Roving Japan

Day 11 Photoset

We decided not to stay a second night in Nobeoka. We weren’t at all happy with the hotel, especially the fact that we spent $5 and 2.5 hours using their clothes dryer, and STILL had wet clothes. We didn’t want to give them any more money, so we checked out and headed to the train station.

While at the station, we spent a few hours coming up with a plan for the upcoming days. We looked up hotels in Oita prefecture and came to a decision regarding our walk/train ratio. We are going to take a train tomorrow to the town of Tsukumi. We have a hotel reserved there, so hopefully we can get in a day of rest while a pesky blister heals on my left foot. From there, we are going to walk north to Usuki and see the 1000 year old Buddhas. After that, we will work our way around to Beppu for an extended stay while enjoying the onsens.

Once the plan was settled upon, we had to figure out what to do TODAY. Since the hotel in Tsukumi was booked for tonight, we had to reserve it for tomorrow night. That left us without a place to stay tonight.

Since we are taking a train tomorrow, we felt that we should get in a little walking today. So we packed up and walked north out of Nobeoka. We only went about 8 miles, but it was a pretty walk through the river valley.

We have invented a fun game to play while walking over rivers. The water here is very clear, and there are a lot of fish. Sometimes we are able to scare the fish with our shadows. It’s a lot like those games you see in malls and movie theaters, where little kids can “kick” a ball that is being projected on the floor. We stand on the bridge, waving at the fish, and they swim away from our shadows. Its actually fairly amusing. I think everyone who watches us thinks we are crazy.

We are camping in a rest area off of hwy10. There is a small train station about 10minutes away. Tomorrow morning at 6:11am we will catch the train to Tsukumi. If we miss the train, we are screwed since the 6:11am train is the only one that stops at this station until like 7pm. We gotta get up early!

Day 10 Photoset

Today was another slow day. We left our beautiful camp in the cove near Hyuga and started north to Nobeoka.

It was fairly uneventful, with the highlights being the Totoro train station (exciting because we love the movie), and the restaurant we ate lunch in.

We are now staying in a business hotel in Nobeoka. We are planning on staying here for the night, then hopefully finding someplace cheaper to stay tomorrow. We need to spend at least a day going over our options for getting to Oita. We can either walk straight through the mountains, walk the coastline, or do a bus/walk combo around the coastline.

Stay Tuned!

Day 9 Photoset

Last night we camped at the Tsuno shrine. We planned a short 10km day today, so we decided to sleep in this morning. We woke up around 7, ate breakfast and lazed about inside the tent until about 8:30. When we finally started emerging from the tent, I was approached by a man who was riding his bike through the shrine.

Miwa-san is a volunteer worker at the shrine. He makes sure the place is clean, and he just wanted to come by and see what we were up too. He thought that our choice of camping in the shrine was a good one since there is water and a bathroom. We talked with him for a while, then went back to packing up our stuff.

As we were leaving, Risa wanted to eat the last two tomatoes from the other day, so we walked over to the picnic area where we found Miwa waiting. He called us over, so we ate our tomatoes while he told us stories about the shrine and how its his job to clean the garbage.

After a little while, another man came over, and Miwa told him to sit down and hang out with us. So the 4 of us were hanging out, talking at the picnic table when we learned that the second man, Ikki-san, was actually the shrines Kannushi, or owner/caretaker. He was super nice. When he found out that our target for the day was mimitsu, he said, “ Oh, I’m planning to go visit my grandson in Hyuga. The Onsen you want to go to is on the way. I can take you there if you don’t mind waiting here for a little while.” Of course, when a shrines Kannushi offers to give you a ride, you don’t refuse! Ikki-san said he needed to go change real quick, but he would be right back.

About 10 minutes later, Ikki-san pulls up in his car wearing a full ceremonial kimono! His son is the Kannushi of a shrine in Hyuga, and the reason he is visiting is to take part in a big ceremony. With that, we said good bye to Miwa and headed north to Hyuga Sun Park Onsen.

Did I mention that Ikki-san is super nice? When we got to the onsen he gave us an orange, some tea, and then 1000yen ($10) to pay for the onsen! What a great guy. I hope we meet him again some day.

The onsen was really awesome. Very clean, and with an ocean view. The rest area outside the bath portion was also perfect since we could sit next to big windows overlooking the ocean, eat ice cream, and use an outlet to charge the iphone and laptop.

We probably spent 2 hours just lounging around the onsen before we decided to use our new found energy to walk to Hyuga. Our plan was to get to Hyuga and find another shrine. No campgrounds were listed on the map, and we aren’t planning on a hotel until Nobeoka.

In Hyuga, we worked our way over to the Oomi Shrine. We almost didn’t make it, since we found a cool little flat area that might have worked as a campground. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we didn’t stay once we discovered a wired shrine with a dragon statue and offerings of sake. We thought that maybe we should try to stay on the side of good and camp at a shrine rather than this weird evil dragon shrine. (but it was pretty cool looking)

Once at the Oomi shrine, we talked to the Kannushi and asked if it was ok to camp there. He said that we couldn’t camp in the shrine, but there is a beach around the corner that we can use. So he walked us down the road and showed us the way to the beach. However, this being Miyazaki (which we love), and this being the day that Kannushi’s help us, he also gave us some free cookies! The cookies are special since they represent a special rock formation inside the shrine called “Sazareishi”.

So here we are, camping in a small little cove. The beach here is very pretty.

The plan tomorrow is to make it to Nobeoka!

Day 7 Photoset

After a long period of R&R in the city of Miyazaki, we finally were back on the road today.

We left the hotel around 10:30, which is pretty late, but still gave us enough time to get to our target for the day. We went north through Miyazaki following a road that was about 5 blocks parallel to hwy10. Taking the path less traveled really paid off for us today, as we got to meet several great people.

The first encounter was with a taxi driver who had pulled over and was waiting for us near a bridge. He walked with us for a few minutes, asking where we were going etc… When we said we were walking all the way to Tokyo, he told us he spent some time walking with another traveler who was going all over Japan. Then he got back in his taxi and drove off. It was a little strange, but as we soon learned, people in Miyazaki Prefecture are super nice and just like to talk and help out.

Further down the road we past by a small horse coral. The man who runs the place, Mr. Fukuda, called us over and asked if we wanted to look at the horses. Of course we said yes! He showed us a little pony named Po-chan and another horse whose name escapes me. After hearing about our plans and getting over his original disbelief, he asked us if we would like to ride one of the horses that was out in the coral. Of COURSE we want to ride a horse! So Risa and I each got to ride on ‘Sky’ while Fukuda led him around. We got a quick lesson in how to hold the reigns and how to gently kick the horses sides to get him to go, etc… It was really fun!

The horse experience made our day, but it was only the beginning! As we continued north, we entered Sadowara Town. A woman on a bicycle rode up behind us and told us that she owned a cafe near the bridge over the river. She said that if we stopped by she would treat us to some coffee!

It took a while, but we eventually made it to her cafe and she wasn’t lying about treating us! Mrs. Nei not only gave us coffee, but also kept bringing us watermelon slices! She even spent some time going over the maps with us, and telling us about some good places to camp. I guess the owner of the cafe and her like to lend a helping had to any travelers passing through. A while ago there were a couple of people who were walking from Fukuoka to Miyazaki, and today was the two of us.

We spent about an hour at her cafe, but it was starting to get a little late and we still had a couple hours ahead of us if we wanted to get to our target campground before dark. So we packed up and said our goodbyes and we were once again on our way.

The campground we planned to stay at is currently closed (read: Free), but that also might mean no water. So as we approached, we decided to stop by at a little store and ask if we could fill our waterbottles. The nice shop lady filled our bottles and Risa told her we were going to the campground for the night.

We thought that was the end of it, but after setting up our tent at the campground, that same shop lady came driving up. She wanted to make sure we made it safely and that we were able to set up the tent. She also brought us 5 fresh tomatoes! Then she said goodbye and drove off. So nice! WE LOVE MIYAZAKI! We are camping at a real campground for the first time. Tondahara Campground. Its nice, it has a huge sports field, swimming pool (closed), running water, and tiny little tent area. There is a guy practicing French Horn next to the field.

Last night I learned that my pet cat Brook who has lived with my family for 15 years had died. She was a great cat. Never mean to anyone, always enjoyed being petted and sitting in peoples laps. She was super fat, but quite healthy. She lived a good life, spending much of her last few years tucked into the corner of the couch sleeping the day away, or sitting on my dads lap getting her ears scratched. She was somewhere between 17 and 21 years old. We got her from the shelter and I can’t remember how old she was when we got her. RIP Brook!

Day 6 Photoset

It kindda bummed me out and we could use an extra day to plan our route ahead, so we decided to stay one more day in Miyazaki.

We went for a walk around the city, and we went to a small foot onsen, but other than that, it was a pretty quiet day. Our route for the next 3 days planned pretty good now. We are going to head north along the coast, with our 3 day target being the town of Nobeoka. We found some campgrounds and hotels along the route that we can use if needed, but I am hoping to save some money and just camp on the beach if possible.