The Hike, the Japanese Inn, the Lost Key.....

On Saturday the 15th of July, I set off with two colleagues (Akitaka and Shoichi) for a hike and overnight stay in a mountainous area called Nasu. On Saturday, we left Shimogo at about 8am and drove to a remote car park from where we would begin our trek. It has been the rainy season in Japan for about the last 6 weeks and on Saturday it was pouring down.

We set off in the rain but were unconcerned as our plan was to hike only about 4 hours on the first day of the trip. We reached the Japanese inn at about 1pm and I immediately noticed the smell of sulphur (due to the high volcanic activity in the area). After 15 minutes, the smell of sulphur faded and I did not notice it again for the duration of our stay.
The inn is situated in a small clearing surrounded by dense forest and is only accessible by foot. I believe that supplies are flown to the inn by helicopter. We were extremely happy to change into some dry clothes and to escape from the heavy rain. After we were shown to our small tatami mat room at the corner of one the buildings we paid ¥8,000 each (about GBP 40), got organised, cooked some lunch in our room, and drank some beer. We also found time to take a bath in the rotenburo - an outdoor bath heated by geothermal energy. It was lovely to sit in the boiling hot water and look across the forested valleys to the mountains in the distance. A special memory.
The dinner drum sounded at 5pm, signalling us to move to the dining hall.

After dinner, we returned to our room for some more beer and banter. The generator was switched off at 9pm, so we had to continue our party using torchlight. I slept extremely well that night - probably because of the fresh mountain air and the 12 cans of Japanese beer which I managed to drink.

The next morning, after another visit to the rotenburo, we set off after breakfast. We decided to take a circular route back to the car park as this would allow us to reach the summits of several nearby mountains. The weather was okay at the start of the hike but deteriorated as the day wore on. When we reached the car after 8 hours of walking, we were again soaked but in good spirits and looking forward to returning to the comforts of our homes. Unfortunatelyy Shoichi had lost the car key which meant another considerable walk towards Shimogo!! It was raining and the day and my mood were both beginning to darken. We eventually managed to call Yuki once we received a signal on Akitaka's mobile phone and were picked from a dark forest road at about 6.30pm.

Despite the lost key and heavy rain, the weekend was a great success and I would love to visit the area again sometime in the future.

Things are starting to wind down with my job at Shimogo JHS. I'm really looking forward to my trip to Nagasaki and my week in the Philippiness. I'm also hoping that the rainy season will end soon - it's really starting to get me down and it feels to have lasted much longer than in previous years.