)
Breakfast at the Dochuan Youth Hostel in Sendai was at 7:30. It was
an extra charge but it left me with less to worry about in the morning and
it was a good deal at only ¥600 (about $5). I
forgot what we had. Typically a Japanese inn offers breakfast items such as rice, miso soup and cold pieces of fish and, usually (but
not always), western foods such as eggs, salad & rolls. Although I got up
relatively early, I didn't get the bike loaded and ready to go until after 10:30.
This being only my second time loading up, I did not yet have a routine.
I headed back in to Sendai to take a look around during
the day which had dawned sunny but was giving way to a typical summer
haze. I found the SS-30, a 30-story building which, according to
the guidebook, is the tallest building in the city, and headed up to the
)
)
observation floor. The view bore some similarity to that of Tokyo
with a crowded metropolis spreading out before the eyes except that, in
this case, the metropolis ended within eyesight and sometimes ran into
foot hills.
Also in contrast to Tokyo, a white statue of the goddess Kannon stood out against
the horizon. Yes, I was indeed out of Tokyo into the ne'er traveled
northern regions of Honshu known
as Tohoku. After the brief stop, I headed out of the city for
nearby Matsushima.
Although the distance was short, traffic was
surprisingly slow with)
many traffic lights and a high density of
cars on Route 4, seemingly the only main road available. In an hour or so I arrived at the coastal
spot. Matsushima is a major tourist
destination and is reputed to be one of the three most scenic spots in
Japan. The big draw is a small bay off the Pacific ocean in which is
dotted over two hundred tiny, rocky islands. Most of them are
covered with pine trees, hence the name -- Matsu (Pine Tree) + Shima
(Islands).)
Indeed, it was very scenic. Although I was there during
midday -- the least photogenic time -- I could see that it was one of
those spots where a photographer would want to come back time
and time again to capture its various faces -- sunrise, sunset, blue sky/blue
ocean, misty evenings -- from countless angles. Being stuck there
during a hazy midday, I just took an "I was here shot" and a shot of
the long pedestrian bridge that leads out to one of the bigger islands and left it at that.
Equally intriguing as the bay and its islands was the
nearby Zuiganji Temple. The temple itself was fairly typical -- a
National Treasure founded in 828 with current buildings dating back to
1605 blah blah blah -- however its grounds sported a line of chambers dug out of the rock face of a small cliff.
Some of them contained statuary. Statues also sat in small
carved areas nearby on one of the small islands, this one being easily reached via a small
red bridge. These features made the temple memorable and unique in
my experience. It was another place where one could spend a good
amount of film trying to capture its spirit.
)
)
)
)
Godaido Hall
Statue of Buddha
)
)
)
)
Stone Chambers
I left Matsushima around two in the
afternoon and
avoided the congested coastal highway by taking Route 346 which led inland towards Iwate Prefecture. I stopped for a meal of chicken-katsu (breaded and fried
chicken) in a small town called Nango. It was mid-afternoon and I was the only
customer. If the proprietor -- a middle aged lady -- thought it
unusual for a foreigner to be stopping in her establishment she didn't let
on. She left me to me own devices while I studied my maps and filled
up my belly. I was hoping to make it to Jodogahama, a notable
scenic coastline according to the guide book, but it was looking a bit late for that. Sunset comes early
in Japan even in summer, earlier than I am used to anyway.
I forged on as dusk approached and ran into a bit of rain around
6:30 or 7PM. I was able to skirt the light precipitation by heading back towards the coast which
was where I wanted to go anyway. Darkness began to fall and just as I was looking
for a construction site or suitable (if not legal) spot to make camp off
of Route 397, I saw a sign for a camping area called Taneyama Kogen Camp-jo
(Mt. Taneyama Plateau Camp Area). The turnoff led me on an uphill
road over a kilometer long which deposited me, according to a sign, at an
altitude of 750 meters. The camp area had cabins for rental as well
as a car camp area -- just a field, really. The office was manned
and I was able to determine that the auto camp area was free. My
luck increased further when I found that their public bath was open and the cost was
only ¥200.
I picked a spot in the field that looked level and not
too close to other campers. I set up my little bivy tent using my
headlamp for illumination and then grabbed my toiletries and headed back
for a bath. Being a hot summer weekend, there were three other car/tent
campers (couples or young families), one other biker plus several of the cabins were occupied
and people were enjoying themselves in typical Japanese (and American for that
matter) fashion by grilling food, eating and drinking.
I had the bath to myself for a while but was joined a
little later by a guy who looked to be in his forties. We greeted
each other but didn't really speak much. However, in the lobby where
there was a rest/waiting area, he bought himself a beer from a vending
machine and, against my weak protestations, one for me as well. I learned
that he was a local guy and just lived down the road. I didn't ask
why he didn't just bathe at home; public bathing in Japan is a
long-standing tradition so it did not seem particularly unusual.
Even in Tokyo many people still frequent sento (public bath
houses).
There was a junior high school aged boy with him and,
if I understood him correctly, he said that he was his youngest daughter's
kid and not his own. I thought it odd since he looked a bit young to
be a granddad but perhaps they start families young there as is common in rural communities the world over. A girl and her mother came out
of the women's bath and joined us. The girl looked to be about high
school age but both adults and both kids lit up cigarettes. I guess
they start everything earlier out there. Although the dialect in
Tohoku is supposed to be so thick that even Tokyo-ites can't understand
it, we were able to communicate well enough though it was clearly a
different accent even to my non-adept ears. He must have been taking care
to talk "standard Japanese" to me since I did have a more difficult
time following conversation just among his family.
Unlike most Japanese I've met, particularly those who
make an effort to communicate with a "foreigner" such as myself,
this Tohoku family (I never got their name) were not particularly
inquisitive and left it to me to keep the conversational ball rolling by
telling them something or asking questions myself. Usually it's the
other way around. The guy offered to let me camp at his place,
perhaps not
realizing that the auto camp area is free anyway. I declined since I
had already set up my camp but it was a nice gesture and I truly
appreciated the offer.
After parting ways, I walked the short walk back to my
camp site while enjoying the fresh air and beautiful night sky. After
living in Tokyo for so long, it had been a long while since I had seen
such a beautiful starry sky. I pulled out my backpacking stove and
boiled some hot water for a meal of instant noodles of some type or other
along with the convenience store snacks I had. I had a couple of
flashlights for use when needed including an extremely useful headlamp
(don't want to go camping without it). Even with the altitude, the temperature was still
above 21 degrees (70F) and I went to sleep hoping that the temperature
wouldn't take a sudden dive on me.
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