Kitkowskiland!

Woke up at 2AM. We started driving at 3. Got to the foothills at 5:30. From there was a 6-km crunch straight up a mountain with a backpack full of food, drinks and extra clothes as needed.

My throat was getting worse, so I drowned the pain with gargling, Chinese medicine (kampouyaku), and about 20 CC-Lemon throat drops. I filled my belly with mucous and crazy-sweet lemon juice. Realizing that the only drinks we brought were Ripobitan-D (the stuff they based Red Bull off of, a classic Japanese “Wellness/Energy Drink”) and about a gallon of Pocari Sweat. Some bread items, but none of them *weren’t* sweet. So my stomach was touch and go for a bit, but by the time we hit the summit, not only had it warmed up a lot (it was about 8 by then), but my sore throat and stomach pains disappeared. Rock.

We spent a few hours walking the wetlands, seeing historic houses and the like as well, taking in the sights and especially the sounds of the Oze wetlands. Specifically, the fact that there ARE NO SOUNDS, and that it is perfectly quiet. If you live in Japan, and especially in or near the cities, this experience is about as rare as black pearls.

Hiking in Japan? Basically the same. The only thing that was obviously different between the US and Japan is the staple food (rice balls, but who couldn’t have guessed that), and the fact that everyone straps little bells/chimes to their backpacks. THey’re nice at times, as they take your attention off the strain of the hike, but other times it just seems like More Noise. In any case, they’re used as “kuma-yoke”, “bear protection”, apparently warding off bears with the sound.

After lunch (Calorie Mate, more juice) we headed back down the mountain. THe climb up, honestly, took me off guard: It was really steep, and even though I’d done far tougher hikes in the past,  I kept losing my breath. On the way down, it was easier on the muscles and energy, but there was a lot of shock in my legs/knees. THat night they were in pain.

On the way back down the mountain, we hit up a little traditional food place, and Orie and my dad ordered wild mushroom miso soup (really delicious, made with local picked mushrooms, about 5 different kinds), and I had something called “Tarashi-yaki”. I had never heard of it, and neither had Orie or her dad. It turned out to be a tough pancake slice with a kind of sweet miso and onion paste. It’s apparently pretty rare, at least in this area anyway.

After that, we went back to the car, and my dad figured it was an equal distance to drive straight back, or to make a line over to Nikko on the way back, so we took the Nikko route. You can look up Nikko on Wikipedia, but for now just know that Nikko is Awesome. I love going there, Especially to Toushougu, the Crying Dragon Temple and the like. Even though I knew we weren’t going to walk through those places (none of us had the energy), just driving though town would be nice. Since it was the fall, right at the time that the leaves are changing colors, the nature should be pretty.

We forgot that, even though it was a Monday, about half of Japan was thinking the same thing. Result? Crowded, crowded streets, bumper-to-bumper traffic for miles going through town and down breakneck-curve mountain passes. Still, it was rather beautiful seeing all the leaves, the lake and all.

On our way back, we hit a Save-On: I grabbed some NON SWEET tea, a “yakiniku mayonnaise” riceball (never seen one of these before), and we headed home.

After we got home, we grabbed bentos at the local bento place, took a bath and went to sleep early, aching from the exertion of going up and down the stairs to the second floor where the bedroom was.