IrishOboe

A lot happened in my last two weeks in Japan, so I’ll write about each even separately and slowly. It wasn’t quite as stressful as college exams or packing up at the end of the year, but nearly so. I did have a wonderful lineup of spending time with people I care about.On my last day of employment (Monday July 24^th), which was a replacement holiday, I took the train to Kasia’s and we took a very much shortened hike due to the weather. We’d planned to hike for three or four days, but the rains had been so bad the ground was unstable and one group of hikers had recently been rescued by air crews so we decided to just take a day hike on Yatsugatake (she lives on its slope). It was a lovely hike and we only had a little bit of light rain. We ended up missing the path we’d planned to take but we ended up on a beautiful path through the green woods of the mid-to-lower part of the mountain. It wasn’t well traveled and I felt like a hobbit. It was beautiful! Toward the end of the eight hour (or so) hike we were rewarded with some beautiful views of Mt. Fuji, which of course I tried to capture on film. I won’t have to worry about that obsession anymore . . .

It was getting close to dark when we finished the trail, but we still had to walk along the road to where Kasia’s car was. Actually, there was a bit more of a trail through the woods passed the parking lot (we didn’t know about that lot or we would have parked there), but as we started down it some animally was screeching so horribly we turned around about as fast as possible without making too much noise. I saw something dash through the woods, but we couldn’t make out what on earth the creature was. We decided to take the road down, though it was a longer route. There was enough light from the glowing sky to be comfortable, whereas under the cover of the forest it was quite dark. We started along merrily enough but were once again greeted by our frightening (or frightened) friend. We stood still for a long time and the cries continued in the same manner. We decided to move on cautiously and our movement didn’t seem to change its wails at all. A few more times we came close to the calls so we think there must have been more than one. Kasia thinks it’s some kind of bird, but it was a might big dog-like call for a bird. Happily, we made it back safely and crashed at Kasia’s cozy apartment.

We spend the next day together starting with a magnificent feast for breakfast, then some shopping for organic bread and spreads, some soft cream (it’s the best!), and French onion soup back at Kasia’s place. Boy was that good with the Keep cheese we’d just bought! I was beginning to panic with all the things I had to do so she soon dropped me off at the train station and I made my way back to reality. It was a lovely rest in between the stressful times of finishing school and packing. Japan sure is beautiful!