Today we took a ferry over to Miyajima Island, which has a famous temple and arch, and a lot of tourists. There is a mountain you can climb (Mt. Misen), so we climbed it, taking the long way through a National Park and avoiding all the tourists. Until we got the top. Because of course there is a cable car that goes up there, along with vending machines and the like, which seems par for the course in Japan.
There seems to be vending machines everywhere here. In street corners and in hotels. Near restaurants. In parks. The vending machine is pervasive here, exceedingly more so than in the States, and you can bet your life on it that there will be one on the top of a popular mountain summit.
There was an observation deck as well on Mt. Misen, and for some reason a pit toilet was built below it, so that when you reached the very top and looked out towards the sea and mountains, it’s not fresh mountain air you get to breathe but the rotten egg smell of people’s shit wafting up to greet you.
Japan is beautiful, don’t get me wrong. But it is exceedingly crowded, and it’s starting to get to me.
Tomorrow we make our way back to where we started, Fukuoka, and then we fly back to South Korea the following day to get our bikes and head back to Seoul. Japan has been fun, but I’m excited to move on. If I come back to Japan ever, it will be to Haikaido, the northernmost point. There is real wildness and wilderness there. And few tourists. Or in general, people.
