Well, guess this will be our last update from Japan. Since last time, Mats has spent something like 26 hours riding around the country by train and Benjamin has spent about the same amount of time on his feet.
Starting his stint in Hokkaido in the scenic city of Otaru, Mats spent the first few days wandering the local “mountains” and city wide canals, and enjoyed a bit of fishing. Next up was the regional capitol, Sapporo. He spent his days there in pretty much the same way; wandering the gridded cityscape and local mountains, and greeting the locals with a cheery “konnichi wa” around 280 times a day
Benjamin stayed an extra day in Tokyo and visited a weird combination of a nightclub and an aquarium. While staying at the only available hostel in Wakayama, he had a rendezvous with a women’s youth basketball team who used him for english practice and as a photo wall. He ended his solo-week in Koyasan, the holiest mountain in the country (after Fujisan of course) and the scene of a huge old graveyard. In it’s entirety the day’s walk ended at 45km total distance and he ended up sleeping in a temple.
We met back up again two days ago in Kyoto, an absolutely stunning city filled with so many temples you couldn’t throw a brick without hitting a monk. Not that we have done either. We’ll be spending the next few days poking around this amazing site and we’ll give you the last update around the time we go/have come back to Norway.
