A Single Step

Thanks to many lovely and very generous people, the Tokaido trek has helped raise over $1500 for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and their great work providing books and other literacy-related services for some of the most disadvantaged children in Australia. To everyone who has contributed, heartfelt gratitude. Sadly, however, I’m still $425 short of my target – which means, as things stand, I’ll be spared a night in one of Japan’s legendary capsule hotels. Back when I set the target, I hoped that the promise of consigning me to a night of discomfort in a box little bigger than a coffin would encourage people to contribute to not only a very worthwhile cause (Indigenous literacy) but also a slightly sadistic one (me: capsule). The good news is that the fundraiser is still open, and I have nine more nights in Japan! Currently I plan to spend all of them in the comfort of a conventional hotel room (bed, floor, standing room … that sort of thing), but I can change the schedule to acco...

As I mentioned in the previous update, I’d finished Saturday’s walk feeling tired and not entirely confident of getting all the way to Kyoto today. As it turned out, I reached Sanjo-Ohashi – the bridge in Kyoto that marks the western end of the Tokaido – with energy to spare, but I didn’t know that as I set off early to walk the kilometre or so from the hotel to Zeze station to catch a train to Kusatsu. Once back on the Tokaido, not far from Kusatsu station I passed Tachiki shrine, looking gorgeous in the morning light, and I stopped to pay my respects and hope for a successful final day. Note the deer either side of the steps leading up to the main building. A little further on, at Inari shrine, was another example of a row of torii gates, of which I’d seen many on the road from Tokyo. Getting closer to Kyoto as I was, I couldn’t help but think of the much more famous (and, to be fair, much larger and more beautiful) rows of torii at the namesake shrine in the south of the city, which...

  As it had been dark when I checked into my up-market accommodation in Otsu, this morning was my first chance to appreciate a daylight view from the 25th floor. This is the lake-side vista… …and this is the view over the city on the other side:   On the way out, I paused to enjoy the Christmas decorations in the cavernous lobby. I don’t think a yacht is Santa’s traditional mode of transport, but it makes sense given the hotel’s lakeside location, I suppose. One of the bonuses that comes with the accommodation is a free shuttle bus to the town’s JR station, which is some distance away. From there a couple of trains took me to Kibukawa, and then a short bus ride to Minakuchi-Ishibashi. The good thing about today’s walk was that very little of it was along Route 1. The bad news was that almost all of it was on narrow roads without a footpath, and plenty of traffic. It wasn’t a relaxing day. Where the Tokaido passed through countryside, this was the typical scenery: small fields ...

  From two syllables to eight; from Mie prefecture to Shiga; to within striking distance of Kyoto. More train travails after checking out of the Kaneyama hotel: partly another case of confusion over when to ‘tap off’ with the IC card, and partly because of delays on the line out of Nagoya. As a result, it was nearly 10.30 by the time I set off walking from little Seki station. Much of the early part of the walk was alongside Route 1 as it climbed gently into the hills, although there was an occasional diversion onto the old road through villages to provide a respite from the traffic. Autumn colours are much more evident now, particularly on bright days like today. At Sekichokutsukake, an old Western-style school building had been converted into a “Youth Nature House”, just over the road from a geodesic structure that I think was part of the same complex. Things Japan does surprisingly badly (No.2 in a very short series) : Children’s playgrounds. This spot, where I paused for a rest...