Yatsugatake （八ヶ岳）Mountain Climbing Trip (August 13-15)

During Obon, my school's mountain climbing club was scheduled to go on a trip to Yatsugatake (8 peaks) in between Nagano and Yamanashi prefectures. It's a range of mountains that used to be volcanoes. Now, all the volcanoes in the range are extinct except for Mount Kitayoko (北横山). According to local legend, Yatsugatake used to be the highest mountain in Japan, higher even than Mt. Fuji. The goddess of Mt. Fuji was jealous of Yatsugatake, so she broke the mountain into pieces, forming the 8 peaks of Yatsugatake that are all lower than Mt. Fuji.

I was very excited to go on this trip, because this time we would be camping rather than staying in yamagoya, or huts. Camping seems more genuine. In preparation I had to buy a tent, a sleeping bag, a mat, and some other equipment necessary for camping. Somehow, I managed to stuff everything in my 33 L backpack. It was very full and very heavy...

Early in the morning of August 13, I left my apartment and headed to Shinjuku, to meet everyone on the platform. We took the "Super Azusa" train that travels between Matsumoto City in Nagano and Shinjuku. The train we took wasn't the bullet train, but it was a high speed train. It took about two hours to get to our destination. We left on the first day of Obon, a VERY busy travelling day, so we had to get to the platform to line up for the train super early. We all got on and got seats. I basically slept the whole way, and I missed the beautiful scenery. After arriving at Chino (茅野) station, we caught a bus that would take us to the trail start. Little did we know, we took the wrong bus! Oops! Luckily once we realized we were able to catch another bus that went to the trail head.

Once we got off the bus it was time to start walking. We walked for about 3 hours to get to our campsite for the night. On the way there were ponds and creeks. It was all very scenic (naturally!). Recently, Nagano prefecture has been getting lots of rain, so the trails were quite wet and filled with puddles or little streams. Luckily the weather was perfect, sunny and cloudy.

After about an hour (maybe?) we reached a pond. It was really neat because the shore was littered with lava rock. However, you could tell by looking at how worn down the rocks had become that the mountain's past as a volcano was a very long time ago.

There were dragonflies everywhere! After resting at the pond for a bit, we continued on our way to our eventual destination, Twin Ponds (双子池). 

This is one pond.

And this is the other pond! 

There was a mountain hut between the two ponds. Interestingly enough, there was no camping allowed in the hut area or near the second pond. I suppose the reason is so that the water stayed clean. The second pond's water was so clean that you could drink the water straight. And that's what we did. We filled up our water bottles in the second pond and hiked back to the first pond where we could set up camp.

We camped on the beach of the first pond. We had two tents plus my one man tent. In this picture, the students are cooking breakfast. They made pancakes.

This is the pond at around 5:30 in the morning. We woke up at 4:30 am, ate breakfast and packed up so we could be on the trails by 6:30 am.

During the night, it rained a bit and it was windy, but my little tent held up. I stayed dry and warm :) The second day started off sprinkling and being cloudy, but overall the weather seemed like it would be okay. Boy was that wrong. By the time we began our first ascent to a peak, it was misty, damp, and cold, with intermittent periods of rain. 

The sign post reads, Kitayokodake 2480 m.

We reached the first peak at about 9:30 am. The elevation of Kitayokodake is 2480 m, and on the exposed peak it was cold, wet and windy! The students were already tuckered out at this point. We had just climbed about 400 m in elevation. From here we descended about to a mountain hut, where it began to pour with rain. The rest of the day the weather was cloudy, misty, with periods of heavy rain. The trails turned into rivers and by the end of the day it was really quite slippery and dangerous. At all the observation points, you couldn't see anything, just mist. So the fun of reaching a peak was lost because there were no beautiful views. Everyone was soaked and freezing cold, not to mention tired. About 1 hour before our arrival at our camp for the night, our group split into two. The head teacher and 3 of the students were able to keep up a good pace. My group could not. I was kept at the back of the group with another teacher, and with us were two very slow students. They were dragging their feet so badly... A 30 minute trek turned into an hour or longer... It was very frustrating, but what can you do? When we finally reached the mountain hut and campsite, the other half of the group was waiting and eating ice cream they purchased from the hut. One of the slow girls was feeling ill, so at first we planned to stay in the hut with her. In the end, however, the man who was running the hut convinced us all to camp. It was still pouring with rain and I was afraid to set up my tent because I had no ground sheet. So I bunked in one of the group tents instead of risking a wet and cold night. 

Once the tents were set up, I was able to change out of my wet clothes and I finally warmed up. Then it was time for dinner. The two slow students had fallen asleep, so the remaining three students cooked up spaghetti for everyone. We talked about whether we would be able to continue the next day, as the two sleeping students were having a very hard time. Also, the weather was supposed to be worse the next day. After dinner, the two slow girls woke up and one of them declared she could not go on the next day. So the trip was cut short by two days. I was pretty disappointed, but oh well. I think all the students were very pleased, because they were all very tired and sore. 

The students packing up in the morning.

The sky from our campsite. I was trying to capture some rare glimpses of blue sky. Our campsite was at Shirouma Ike (White Horse Pond; 白馬池）

Our bags all packed and ready to go. Mine`s the purple and grey one.

At night, it finally stopped raining. We went to bed pretty early, about 7:30 or 8 pm. During the night the wind picked up. It howled like crazy! The gusts were so strong I could feel the tent lifting beneath me. I had a very uncomfortable sleep, but it didn`t matter because we were leaving the next morning. Instead of continuing on, we had a short walk (about 50 minutes) to the bus stop. And so ended the trip. I plan to go back and see the peaks I didn`t get to see. 

In the morning it was cold; I wore pants, two shirts, a fleece and my rain jacket and I was still cold. When I returned to Kasukabe... It was SOOOOO hot! My poor body had a bit of a temperature shock!

2 years - August 5, 2012 - August 5, 2014 - Japanniversary

Today marks the two year anniversary of my arrival in Japan. It's crazy how time flies. I remember feeling like I made the wrong choice when I said good bye and got on the plane to Tokyo. Those thoughts are long gone, but new questions and fears have replaced them, mainly concerning the next step. I'm not sure what's next. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I do know that my Japanese must improve though. This summer I will study study study. Maybe I'll be able to string a sensible sentence together soon. Next Japanesey thing to try is Kyudo, or Japanese archery. After trying it and hitting 3 of 4 arrows on target, the teacher encouraged me to join. Soon I will hopefully learn a new skill.

Japan has changed me and made me grow in so many ways. I've had a lot of new experiences, some good and some not, but all educational.

I've had run-ins with all manner of bugs and animals. Off the top of my head, giant moths, horrifying bright orange-striped wasps with powerful stings, praying mantises (?), cockroaches, tanuki, deer, ducks, various waterfowl, a burgeoning stray cat problem, too many daschunds, corgis, and chihuahuas to count, large spiders, hopping spiders, bunnies on leashes, cats in strollers, jelly fish, flying fish, raw fish, raw chicken, raw whale, raw horse, raw beef, and other raw things, and of course cicadas!

I've climbed many mountains including the beast that is Mt. Fuji. And for sure, my future involves many more mountains. I've fallen in love with nature here in Japan. I enjoyed, loved, and bragged about Canada's nature, but it seems more precious in Japan because the concrete, the trains, the noise, the light and the crowds get to you. 

I've had surgery and turned into a major hypochondriac! Japan gifted me with a week long hospital stay complete with surgical battle scars. This is a unique experience not too many temporary residents get to have. It was character building. I'd much rather have surgery in English, though. Since everything is strange and I'm alone here, every little thing worries me. I should learn to trust that my body is healthy and very sturdy, so I don't really have to worry so much. But every ache, fever and stomach ache still stresses me out. I think it's more worrying about how to explain it in Japanese to the doctor. Haha. 

I got hit by a car and survived! This is not unique. Drivers here in Japan are terrible and the roads are narrow with tonnes of blind corners and intersections. Bike and pedestrian collisions with cars are a very common occurrence here. Less common, is the hit and run. While I survived my inevitable meeting with the front end of a car, it still plagues me to this day, almost one year later. It was also the cause of my second MRI in Japan. It's the reason I go to a hospital weekly, even though I'm perfectly healthy. At least my Japanese has improved greatly because of this... Or at least my listening comprehension has.

In the past two years I've become a surfer! And I live in a land locked prefecture! Ha! I loved surfing before Japan, but here I have the opportunity to go surfing way more often than I would be able to in Canada, and I've been able to improve. I love surfing. I love my board. I love the feeling of catching a wave. I love falling off my board. I love the soothing movement of the waves. I love the mountains, but I'm still a water baby at the core.

I've reconnected with soccer and I've been introduced to futsal here. I love playing futsal. I love playing soccer. I've been able to continue dancing as well. Through both activities I've met great people! 

I've collected so many cards. Seriously. Everyone and their dog has a card. First, there are name cards or business cards, which you receive at first meetings with people. Second, there are membership cards for things like the gym, the pool, the futsal court. Third, my necessary cards: foreign residency card, health insurance card, bank cards, credit cards, etc. Fourth, my hospital cards. Each clinic or hospital you visit gives you a card. You must use it whenever you go to that clinic or hospital. I've got quite a collection. And fifth, point cards. Oh my goodness! Grocery stores, clothing stores, malls, restaurants, coffee shops, massage places, movie theaters... Everyone has a point card or loyalty card. It's nuts. I thought I had a lot of cards in Canada, but it doesn't come close to what I've accumulated here...

Thankfully and finally as well, I collected another degree. It only took 4.5 years, 3 or 4 leaves of absence, 130-something pages of rambling and countless hours of torture, guilt, and depression. I'm a Master of Science now. Not any better for it though.

I've had some run-ins with the cops. Don't worry, nothing too serious ;p I've had some run-ins with yakuza. The former not being related to the latter, of course. Really though, what Japan experience is complete without stories of cops and gangsters? 

It's been a wild two years full of new experiences, new people and lots of cards. Happy 2nd anniversary to us, Japan!

上園 💝 日本