Hikingu o Suru

Saturday I had no plans, so after cleaning the apartment a bit, I decided to go for a hike. There was a trail above the Arakawa sports park I'd heard of, so I decided to go check it out. It was very hot, and also very muggy, but most of the hike was in the shade of the forest. I didn't catch the name of the mountain I climbed (and I forgot to take a pic of the kanji at the bottom), but I will volunteer Akumushiyama (evil insect mountain), as I had an honor guard of pestilential flies most of the way up the mountain. I consoled myself by checking out the mad coolness of the Japanese forest around me, and taking plenty of pictures. Here they are:



The forest at the base of the mountain was mostly tall wet-weather evergreens, which produced a nice kind of conifer arcade effect. Very grand.



I don't know what this furry fellow is saying, but he seemed photo worthy.





Towards the base of the mountain were growing wild mint, as well as a fern known locally as "warabi." The warabi fronds are tender and can be gathered and cooked as "sansai" (mountain vegetables) early in the autumn.



Toxicodendrons are quite common here as well (witness the poison ivy). Another one, the urushi tree, is what is used to produce the famous Japanese lacquer-ware. Apparently urushiol (the chemical that gives you a rash from poison ivy, oak, sumac, et cetera) polymerizes when heated, to produce a very high quality varnish. The prevalence of these plants here is also a good reason to stay on the trail.



Apparently, the Japanese take on switch-backs is that the strong need them not (and the weak can deal with it). That, or they just didn't feel like clearing enough trees to make switch-backs the whole way up the mountain (understandable). At any rate, the trail pretty much runs straight up the mountain, and hiking it is more like climbing stairs (or a ladder) than anything I've done in the Rockies.





Mushrooms! Mushrooms abound in all the moisture here, and I saw dozens of different varieties on the way up. Above are some of the highlights (one of which is being worked on by a slug).



Here's a view at about the 3/4 mark. I'm not sure what town is in my sights here: Arakawa is blocked by the trees to the right of the shot. The distant band of blue is the Sea of Japan. This was also the only overlook on the trail (the trees had been artificially cleared to make it), so look well.



This is looking down the trail from near the summit- just to give another view. The flora actually changed noticeably with altitude, and the bugs seemed to thin out too. The forest toward the top had more of a "haunted woods" effect than the tall trees at the bottom.



Here I am at the top, dripping with sunblock and DEET. The top of the mountain was actually completely overgrown- there was no view to reward my efforts hiking up from the overlook- just a sign in Kanji which (I assume) told me that I had reached the summit. It was an intense ordeal (hot and buggy), but it was worth doing once. I think I'm going to reserve future hiking for the Fall, when the weather is nicer and the bugs fewer.

In the Beginning...

...the blog was a formless void.

Konichiwa everyone!

Here begins the first post of what will (hopefully) be a meticulously edited and updated blog about my adventures as an English teacher (and foreigner in general) in Japan. I'm not actually in Japan yet (T-minus 5 days to arrival!), and this set-up post is just to outline some general information about me, my new job, and how the blog will work.
First off- the general info. I will be teaching in the Niigata prefecture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niigata_Prefecture)(Here I confess some basic computer ignorance- I can't get links to work in this blog for some reason. I will paste the URL of relevant websites into the text for now. With any luck I'll have hyperlinks working soonish.), in the small village of Arakawa-machi.

Arakawa-machi has about 11,000 people, lies on a fertile plain, and is bisected by railroad tracks (ringing any bells, Newton readers?). It is a short distance from the ocean, mountains, and prefectural capital of Niigata-shi. The main industry in the area is agriculture, and the region is famous for its excellent beef, salmon, and rice (and therefore, sake).

I will be boarding the plane for Tokyo on Saturday at 7:45a.m., and arriving 15 hours later in Narita International Airport. I'll probably post from the orientation hotel, and then there will probably silence/sporadic updates for a few weeks while I get internet up and running in my apartment.

Finally (thanks for baring with me), I welcome everyone's comments and communications- you can post on the blog, or my email address is jesswrem@gmail.com. I'll be happy to respond to any personal letters anyone wants to send my way.