been impossible to un-see. I’m standing at a crosswalk in Nagano, Japan, reading a ditty on the back of a man’s shirt: Indian Boys,Indian Boys,Oh how I love those Indian Boys The image of an American Indian dreamcatcher tells me…… Continue reading A Crosswalk in Nagano
Category: Honshu
Snapshots: 1,000 Miles by Train to Tokyo
September 2018. I had spent the previous week exploring the three national parks in eastern Hokkaido. It was now time to figure out how to chunk a journey to Tokyo over the next 10 days. I had flown to eastern Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island. The journey back to Tokyo would be slower. Armed with…… Continue reading Snapshots: 1,000 Miles by Train to Tokyo
The Best Cold Beer
Woke up from a deep sleep near Seattle. “Anything you need?” asked the flight attendant. “The best cold beer.”
TOTO Demonstration Showroom
On my way to Haneda HND for my flight home, popped into TOTO’s Tokyo “demonstration showroom,” occupying two floors high up in a Tokyo tower. For good, practical reasons, most Japanese have TOTO’s washlets in their homes; we’re having them in our new home
A Level Path
Walked a level path through extensive marshland surrounded by mountains in Nikko National Park. After yesterday’s tough trail, I went easy on myself today.
Mount Toyama
Hiked a gnarly trail: extensive tree roots, scree, erosion, fallen trees, 2,300 feet gain in two hours, no switchbacks. Walking down was even harder than the climb. A guy, older than me, was doing this with camping gear. Mount Toyama (7,230 feet), Nikko National Park.
Nikko
Walked for hours around an area of temples, shrines, and woodland paths on a hillside near Nikko, two hours north of Tokyo.
A Somber Place
Rode a Sendai city bus past fields where homes had once stood, to an elementary school that is now a museum. The 2011 tsunami crashed through the second floor of the school, but the children had been sent to the top floors and roof where they were safe.
Michinoku Coastal Trail
Hiked for two days along part of the 700 km Michinoku (Pacific) Coastal Trail in Sanriku Fukko (reconstruction) National Park. People stay away because of the destructive 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Undersea Bullet Train
Rode this beauty through the 33.5-mile Seikan undersea tunnel from Hokkaido to Honshu.