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!

 
On Friday night, us English teachers had a work party in Takasaki with the old and current teachers. I stopped by Animate before it, but they didn’t have what I was looking for. The restaurant, Dragon Cafe, was right across the street. What cool decor too. We had our own little private cubby. I took advantage of the all you can drink part to finally have cranberry juice again. It’s been ages! The food was also very yummy, but I did not eat the raw egg with rice dish. I went home straight after because I had to get up early this morning to get on a 2.5 hour train ride to Yokohama! I was meeting B and her boyfriend there. I know B from Prague as we were in the same TEFL class. She spent the last two years teaching in Vietnam and has moved for a brief moment to Japan.

I got to Yokohama station shortly after 10:30 am and went to try and meet them. We had a bit of a mix up and ended finding each other by the subway gates about 30 minutes later. It was awesome to see her again! We headed off to Minatomirai, the harbor, port area. Ocean! The wonderful smell of salt. Ah, how I love that smell. We walked along the waterfront over to the famous red brick warehouses and checked out the shops inside. After a slightly pricey lunch there at a burger and sandwich shack, we stopped by a pie shop (pie!!) before proceeding to the Yokohama ship terminal deck. What a view! It was so windy too! The ocean breeze helped keep us cool.

We headed next for the Chinatown, one of the largest in the world, passing by the stadium where there was currently a game going on. We stopped for some booze at a conbini and drank it on our way. Oh, how nice it is to have no open container laws. Chinatown was cool and filled with dumplings and other SE Asian shops. We popped in and out of stores. Our feet were quite weary so we headed to the nearby waterfront park and took a break to eat our pie. The gardens in the park were stunning and filled with roses. There was a fountain too that was a gift from San Diego. We ended up strolling back along the water to the subway station. I had a great time hanging out with them and seeing a new city! We said our goodbyes, and I went back to Yokohama station to try and see the outside. I bought a postcard with the old station facade, but didn’t realize they had updated it a long time ago. No more pretty building. After a quick Starbucks stop, I got back on the trains to head back to Gunma.

I had made plans to go to my first handball game today! Tomioka Higashi is very strong in sports, especially handball and we make it to nationals each year. This was the regional championship game to qualify for the national tournament in August in Yamaguchi Prefecture. I first met up with Ichigo-sensei at her house at 10:30 am, before we went to Yoshii high school together. It was really crowded and hard to get a parking spot. The boys team was playing when we arrived. I met some of my students’ parents while we waited for their supporters to clear the gym.

I was really surprised. Everyone changed into their indoor shoes at the door. I forgot mine so I borrowed a pair from Ichigo-sensei. The pile of shoes around the entrance was huge and we had to wade through to make it in the the gym. The spectators had two rows of chairs to sit in along the side of the gym, or they could stand around the court or on the second floor balcony. Each cheering team choose the color they would wear to represent the school. Ours was dark blue and pink. Once the game started, the temperature rose quickly. Poor players. And it was so loud! I don’t know how they can talk to each other or hear the coach with all the drumming, cheering, and smashing plastic bottles, with beads inside, against each other. A whole different kind of environment from the usual Japanese silence.

Another ALT, L, also was there watching the game. It was really exciting. The rules I learned back in 10th grade started coming back to me. Tomihi was so good! I was really surprised. One of the girls kept running so incredibly fast. I’m really happy I got a chance to see them play. I wish I could go see the national competition, but it’s too far away. I was kindly treated to cold tea by one of the moms and got to chat with the students after the game. Utterly impressed. Ichigo-sensei and I returned to her house and she cooked lunch for me and some neighbors that came over for a visit. I finally got to meet her husband too. We had a fun time chatting while the kids played, and for dessert we made blueberry scones in her oven. They turned out super yummy although it was my first time making them.

Another early morning departure to go hiking. I decided to re-attempt summiting Mt. Asama without snow. I left shortly before 7 am and enjoyed the empty early roads. I had such gorgeous weather this time, I could see Asama next me, getting bigger and bigger. Sadly, it’s not as pretty without snow on top. I took the same route as last time. The winding, gravel road was pretty bad without snow too because there were so many more potholes to dodge. Quite a bumpy ride. There were many other hikers this time. I didn’t encountered a lot of people on the first leg, but once I passed the evacuation shelter/hut, I came across the same people twice during my loop. They were all impressed that I was hiking alone and by how fast I was - ha, long legs I guess? I thought I was going slowly with lots of breaks!

The first stretch through the woods wasn’t fun. I almost turned around by the immense number of biting flies. I didn’t bring any bug spray with me and what started with two horseflies ended up at twenty at one point. I kept killing them so I don’t know if that attracted more. I’ve never seen such a swarm. The constant buzzing was very annoying and it made it hard to take a break since the flies would immediately descend and attack. The sun was strong and hot, but I made it to the shelter by 10:30 am, in 2 hours as planned, in less than half the time it took me with snow. The flies left me shortly before, once I passed through the valley with the sulfur river. The landscape looks completely different without snow! The biggest change was the pine tree forest ahead. I thought the trees were really short before, but half of them was covered in snow! The snow was actually much deeper than I had guessed before. The trail markers that were at our shins, were now around my head. That means almost 6 ft deep snow!

The going was super easy and quick at this point, and I reached our past turnaround point and then the junction where the trail split to go up to Asama. Sadly, I didn’t check the volcanic activity ahead of time… The alert had just been raised a week ago to level 2 and the trail up Asama was closed. So once again, Mt. Asama foiled me. Apparently, it had a small eruption earlier in the week of smoke and yesterday, a small amount of ash was deposited and caught on camera. Volcanic tremors continue to happen as well. Asama’s daily sulfur dioxide releases have been growing sharply, hitting 1,700 tons on Thursday from 500 tons on Monday. I ended up going left at the junction, following the signs for the J-Loop trail that goes along the ridgeline overlooking Asama. At this altitude, it was already much cooler and pleasant. The wind really picked up as I emerged from the treeline. Oh, it was stunning. Asama rising up on the right, windswept landscape ahead of me, and the other mountains on the left with so much green.

I ended up snacking before the steep ascent up to the ridgeline. I couldn’t believe that the trail was in front of me. It just looked like rocks! It was really fun though. I enjoy more bouldering-like hikes and the view didn’t hurt either. I had lunch at the first mountain peak, Sennindake, 2319 m. I continued crossing the ridge and hit the other two peaks, Jakotsudake, 2366 m, and Kurofuyama, 2404 m. The latter part of the trail passed in and out of the forest and hordes of gnats. I made it to the last overlook point, before descending on the other side of the ridgeline at about 2 pm. This was a rough descent as I was pretty tired and the trail was rather slippery with gravel. There were many flowers along the switchbacks down the mountain.

I made a break at the shelter to rest my aching toes, before finishing the rest of the descent. I passed by the waterfall on my way down which was bursting due to all the rain. There was even a beautiful rainbow! I got back to my car at 4:30 pm, after 8 hours of hiking including all my breaks. Not bad for 13 km with an elevation gain from 1400 m to 2400 m! I got a little headachy from the elevation change, but nothing too bad! I did have to push myself although not as much as at Oze, ha. So lucky that I had great weather too!

 

The family had to head off to the airport at 2 pm so we didn’t have a lot of time left. Lars and I left the parents to pack and left for Ikebukuro at 9:30 am. Lars really wanted to visit the main, biggest Pokemon Center. I was surprised to see they were selling more Japan exclusive anniversary goods. I ended up getting earrings! We returned to the airbnb to check out by noon, and departed with all the luggage over to Ueno. We grabbed some food at a cafe and ate in Ueno park while listening to a fantastic street cellist. I brought them to the Keisei station and we said our goodbyes. I’m really happy I got to show them around a bit!

Yesterday, my friend, A, contacted me because she was going back to Tochigi to visit her family. That’s so much closer in Osaka, but I already had the Tokyo plans. We managed to figure out we could meet halfway in Omiya, Saitama for dinner today. I had the rest of the day to spend in Tokyo, but I didn’t want to travel around too much or spend a lot of money. I was exhausted from doing so many things ha. I decided to relax at Starbucks and read first, before to the huge toy store, Yamashiroya. There were so many floors! But the basement offered character goods which is what I was after. Need to stock up on cute writing supplies. I also got a present for A. Afterward, I went and hung out in Ueno park. I staked out a grassy spot and read some more. The weather was gorgeous. It took about a half hour to get from Ueno to Omiya where I hung out at the Starbucks at the station there to kill more time.


A managed to catch an earlier train and we met outside the west entrance to go get shabu shabu! My first time eating this kind of hot pot. We had to wait a little before getting a seat, but it gave us time to discuss the menu - which kinds of sauces, meat, vegetables. We got so many little dishes and the food was amazing! My favorite add in was the really sweet potatoes in the tomato sauce. Yum! Although it was pricey, it was so worth it. We parted after a great time chatting at dinner and I managed to get back home at 11:30 pm. Getting up tomorrow will be hard!