Hiking

I hopped on a train at Nagoya central train station and landed in Nakatsugawa, a small hub that connects to a lot of little towns around the area. One such town was Magome, the hike from Magome to Tsumago was on the lonely planets guide of the top 20 things to do in Japan, so I thought it might be worth a look. I started in a small row of edo period houses selling tourist crap and made my way to the observation deck overlooking the surrounding town and snow capped mountains. From there it was through the woods and over the bridges to Tsumago, another edo style row of houses, perserved by the government as a hertiage site. I took a look at all the prices for ryokan around the area and was astounded at the rates, so I asked the kind woman behind the tourist information desk if there was any camping. She came out from behind her desk and did the little shuffling run I've become accostomed. As I followed her outside and up some stairs she took me to a small field behind the building and pointed, so this was to be my home for the night. I had decided not to bring a tent, so I was to sleep under the stars that night. I was so tired by then that I rolled out my sleeping pad and went to sleep.

When I awoke it was dusk, and a quick tour of the town confrimed my fears that everything had shut down. I did pass a couple of film students shooting a low budget movie in the area, which was awesome. Apparently Japanese students also like shooting samurai period pieces. Then to my great surpise, because I had resigned myself to starvation, there was a small store open late. I bought two cans of tuna fish, a box of crackers, pinapple juice, and some apples. A feast enjoyed as the sky turned from purple, to dark blue, and finally to black.