Take a busy train line away from the city in the early morning its guaranteed to be quiet as hell. I couldnt be face to face with bad breath and suits today. Two trains, twenty minutes and 6 stops later. Koma. The hangover is trying to push its way out of my body through any hole it can. Mainly eye sockets. The summer heat thickens my alcohol soaked blood even more. Cold bottled tea from the vending machine helps but all i can hope to do is sweat it all out on the hike. Im ill prepared of course. No bag, just jeans and a t-shirt. I buy a rice ball with a tuna mayonnaise filling as i exit the station and squeeze it in to my back pocket for later. From the station I can already see the mountain and the red wooden tori gate that is my destination today.
Juta a little off the road from the station the trail is steep and wooded. Its a little cooler under the shade of the trees but it feels more humid. Sweat immediately begins to pour off my face. It stings my eyes and im pretty sure it tastes like last nights karaoke beer. Cheap beer that contains almost no natural ingredients. Im off that stuff for good. Japanese forests have a special smell. Freshly cut pine. It smells amazing today. I finish my tea and fill the bottle from the stream next to the trail. Theres a trough the water runs in to and its crystal clear. The sign on the trough says something about the water- either dont drink the water or the water is ok to drink. I take my chances and glug it down. Nearly at the red tori gate and i see a flash of white in the grass next to the path. Its a pretty big snake, totally white. Ive heard they are pretty rare. It soon slides away.
The clearing around the gate is rocky and theres a small shrine perched on a bit of flat rock. I can see the city to the left and rows of mountains to the right. Beyond the mountains Fuji San breaks in to the horizon. Just a big fuck off volcano, it really looks like one today.
Trip to Shimoda
Its Sunday morning, 4.30am, windy and rainy. Im outside, hood up, waiting for Yasu san. Im next to the main road in the Omlette restaurant car park . Its till open from the night before. It looks pretty empty though. Yasu pulls up in his Mitsubishi people carrier. I wave and get in. there are two other guys with him. The car stinks of booze. Yasu intoduces us and explains that theyve been on a 20 hour drinking session at some bar. I try not to look too concerned as Yasu screeches out of the carpark whilst telling me how he knows the other guys. Hide and Mogura. Mogura and Yasu used to own a skydiving school together until someones chute didnt open on a tandem jump. Moguras best mate died along with some guy who was on his first jump. The shut the school soon after. Hide is an old friend of both of them. Hes just got out of prison after a 4 year stretch for growing weed. He had an argument with his wife so she decided to tell the police about the weed. He says hes not angry with her, just disappointed.
Were heading to Shimoda beach in Izu prefecture. Its a good 3 hour drive. We stop at the first 7-11 we see and buy enough beer and snacks for the drive. Yasu it seems has stopped drinking whilst hes driving so i attempt to catch up anyway by knocking back 3 beers on my very empty early morning stomach. I fear they peaked a good few hours ago. My slightly drunken excitedness might be a little unwelcome so i just sit back and watch the mountains and convenience stores roll by. At about 7am we are in Izu prefecture and almost at Shimoda. We stop at an American style diner for breakfast. Coffee toast and cereal. I force it down in to my beer filled belly and instantly feel even better about the whole day. The sun is creeping out and although its windy as hell the rain has stopped. Im still a little unsure as to what were going to do in Shimoda but Hide sheds some light on the day out. Hides friend lives there and hes been waiting to see him since he got out of prison. An old friend. He had something for us all, a present.
We come out of a long tunnel through one of the many mountains that surrounds this little beach town. It looks a lot different to Tokyo. Quieter of course. More tin roofed houses, whiter stone on the pavements, people with surfboards, long hair. The whole place is backed by with jagged forest covered mountains. Jungle like vines and plants look like they are trying to take the town over. I can see the sea between the houses and get a little excited at the thought of a morning dip. Just out of town we get to the best beach as chosen by Hide. Its big and wide and windy. The sea is grey and the waves big. The air is cold and salty. I sit on the beach and drink another beer. We all do. I decide against a swim. Reckon the surfers will take my head off right after i die of hypothermia. Maybe later. Hide points to a house on the mountainside behind the beach. His mates house. We jump back in the car. There is a road up to the house but its so god damn narrow. The car scrapes undergrowth on both sides for what seems like at least half an hour. As we approach the house i can see the the driveway is covered in stones with half melted candles buried in them. There are cats. Hundreds of them. Everywhere. We get out of the car to the cats all meowing. Lots of kittens. Most of them are kittens. Hide pushes the sliding door of the house open and us and the cats follow him in. Shoes off. Ojamashimasu.
