Vacation!!!

After three weeks of free time in the teachers office, it was about time I had a vacation. I spent lots of time planning two alternate vacations I bailed on once I did my research into Nagano prefecture. Thus..

Day 1
After a long day of traveling by train, I arrive in Hakuba, a small ski town nestled in "the Japanese Alps". The place only partly fits the Alpine image. Giant yellow and black spiders' webs glisten under the awnings of kitsch Deutschland roofs. It's been raining intermittently since I arrived but now appears to have calmed down. Anxious to breathe in the mountain air and do some exploring, I grab a mountain bike and head out on a route recommended by the hostel manager. The trail winds through a distinctive forest: tall conifers, branchless until the canopy and little undergrowth.

Shinto, Japan's native religion, posits that all living and nonliving things have a spirit/soul, or kami. Any thing that particularly inspires a sense of awe is often given a kami stone or even a shrine. Here on the trail, it seems every fifty yards theres a small mossy kami-stone, paying honor to particular trees or a distinctive rock. I make it to the other side of a giant lake, with hints of turquoise even in the overcast conditions. It is here, at the furthest point from the hostel, the rain switch turns back on. I accept there's no chance of getting back dry, so embrace the torrential weather. I try to come back through the cross country skiing course used in the '98 Nagano Olympics. Poor directions on a map literally decaying from rain and folding makes that option a little too daring. I stick to the highway, speeding downhill alongside bus-fulls of Japanese tourists staring out their windows at this 'crazy'. I, like most people, are averse to getting wet or dirty, but once accepted, its pure revelry. I laugh and even sing the whole way back


Day 2
I spend the morning waiting for the sky to clear in the spacious, large windowed lounge of the hostel, chatting with a very Swiss man. A train, bus, gondola, and air-tram later, I'm at 6000 feet altitude walking on a boardwalk through a flooded alpine plateau. In a word: pleasant. All sorts of flowers and butterflies abound. There's still snow in the crevasses of the mountain scenery. Everyone I pass gives me a kind Japanese greeting. I watch a trout swimming against a small river current, stationary directly under a footbridge. Occasionally, cloud masses swell against the ridge and then flow through the valley, refreshingly cool and damp, kinetic and wonderful.


Day 3
I'm up and at 'em early. From the train station I head north towards the massive Olympic Distance Ski jump looming over the town at the bottom of Happo-one Ski Resort. Gondola. Lift. Lift. Then I'm off. I had missed the first lift by about 45 minutes so have hundreds of hikers in front of me. Not exxagerating, 90% were old people. Getting trapped behind a group of slow old people on a narrow trail is never fun. I fly through the first part in 1/3rd the time it was supposed to take, undoubtedly leaving a large wake of feelings of inadequacy in the other climbers.

After reaching the mountain lake, the main attraction, I finally was on the real trail. I gain a temporary hiking partner who was the only guy less prepared looking than I was: purple plastic imitation Reebok Pumps, suspenders, thick glasses, supplies carried in a plastic grocery bag, and one goofy smile.

I reach a/the peak way faster than the time it was suggested it would take. I couldn't already be at the goal of my day's hike. I figure this tall peak in the distance must be the one I want. I decide to follow the route of three XC skiing competitors in training who say the peak is Mt. Goryu. I go along an erratic ridge which makes ample use of chains and ropes as it was very up and down. I even get to do a little rappeling.

if you look in the picture, the tallest peak is the one I got to too quickly. The treacherous ridge is just to the left, with the tooth-like projection. And if you're paying attention, you'll remember my camera broke. I took lots of good pictures with my high tech cell phone which I'll eventually post somewhere.

I finally meet someone with a map and realize that first peak was my original goal and I am exactly halfway between peaks. I must choose between heading back the same way I came guaranteeing to make the last lift down OR continuing onwards to a different ski slope and take a lift down there. Obviously the latter. The way back was through a jungle of bamboo that must die every winter than try to make up for lost ground in the warmer months. I had to be careful not to get dragonflies in my mouth or eyes as scores took to the air as I disturbed their path. I made it to the lift down of the other ski slope with half an hour to spare.


Onsen
Due to all the underground activity, hot springs (or onsen) pervade Japan, especially in mountainous areas. Their ubiquitous-ness seem to assure their becoming a part of their culture, extremely popular whether its for vacation or as a daily routine. And what better time to give onsen's a try then after a loong hike in the "alps".

Right when I got there, 20 high school boys showed up so it was packed, certainly not making things easier for myself. The washing ritual is intense and complicated, new standards in cleanliness. Onsen's are mostly gender-separate, thus definitely nakedness presides. Of course as a clueless and rare foreigner, I was the total center of attention. All in all, it was a complicated and very new experience for the young Evan.


Day 4 and 5
Matsumoto: a small city that's existed since the 800's.

The tourist highlight is one of the few original castles in Japan. Built in the 1590's, Crow Castle, with is alternating black and white wooden exterior, and carp-filled moat is really bad ass. During the day I went inside and had not one, but TWO free goodwill tour guides accompany me, the only tour guides I saw. At dusk, I drank beer on a bench with an open panoramic view of the castle, the moat, the mountains and the sunset. Then a looong walk to an all-u-can-eat Thai curry restaurant in North Matsumoto. And a final visit to my castle bench at night.

Also in Matsumoto, a long walk checking out beautiful and deserted shrines hidden in alleys. And staying in an eighty year old Ryokan, or traditional Japanese hotel. Tatami floors, rice paper walls, and an elaborate Japanese tea set and table ready when I arrive.

So that was my vacation. Pretty long post, hope its not too boring. I already have another exciting trip planned, climbing Mt. Fuji this Saturday with some other English-speaking JET's.