This is probably my last post about Japan. My job ends on July 27th since I’m taking PTO for the last few days. My sister, Sophia, is coming then to travel with me for four weeks before we return to the US. I won’t have my laptop then, so no blog posts - plus with that much travel, I don’t think I’d have the time to type it up! It’s an end to an era. I’ve been invited back by so many people. I will definitely return! Japan has carved out another horcrux from my soul.

At lunchtime on Saturday, I had plans to hang out with Y, one of her friends, and K. We met at Yaoko supermarket and bought the ingredients to make takoyaki! It turned out very delicious. Her area was hopping with Pokemon too, so when we left, K and I, went up to Nukisaki shrine, before heading home. In the evening, I had P and S’s farewell party at Raku Raku in Takasaki. We had a whole room to ourselves to be rambunctious in. Ate a ton more delicious food. Such a social day for me, haha.

Then Sunday, today, I had my own farewell/birthday party. It was potluck style. After cleaning up the apartment and a pokemon walk, my first guests arrived 10 minutes early. Nothing like reminding you you're in Japan hah. No standard thirty minutes lateness. Everyone brought delicious food with and it was really fun! A mix of teachers, ALTs, and Japanese friends from GIC and my Japanese class. I have many leftover snacks now though! People even surprised me with presents! I’m so lucky to have met such great people here.

Today was my birthday! Can’t believe I’m already 26 and in a completely different phase of life than my parents were. On Wednesday, we had my goodbye enkai in Takasaki. I actually took the train so I could drink! The most I’ve had to drink too, since it’s all you can drink. Many fuzzy navels, ha. The food was delicious Italian food and about 16 teachers came. O-sensei translated my goodbye speech into Japanese and even the principal had prepared something in English. It was a lot of fun. They even surprised me with dessert for myself - mango ice cream and tiramisu! They sang happy birthday to me! So sweet. I joined seven others on an after party when we went to another locale to celebrate two of the new student teachers for taking their licensing exam. Apparently I work with many younger teachers: 23, 24, 24, me, 26, and 27!

Thursday was the closing ceremony and the start of summer vacation. They did the big cleaning to leave the school sparkling. I gave my goodbye speech with a wobbly voice, but didn’t cry. A, the student council president, gave me a perfect speech in English. She’s an amazing girl. I really wanted to hug her, but knew I wouldn’t be able to keep back the waterworks. They also gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I handed out my choco pretzels and walked around giving the extra to students as well as taking photos with them. Around 3 pm, I had arranged to play tennis with H-sensei! A-sensei came with as well since she used to play soft tennis in middle school. I finally discovered the changing rooms at school, with a tatami mat section ha. You could take naps here! H-sensei bought us sports drinks and we headed to the courts, another spot I’d never been. It’s right next to where the tea ceremony club and koto club practice as well.

H-sensei brought hard tennis balls and rackets so we could play! The students were all surprised when we showed up ha. It was great to play tennis again although I started off really horrible. I tried hitting the soft tennis balls a bit, but it was so weird! You have to swing really hard, but the weight of the ball hitting your racket is light. A-sensei turned out to be quite good at hard tennis too. I ended up playing till 5 pm and then chatting with the girls a bit. My arm was really shaky at that point, I have no muscles left! But at least I wasn’t completely awful.

Today, On my birthday, Pokemon Go was released!! I promptly got the game and walked around town after school. The silk mill area has tons of Pokemon. K met up with me later and we went out to eat for dinner. The Iranian place was closed once again, apparently you need reservations for them to be open at night, so we went an Italian instead. Since I had to work, it was an uneventful bday, but I got the wonderful present of Pokemon Go and the news that Emily Prentiss was returning to Criminal Minds, haha.

Saturday evening I had a combined farewell party with GAJET and GIC at the Maebashi beer garden. I ended up driving as usual because of the train fares and lack of cocktail selection. I also had to stop at a store to get some pretzels in order to make chocolate dipped pretzels as my goodbye presents to my co-workers. It was good to see loads of people again and I stayed the full 5 hours, chatting and eating loads of edamame. It was my last time seeing a lot of people so it was bittersweet. I almost went for karaoke afterward, but I still had an hour drive home and I was exhausted. Not meant for all night partying ha. Although this was a three day weekend, I had no plans and it was glorious.

Yesterday was my goodbye party with the English Club. I brought back funfetti cake mix from America and I still had the brownie mix from when I first came to Japan so we baked them together. The bright blue icing really freaked them out! Apparently it tastes quite different from Japanese frosting, but not that bad. We also watched She’s the Man in the AV room while the cakes were baking. The club provided the drinks and we got to eat them while watching the movie. It was really fun. Though I didn’t realize how scandalous She’s the Man is! So much kissing and naked male chests. Plus the gender reveals are even crazy by American standards. How do you explain the concept of kissing booths and southern debutantes? I think they enjoyed it though? I was happy that streaming the movie on netflix with my phone and tethered laptop worked. At the end, M presented me with a box filled with letters from them and a picture of us all together. Too sweet! I ended up crying during my thanks and made some of the girls cry too. I’m gonna miss this bunch.

Then today was my last day at Shimonita. I thought I could make it without crying, but the one on one talking and surprises did me in. I said my goodbyes to the teachers during the staff meeting, but then at lunchtime, some of the girls surprised me with thank you notes from the second years and one of the third year classes. Such beautiful art and decoration so I teared up a bit. Then in the afternoon I gave my goodbye speech with M-sensei translating. The tallest boy and only person taller than me, T, gave me a goodbye speech. He was nervous but he did a great job! He then gave me flowers as well! Later I received some omiyage and a goodbye present (daruma!) from the principal. I even had a farewell talk with him, mostly in Japanese, and he even teared up thanking me for everything I had done. I’m glad the students enjoyed having me around.

So I had been planning to have a group trip up to Oze for a while and I managed to get one together for today! I was hoping to see the daylilies, but we had to make arrangements so far in advance, it was only a guess if we’d be able to see them. Due to the warm winter, all the blooming times were off. We took three sets of cars up to Oze, one from Maebashi, one from east Gunma, and one from my area. A-sensei (a new young teacher at my school) drove us from her house. We had arranged to meet at Oze at 9 am at the Oshimizu entrance. Two of the guys from the winter Asama hike were coming too, plus two other people I hadn’t met before, for a total of 10 folks. The last car came at thirty minutes late because they had some troubles. We actually had to park in overflow parking as the main lot was already full. It was just a short walk up the street.

Having Japanese people with was really handy! K found out that there is a shuttle bus up the first part of the road to the first hut! The long, boring gravel road that took Papa and I over 1.5 hours with our heavy packs. We could have skipped it and paid 700 yen for the bus fee, by buying tickets inside the shop, and it would have been a 10 minute ride! The next bus left at 10 am, so we killed some time before boarding. It was much nicer hiking from the actual trail part and without a heavy pack! We were much faster! We took some photos by the lake and decided to have lunch at the next spot, where Papa and I ate breakfast last time. There were some many people this time! According to the visitor center, we came on the peak day for the blooming lilies!

We had lunch overlooking the marsh, spotted with yellow, and the lake. Everything was so green and lush after the rainy season. Completely different than one month earlier. The trail was completely muddy and wet in several spots. The lake was filled with reeds that undulated like the waves in an ocean. Mesmerizing. After lunch, we checked out the lilies before continuing our full circle around the lake. The latter part I hadn’t done before so that was interesting. The trail was much more worn down and followed the lake’s edge closely. One spot was perfect for sitting on a stone beach! I promptly waded into the water and several others joined me. It felt so good! Papa and I could have totally gone swimming here, although it started out shallow.

I felt great during the hike and only at the end started to feel some aches and pains. Progress! It was much flatter than what I’ve been hiking recently, ha. The last bus back left at 4:30 pm which we missed, so we just walked the downhill stretch back to the cars. A total of about 17 km, a rise of 600 m, and 7 hours hiking. It was fun to go with everyone especially because it was their first times!

S invited me to his school’s festival. I’ve always wanted to attend one after seeing it in all the anime! Once again, real life equals anime. After a long skype session with the family, I drove to his high school in Takasaki. It took a long time to get parking because of all the people. The lot was super muddy and wet. I got really lucky and had a spot near the entrance so I could save my shoes! S met me and showed me around the food stands where I got a big hot dog for lunch. I met some of his students as well. As expected, the top question was whether I was his boyfriend. All high schoolers think about. The different classrooms were decorated elaborately. We did some of the different games. Two rooms put together made this toy story world. One of his students spoke beautiful English to me and translated. Apparently, he was the Gunma Prefectural speech contest winner. We also got our portraits drawn by the art club.

I woke up shortly after 5 am since I had to pee so badly! I didn’t go last night because I was just too tired to put my shoes on and walk over ha. The sky was rather overcast, but it wasn’t supposed to rain till the evening. One of the other groups was already dismantling their tent. I crawled back into bed to rest some more because I was in no rush today. At 5:30, I hear the pitter patter of rain start, ugh. I decided to wait it out and read awhile. I was hoping for a break in the rain to be able to take down my tent, but it got harder and harder. The wind was still howling. At 7:30 ish, I gave up and dove out of my shelter. I had the raincover for my pack and tried to kinda protect it under a tree. After I unstaked my tent, the wind kept blowing it away, ahhh. It’s so much harder with only one person. I somehow managed to get the poles out and the tent rolled up in a wet mass. I stuffed it in my pack, getting everything damp in the process.

The other campers were smart and put their backpacks under the water supply shelter. It was drier there. I set off on the way back and within 15 minutes I was completely soaked. It was raining hard sideways with the wind blowing. Shortly thereafter, my shoes were wet through as well, but at least my feet stayed warm in my wool socks, and my raincoat held out longer. It was almost impossible to take any photos without getting water all over my camera and lens. I ended up crossing the river and taking the alternate, slightly longer route back. This side was so much better! Apparently, Myojin pond actually is paid entry, but it has a temple attached to it. The housing was really old. I took shelter from the rain for a bit before continuing on. The path split off from the road into the forest, along the river and marshes. Beautiful in the foggy rain. The lush greenery and rushing rivers were so pretty!

It took me about two hours to get back to Kappabashi. The closer I got, the more ill-prepared tourists I saw with umbrellas and casual footwear. There were quite a few despite all the rain. I popped by a tourist shop before heading on to the bus terminal and purchasing my return ticket for the 11 am bus. I managed to change out of some of wet clothing. They had gotten rather cold now that I wasn’t hiking. I changed my leggings once I was back at the car. Phew, it felt nice to be dry again! Shortly thereafter, on my drive home, the rain stopped and the temperature kept climbing.

 After school yesterday, I went home to load up my car with my backpack, futon, and camping supplies before heading to Takasaki to pick up the sleeping bag I was renting. We had planned to meet at 5:30 pm at the station’s east entrance so I waited in the drop off zone. I thought it’d be a quick exchange, but some miscommunication made it take an hour. She ended up in a different parking garage than I knew, but we managed to track each other down and I got into the same garage where she was. Only took a while to get into the right level too because the car in front of me just sat there without entering. Finally I picked out the sleeping bag I wanted, and was on my way to Kamikochi in Nagano!

With partial expressway, it took me 2500 yen and about 3 hours to get there. I had my dinner in the car at a conbini in the middle of nowhere. Far enough out that the cashier was really surprised to see a westerner. By the time I arrived at the main bus terminal parking lot at 9 pm, I really had to pee. So I headed up to the toilets only to find them closed! With everything closed and dark, I wasn’t going to waste 600 yen to leave and re-enter so I found some sparse bushes instead. It was pretty brights out with the lights, but there was no one else around...I think, ha. I set up my futon in the car and read a little before trying to sleep. It was hot in my car, and cool outside so I had my windows down and hoped for no mosquitoes. Some more cars pulled up as others were also spending the night in their cars.

I woke up in the morning with my alarm at 5 am. Luckily I had shut my windows before going to sleep as it had rained in the night. It was cloudy and grey out. There were some others breakfasting and preparing their packs. I got my ticket for the first bus leaving at 5:40 am. No cars are allowed to drive into the park. This was my fourth Japanese National Park! The drive took about 30 minutes before we arrived. I hit up the toilets to brush my teeth before heading out. I had a lot of ground to cover today! The Kappabashi bridge was a short walk from the bus terminal. There was a troop of monkeys passing through! Monkeys everywhere, rustling in the bushes and climbing trees. Loads of baby ones too! Most people crossed the bridge, but I stayed on the same path to take the shorter distance, 6.5 km, to Tokusawa camp site.

It was pretty dark still in the valley and it was a boring, gravel road walk through the forest. Later, the trail approached the river a bit more. The water was so clear and blue! The tips of the mountains were lost in the clouds. Kamikochi has twenty of the tallest Japanese mountains, thus aptly named the Japanese Northern Alps. It has the third highest mountain in Japan at 3,190 m (10,500 ft), but sadly that’s a three day backpacking hike and out of my league. I passed another troop of monkeys all over the trail and in the river, playing, with even more babies! I even saw a mother nursing her child. The babies were very shy and would hide their faces in the adult monkey’s fur when they saw me looking at them. It was a little scary as they were all over the bath, but we kept to ourselves and there was no trouble.

I passed the first hut, where I ran into more hikers as the trail from the other side merged here, before arriving at the grassy field camp site. I found the check in office easily, and the lady working there spoke English! Got my tent and everything set up by 9 am. With just my day pack, I found the trailhead to Mt. Chogadake although it was a fading sign in Japanese. The trail didn’t ease into the steepness, but it was punishing from the start. The ascent is supposed to take 4.5 hours which is what it took me. I definitely took a lot of breaks. I passed one other group with backpacking packs and saw a couple other groups. Definitely possible to see bears on this deserted trail! It just kept going up and up for 3 km in the woods. Sadly, I couldn’t see anything but trees. I had two peeks at mountains with snow and Mt. Yaedake which has all the steam and smoke from its volcanic activity. Around the 3 km mark, the landscaped changed a bit and there were some meadows and ponds. The sun had progressively gotten stronger during my hike, but the wind kept me feeling refreshed.

I ate lunch on a log, and boy, was I hungry! I hit the peak of a smaller mountain along the way and finally the trail leveled out a bit. Too much uphill! Thank goodness for the mile marker signs that gave me hope. I finally hit the last part and was rewarded with a patch of melting snow!! I got to walk through snow in July! And the view, oh my god. Breathtaking. The snow dusted peaks were all clearly in sight with the clouds having lifted. Just stunning. It made the whole hike worth it. I started the final ascent. It was rocky ground covered with some low pine bushes. The wind hit and it hit badly as I moved out into the open. I’ve never felt anything so strong. I managed to get a quick photo at the peak with my camera strap wrapped around the peak marker, but the wind was pushing it the whole time.

I quickly descended behind a rock face by the mountain hut to get out of the direct wind. There were three tents pitched, huddling, by the rock wall for shelter. The wind was so intense. Nothing but howling. The mountain hut offered toilets (and ramen, I found out later!). I left the sheltering walls of the hut and re-emerged into the open. The wind slammed against me and I couldn’t move. Once it lessened, I backed up and added my fleece and raincoat layer for some protection. Also packed away everything in my bag and put my stomach backpack strap on to make sure my backpack didn’t fly away either! Just wow, wow, wow. The wind was about 60-70 kph (~40 mph). Several times I had to drop to the ground and clutch a rock as to not fly off the mountain. My heart was pounding, adrenaline flooding. It was scary. I could barely breathe with the wind snatching away the air and pressing my nostrils shut. I had 30 minutes of ground to cover with my legs already tired. I pressed on, basically walking at a 45 degree angle.

I ended up meeting another solo female traveler. We started a conversation at one point. Her English was so good! She had lived in England for a year. We kept each other company as we struggled along the ridgeline. Finally, we reached the trailhead for the descent to Yokoo campsite. Shortly after descending, the wind was cut off and we took off our layers. I could breathe again! That was definitely one of the most intense things I’ve done. We descended together. It was supposed to take two hours, but we definitely did it quicker with two breaks. Such shaky legs! This trail was steeper later and flatter in the beginning. There was an area where they had cleared the trees so you could see the Alps. So pretty! The clouds set in quickly again and the peaks were covered.

Finally we made it to Yokoo! I exchanged contact info with my new friend! She was also going to Oze next weekend. I ate some food and relaxed on one of the benches. I still had an hour flat walking in front of me to get back to my campsite. Yokoo was closer to the river and brand new! The campsite also looked nice although rockier. There was even a beer vending machine! All the luxuries you could want while camping. After thirty minutes, I headed back to Tokusawa. The path was again pretty boring, through the woods with an occasional peek at the river. Felt longer than an hour too with my tiredness, but I made it! I dumped my gear and decided not to go to the onsen - too far to walk those 5 minutes, ha - but got ice cream instead! Yum! A great treat after a long hike. I didn’t realize the elevation change would actually be 1,100 m due to the lack of English info online. It took me about 10 hours to do the whole thing, 19 kilometers (~12 miles) covered, which fit the estimate exactly. The wind was stronger at the camp than earlier and it had gotten chillier. After dinner, I prepared for bed and read for a little. The wind was really loud and kept bending the tent in half. I’m surprised that my stakes and poles even held out!