The Long Way Home

Wednesday 23rd September 2009
AM

Least: At about 8:10am, the spectre of a long wait for the bus haunted us once more. The bus that was to take us down through the valley to Okutama was a good forty minutes away. As we sat on the side of the road, it became clear how dangerous the road actually was. Tens of motorbikes raced down the side of the mountain with little regard for the occasional oncoming traffic. While sitting on the side of the road, I spotted evidence that Japanese glamour had reached this backwater - a single false eyelash sat in the dirt, probably lost by a bogan schoolgirl on camp. After the bus finally arrived, the road back into town was almost unbearable. The road authorities had decided that the best way to slow traffic was to place too-high rumble strips on the road for most of the way down. Rosie barely made it to the bottom, with nausea lurking at every corner. One day that part of the trip may seem better in hindsight.

Most: By 10:00am, I was looking out the window of the local train between Okutama and Ome. The scenery was pretty incredible, including the carfully controlled cliffs on every mountain side. They had been covered in concrete to prevent rockfalls and made a small attempt to look real. It seems that almost every part of nature is under careful control in Japan - except earthquakes of course. The towns were interesting too. Some of the houses still retained their thatched roofs, and on others, the thatch could be seen under sheet iron. In the mountains it was a good relief from the intense industrial development that greys so much of Japan's landscape. I'm going to try to head for the hills more often.

PM

Least: Sometime after 1:30pm, I got sick of looking out the window of the Shinkansen to Osaka. Apart from the headache from the rushing landscape, there wasn't much to see. Despite the occasional glimpse of the Pacific, the trip was mostly characterised by tunnels and smoke spewing factories (see my photo right). By the time, I began snoring, the train had almost reached Nagoya.

Most: At about 3:30pm, the grimy nature of Osaka really hit me. Being amongst the mountains for only a short time had clearly had an interesting effect. The night beside the river gave me a new reference point with which to gauge the living conditions in such a massive and hardworking city. The pollution and humidity were instantly apparent, and people were obviously tired as they looked down the barrel of returning to work after three days off. To assist my rehabilitation into Osakan life, I cooked okonomiyaki and to my satisfaction it was fantastic.