Thursday, June 12, 2008

Japan Trip Day 5: Top of Chūgoku Ma! 日本旅行6月4日

One neat thing about staying at the Matsue City Hotel 松江シティホテル was the free breakfast bentōs 弁当 they provided. Every morning from 6:30, they were placed out on a table by the elevator on the floor I was staying on, and the guests could help themselves. Though small, they were surprisingly filling, containing rice, fish, vegetables and a side of miso soup 味噌汁. However, on this particular morning, I missed out on the breakfast treat as I was up at 5, at Matsue Station 松江駅 in time to catch the 6:23 train to Yonago 米子, and finally the 7:40 bus to Daisen 大山, arriving there around 8:30. The purpose was to climb the highest mountain in the Chūgoku 中国 region, and the day I had chosen to do so was going to be the sunniest, according to the TV weather reports I had been tracking since my arrival in Japan on Sunday.

So naturally it was drizzly on the train/bus rides from Matsue to the village of Daisen, at the foot of the mountain. The rain, however, had turned into a fog/mist by the time I got off the bus, and I set out on the 2.8 kilometer (1.7 mile) hike up the mountain.


As you can see from the photo above, I wasn't going to be alone on this hike. As it turned out, there were 5th-graders from six different schools in Shimane Prefecture 島根県 out to tackle the mountain this morning, plus a number of other hikers. Here in Taiwan, the idea of climbing up the mountain while trying to pass several hundred kids would have been an ordeal, a terrifying run (or hike) through a gauntlet of taunting brats, with the adults either doing nothing to reign them in, or even worse, encouraging their charges to torment the foreigner (respect for one's elders in Chinese society apparently only applies to elders who are ethnically Chinese). These kids, however, were very different. As I passed them on the way up (and again on the way down), I was respectfully greeted with "Konnichi wa's" こんにちは and "Ohayō gozaimasu's" おはようございます, plus a few "Hello's" in English, but no smirks or obnoxious comments. Which all showed how, in general, Japanese society operates on a level of basic civility a couple of steps higher than in Taiwan. Time and again, cars (taxis included) would let me cross the road (unheard of where I live in Taiwan), and I almost never heard the sound of cell phones ringing as most people kept their keitai's on vibrating mode. And the majority of people, too, just seemed much more aware of what was going on around them, more so than most Taiwanese, which made walking around much easier.

But I digress. The first part of the trail was through beech forest, shrouded in fog, but after only a few minutes, I had to shed the jacket I was wearing due to the sweat I was working up.


Halfway up, the sun broke through the clouds, and the eastern slope of Daisen could be seen. I would cross it later on the trail I took down. Soon, however, as I got closer to the top, the fog rolled in, the wind rose up, the temperature dropped and the jacket came back on. The trail also narrowed to the point that it would've been a long drop had I been too careless in some way.


Finally, after 2 1/2 hours of walking, I reached the top, 1710.6 meters (5612 feet) above sea level (the actual summit is a little further on, at 1729 meters, or 5673 feet, but is too dangerous to hike on). The fog completely obscured any views of the countryside far below, but I relished the moment, and had a lunch of Calorie Mates カロリーメイト (I've got to see if they have these here in Taiwan!), Pretz プリッツ and soft, shredded squid, while talking with a couple of other hikers relaxing at the top. After 30 minutes or so, just as the first group of school kids was arriving, I ventured back down into the fog.


While descending, the ground below was visible at times through breaks in the cloud cover:


The local insect life was also on display:


I chose to take a different route back to the village of Daisen, 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles) down to Daisen-ji Temple 大山寺. Crossing over a rocky river basin, the eastern slope was partially hidden in the clouds.


After another 2 1/2 hours of walking, the trail led to the back of Ōgamiyama-jinja shrine 大神山神社, the oldest wooden building in western Tottori Prefecture 鳥取県. I also visited Daisen-ji before finally boarding the bus, and returning first to Yonago, and then to Matsue, arriving back before 6pm. After dinner at the station, I returned to my hotel exhausted, but excited, over what has been the highest hike for me so far (other than Mount Fuji 富士山, of course).

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