The most interesting part of today was not that I’ve been rained on for the seventh day running. It’s not that I considered this a ’short’ day at only 38km nor that I’ve got shin-splints and the other shoulder of my favourite hiking shirt is starting to rip. Staying at Nayoro road station was interesting, [...]

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From the road station called Toma at Pippu I walked 12 hours north to one near the town of Nayoro. I saw four small shrines, notable because Hokkaido doesn’t have as many as the other islands since it only became part of Japan relatively recently.
I think someone offered me a lift today, or they [...]

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I’ve not even covered 10km today and until an hour ago nothing had really happened, except the torrential rain.
Here at the Toma road-station I’ve been wasting time all afternoon, writing a list of places Tania and I will go and visit (reader suggestions are welcome, leave a comment or use the ‘Contact Me’ page), [...]

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When pointing out one’s self in a conversation, for example “I am going to buy this”, the Japanese point to their faces, or more exactly their noses, while westerners point to their chests.
 
A long and winding descent from Asahidake Onsen this morning. The weather was good and I briefly considered taking the cable-car back up [...]

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Last night’s last arrival was the first riser this morning, and his tent was next to mine. For two hours starting not long after 2am I heard him stomp back and forth across the flattened earth, echoing through my tent as if we were on a metal plate. He cooked, he brushed his teeth, he [...]

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I’ve seen a lot of good scenery. I lived amongst it for 5 months last year and I’ve just discovered another truly awe-inspiring place.
It rained in the night and I wasn’t looking forward to the first few hours of pushing through wet bamboo and pine brush. Isoda cheered me up by giving me one of [...]

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I thought I’d be the first up the hill today but a bus-load of keen and young-at-heart hikers were dropped off at 4am and soon got going. I was 30mins behind them until I got confused at the first sign. One way was to a mountain I didn’t want, the other to one I didn’t [...]

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I’m in the car park of Tokachi-dake Onsen roughly 1,000m above where I started today. I became a brief talking point when I met three girls leaving the onsen building and was polite enough to stand back and let them pass by saying “dozo” in the Japanese way. I was having trouble talking because of [...]

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On the PCT, if you’re carrying the Data Book and reading ahead, you are able to tell when a waterless stretch of trail is coming and make sure you’re carrying enough to get through. I don’t have that luxury here and thus I walked about 40km on less than 1.5L, and it was hot. Luckily [...]

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Multiple failures of fairly critical items have plagued my day. My shoes have been wearing out for a while. The lop-sided heels show I’ve been waking in pavement for too long and dragging my feet most of that time. I had to buy new headphones in Sapporo because my old iPod ones were only playing [...]

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