Roving Japan

Photoset, Day 30

Yesterday morning I felt something “pop” in my left foot. I could still kind of walk, so we finished out the day… but this morning my foot was hurting even more. A little research on the phone resulted with me being fairly certain I either strained or tore my Planar Fascia (the main tendons in the arch of the foot). I’m going to guess that it is just a strain because there isn’t any bruising or much swelling. However it really hurts to walk right now.

We felt that the best thing to do was to see a doctor, however since it is Sunday, all the clinics are closed. So the first plan was to either bus or train to Imabari and stay in a cheap hotel until tomorrow when we can get in to see a doc.

While walking in the small town near our camp, a guy came over and asked where we were going. Risa explained our situation and asked if he knew of any clinics nearby. Of course he said, “Well, it’s Sunday so most places are closed. You could probably try Imabari, that’s not too far away.” Then he offered to drive us there!

We jumped at the opportunity, once again amazed at how friendly and helpful Japanese people are. The guy, whose name is Toshi, was fairly excited about giving us a lift. I guess he has seen how people help hitchhikers on TV, and he has always wanted to try it. So even though we weren’t exactly hitchhiking, it was still his chance to help out a couple of travelers.

When we arrived to Imabari, Toshi said that he wanted to show us around a little bit before dropping us off at the train station. He drove us up to a view point overlooking the bridge system that connects Shikoku with Honshu. The bridges are incredibly impressive, with the larger sections dwarfing the Golden Gate or Bay bridges. There is a chain of smaller islands between Shikoku and Honshu, and it took a total of 8 bridges to link everything together. The system was built between 1984 and 1999.

Toshi later dropped us off at the train station and we exchanged emails. He told us that he would do some research on clinics in the city and then send us a mail.

Although my foot is a major bummer, we didn’t let that stop us from grabbing a decent bite to eat. Imabari is a ghost town at night, but it’s known for some of the best Yakitori in Japan. We walked/hobbled around the dark streets looking for a Yakitori place I found on GoogleEarth. It was a relief to see that the restaurant we were looking for was also quite lively! Inside we were treated to some amazing Yakitori (fried chicken).

Photoset, Day 29

We went north along the coast about 12 miles to a small rest area/campground sandwiched between the highway and the ocean. The walk was really pretty, as we spent most of the day along the ocean side. The only mishap was when Risa stepped on a dead fish that had somehow managed to get on the sidewalk. We don’t know how the fish got on the sidewalk considering the sidewalk was about 20ft above sea level, but there it was. And Risa stepped on it. About an hour later we noticed that my pants had fish guts all over around my ankle. Gross!

We met another Ohenro on the road this afternoon. We didn’t catch his name, but his story was very touching. He is doing the pilgrimage on a bicycle this summer. The bicycle belonged to his wife who past away last year. He wanted to do the pilgrimage on her bike so that she could be with him during his journey. We met him at a small rest area where someone had made little frog statues for travels to use as protection. You could either take a single frog, or a 2-pack for couples. He took the couple set.

He was very helpful, as it was obvious he had done the pilgrimage before. He told us that we needed to buy food in the next town because there wouldn’t be another store before the camp. Just to make sure we found the right store, he rode on ahead to the town and waited for us so he could show us the way.

We made camp at a rest area just off the highway. The owner of the little store at the rest area told us we should set up our tent on the wooden deck near the bathrooms by his store. The spot was perfect until about 9pm when the motorcycle gangs started showing up and revving their engines right next to our camp. Then we also had to deal with them going to the bathroom and walking past our tent. So we packed our bags and picked up the tent and moved farther away and closer to the beach. This spot seems much quieter.

Photoset, Day 28

Risa wasn’t feeling at all well this morning so we are staying another day in the campground.

Not much to say about today. We walked to the top of the island to take some photos from the lookout point. I went to town to buy some medicine and food. A wedding couple and their camera crew came to the island to take photos.

That’s about it!

Looking ahead, it seems like we have about 200 miles until we reach Kobe. We are considering making a side trip to the islands of Naoshima and Shodoshima when we reach the city of Takamatsu. Risa thought that maybe we can just take a ferry from Shodoshima to Kobe, but that would involve skipping about 100miles and I think that’s cheating. Besides, Nakata-san said we should go see the islands, but then go back to Takamatsu to finish walking around Shikoku. He said that we should also make sure to see Naruto before we cross the bridge to Honshu. I guess Naruto has a famous coastline with giant whirlpools. BTW, no, Naruto does not have ninja’s.

Photoset, Day 27

Risa has been pretty sore recently. Today was a tough day for her knee and foot, so we only walked about 10 miles to the small island of Kashima. The island is just a 3minute ferry ride from the shore, with service every 20minutes. Risa almost missed our boat when the captain started to pull away while she was taking a picture. The ferry captain was in a big hurry to get back to the island because he was in the middle of watching a drama on TV. He didn’t have time to wait for some chick to take pictures! The island has a nice little campground with fresh water and bathrooms. It’s the off-season so the showers aren’t open, but at least we have a nice place to camp.

While setting up the tent, a man walked over and started making conversation. His name is Nakata-san and he is currently walking the 88 temple pilgrimage trail… for the 58th time. Fifty-Eight. He has made it his life goal to walk the trail 100 times. So far he has spent about 10 years, walking the trail 4 times/year. The trail is about 1400km long, so he has walked about 81,200km! He said to us, “I probably haven’t even walked around the earth once yet.” Of course, since I had the iPhone I had to find out. He was quite surprised to learn that he has in fact walked around the earth TWICE.

He was really nice, and he gave us some advice for our remaining travels in Shikoku. He doesn’t camp in big cities, instead he gets a business hotel or walks through to the countryside to camp. He also recommended that we stay on the pilgrim trail so we can take advantage of the rest stops. He showed us some campgrounds on the map that he recommends using, so our next target is a campground about 12miles away from here.

Tonight it seems like Risa is also coming down with a cold, so we might just stay on the island again tomorrow, then head out again on Saturday.

Day 26 Photoset

We did so much stuff yesterday that we figured we should take one more day to actually recharge before we head out again. So today we did something new, we went to the movies!

The big movie in Japan right now is called “Rookies!”. The previews made it look like “Major League”, but set in high school. Crazy looking characters and their crazy baseball antics. We figured it might be funny, and since it was a sports movie, I could probably follow along even though it was in Japanese.

30 minutes after the movie started, we were in the lobby demanding our money back or a ticket to another movie. Rookies is possibly the worst movie Risa and I have ever seen. Terrible acting, terrible camera work, terrible writing, not funny… just horrendous. Nothing good to say about it. Risa says its the worst Japanese movie she’s ever seen.

The girl at the counter tried to explain that since we saw half the movie, we could only see half of another movie. This made no sense, so we complained some more and she called a manager. He quickly resolved the problem by letting us get another full ticket to any other movie we wanted. There weren’t a lot of choices, but we settled on Angels & Demons with Tom Hanks. Compared to Rookies, this movie was Shakespeare. On it’s own, it was quite entertaining. It doesn’t hold up to a lot of scrutiny, but its totally entertaining while you’re watching it.

The other main highlight of the day was the Hamburger we had for lunch. I’ve been craving some American food, so I was happy to get a burger. It won’t dethrone any American born burger, but it was pretty good.

Tomorrow we are going to head north. There is an island called Kashima about 10miles up the coast and 3 minutes from the shore by boat. It has a free campground and an onsen!