Japan: Week 3

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1. Sakurajima & Kagoshima
2. Yakushima: Onaida Nature Trail
3. Yakushima: Onaida Nature Trail
4. Yakushima: Onaida Nature Trail
5. Yakushima: Sea Turtles
6. Yakushima to Kagoshima
7. Kagoshima to Toyota

Here is a map of the route we took and the exact places. Wow did we make it far during our first week. We were traveling at the speed of a Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train)! Sadly Google Map doesn't allow you to have all those points while in public transportation mode, but we did travel the entire way on JR train.

The cats that had made Sakurajima
Island their home were very
friendly and more then willing to take
some of my left over food.

Waking up in the Dinosaur Park, the submarine was still there. I was happy to see it because then hopefully I would be able to watch it submerge. Just as I stopped filming the sub and turned my back, it went under. It was a little frustrating, but we had to make it to the ferry to head off to Yakushima and the forest that Hayao Miyazaki used as inspiration for Princess Mononoke, one of the films that inspired me to visit Japan in the first place. There are homeless cats everywhere in Japan, some more comfortable around people than others, but many of them are taken care of my locals that bring water and food for them.  The cats on Sakurajima that we fed with some leftover lunch were very friendly. One of them even snuggled up with me after eating and drank some water that I put into the plastic base that my ice cream cone had come in – yum yum ice cream by the way.

Ash on Boat with Yakushima Island behind her

The portion of trail I went on was under the forest canopy the entire way except at the very end where I was surrounded by misty clouds and amazing ancient trees! Although lonely planet and the Yakushima tourist center both quoted that the Onaida Nature Trail would only take 7-8 hours it took me a total of two and a half days. It was ridiculous how crazy the trail was; the people seriously marked trees in the complete wilderness with pink plastic tape and then called it a trail. The trail was full of obstacles, large boulders, streams, mountains after mountains to climb, river, and two groups of monkeys. It was so rigorous that I had to camp out in nature two nights and filter water. The first night I slept under a wonderfully placed rest hut that was stuck to the side of a very steep section of the trail; luckily the huts pillars were far enough apart for me to hang my hammock because there were benches right in the center, but not big enough to do anything except cook or sit on.

Near the end of the Oneida Nature Trail their is a clearing
where you have to climb over this large fallen tree. The
View was incredible and mystifying.

The trees were so close together, it was difficult finding a place to hang the hammock on the second night, but if there is a will there is a way! After emerging from this beautiful but exhausting hike we were then off to see the sea turtles.... We got to the beach earlier in the day and went cross the highway into some trees and hung the Nubé (our home). We watched a long video of what type of turtles we may be seeing (all in Japanese of course). During this video all the non-Japanese speaking tourists’ followed two gecko's as they searched for their next meal near the lights, that were on the hut we were all huddled under, trying to avoid the torrential down pour, and one very large spider that just stayed half way hidden (don't think his whole body could fit in the crack he called home). We after much dead silence (10 pm rolled around and some people went home) we were suddenly ushered single file holding onto the shoulder of the person in front of you out deep into the sand.  This beach is where they allowed us to see a female Loggerhead Sea Turtle laying eggs. She was beautiful, she was approximately 5 foot in length, 4 foot wide with a neck of about 8 inches in diameter, as she began burring the eggs, wildlife officials took blood samples, tagged her back fin and replaced a GPS tag in her front fin.  They dig up the eggs to count and protect them; in July you can watch the babies scurry back to the sea, from human dug nests. We loved this experience!
After leaving the southern island of Yakushima, we took the four-hour ferry ride to Kagoshima and some of our beloved 7-eleven food, and then slept in our fantastic hammocks. Luckily, we had grown accustomed to hanging the Nubé no matter what the weather, so when it rained that night we were nice and dry. The puddle that was similar to a lake under our Nubé was something else. It made it a little interesting when getting out and breaking down camp. 

Japan: Week 2

This site is no longer going to be updated. I have upgraded my site and the new location is:

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A day by day account of where we were and some of the experiences we had.

1. Nara
2. Himeji & Banshu Ako
3. Banshu Ako
4. Banshu Ako & Osaka
5. Hiroshima & Miyajima
6. Miyajima & Beppu
7. Beppu & Sakurajima

Here is a map of the route we took and the exact places. Sadly Google Map doesn't allow you to have all those points while in public transportation mode, but we did travel the entire way on JR train.

Nara, a little town outside of Kyoto, was one of the few places that we saw a bunch of other international tourists and we were all there for the same reason, to feed the famous deer. I believe that since of the high volume of visitors they had a higher proportion of street markets. We enjoyed visiting this city that offered some decent food from the grocery store in the train station and some photogenic and feisty deer.

Nara, Japan Market

Hiroshima, Japan
A-Bomb Dome and Eternal Flame

We felt that no trip would be complete without visiting Hiroshima and really respect our two countries history. The visit to the memorial museum was a somber event. Leaving Hiroshima, we took a ferry to Miyajima and the famous floating torii of Itsukushima Shrine. We did not feel that it would be right to urban camp in Hiroshima city so we opted for a more appropriate location on the island. Plus it would be a lot more secluded area meaning that we would not be anyone’s way. We found a perfect place that ended up surrounded by native deer and we even heard a couple of very load monkey screeches as darkness fell over us.

Miyajima Island
Floating Torii

Banshu Ako, Packs off to eat our
7-eleven cappuccino ice cream before
walking the rest of the way to the camp
ground

Ohmoto Park, Miyajima Island

By week two we were becoming overwhelmed by the big City, concrete, people everywhere, trains moving, and cramming into those trains and well.... Val was just exhausted and needed some down time. Information women at the train station called a campsite she knew of way out in the middle of nowhere... Banshu Ako.  During our walk to this campground we found a 7-11 store where we bought ice cream, we stopped at a shaded picnic bench, and I had Ash take a photo, all I wanted was there!  A bench, shade, ice cream and no pack, and better yet a nice view!  We finally made it to this campground, where we stayed 3 days. This place had showers, laundry, picnic tables, vending machines, kitchen set up for all to use... even a TV where we watched sumo. They were very kind and lent us two bicycles to get groceries. After realizing many people were there to go clamming, we purchased a sack and dug in the sand at low tide with all the locals.  I promptly got a slight burn, and many little tiny clams.  The campground personnel took our clams, poured them into a plastic tub, then poured lukewarm water over them and placed them in the shade with a piece of cardboard over the top, and motioned with their mouths that the clams needed to spit the sand out. Ash was new to the entire process... but found her fair share of clams too. They then loaned us a frying pan to cook them up in!  On our next trip to the market we purchased two boxes of ice cream and gave them to the staff to say thank you!  (They close the campground on a Tuesday I think, and were becoming worried we would never leave... we did little but rest) Upon our departure they had made a little care package of food (one of the gifts included were Ritz crackers filled with lemon cream filling... quickly became a favorite) and then drove us back to the train station so we didn't have to ride the bus or walk.... so very kind. This couple and their staff hold a special place in our hearts!

Beppu Park, Beppu

After such a great experience at Banshu Ako we wanted to take our chances in a Japanese Onsen. I knew that one place that we would be sure to find an onsen, Japanese bathhouse, was in Beppu. We picked out one that was relatively cheap and included about seven different types of baths, a sand bath, and a sauna.  After a nice soak we headed to a computer café and then on to bed in our hammocks. It was pure luck that we were able to camp next to a grove of bamboo.

Dinosaur Park, Sakurajima

From Beppu we headed even farther south to the city of Kagoshima and across the bay to Sakurajima. We had a bit of a hike up steep switchbacks to the Dinosaur Park, so named because of the life size dinosaurs and other animals statues located there. We found a perfect spot that had a functional bathroom, a little on the icky side, a nice outdoor sink, a rooftop patio, and a beautiful view of the active volcano and bay. It was the perfect place to camp out and we even had a pet hawk. We really liked this location except for the steep climb up side of the hill.

Urban Camping

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We read a lot about urban camping in Japan, before ever going over there and doing it ourselves. The main thing that made me feel confident about it being safe was that my mother had approved of it and even found it herself AND that on one of the recommendations it had said a police officer had suggested the park first.

Beppu, Beppu Park

Along the way we had asked many tourist centers if there was a place to camp at _____ (fill in the blank), they all would reply that they cannot officially recommend it, but that many people do camp there.

We would of loved to have more ideas of places to stay or that would be good. As we became experienced Japan Urban Campers, three criteria had to be met:

1. A bathroom
2. Two solid, old trees
3. Those trees had to be at a distance of 13 to 16 feet apart (Mother's feet, heel to toe)

Here are a few of the places that we stayed at all around Japan. The only one that we wouldn't recommend is Himeji Castle Park as the security guards didn't really like it, but if pressed to find a place late at night in Himeji we would go back and know that we would have to take it all down before 5 am.

A few of the places we would really recommend/ our favorites:

• Yokohama, Seaside Park: beautiful and a nice way to see the city lights and close to a bathroom
• Shirahama, Shirarahama Beach: we never had to take the hammock and Nube down during our 2.5 day stay, as almost no one walks behind the storage containers placed up by the cement walkway (this was during the weekdays, not sure how that would change during the weekend and high travel season). Very close to a nice bathroom. Beautiful beach.
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