Memories of Mt. Haguro (Originally posted on 2022-Aug-03)

Of the three mountains of Dewa Mountain Shrines, I had visited Mt. Haguro and Mt. Yudono in 2017. It was one of years called “Yaku-doshi” in Japanese, which unlucky years were said to come at certain ages. I received a talisman at Mt. Haguro to ward off the bad luck. I did not think that my life had been particularly happy after that, but I did not have any real bad luck either. Five years have passed since then, it was about time to return the talisman with my gratitude.

Since I had made one-day trip at my last visit to Dewa Mountain Shrines, I tried to stay overnight and enjoy the sunset over the Sea of Japan in this time. I looked Google Map for several times along Sea of Japan coast. I found “Chokai Onsen” in Yusa, Yamagata Prefecture, and “Sannemu Onsen” in Kisakata, Akita Prefecture.

The plan was to take the first All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight to Shonai Airport, gateway to Tsuruoka and Sakata Cities, on a Saturday morning. I would walk around in Tsuruoka City, including Mt. Haguro, and the neighboring Sakata City for 2 days. On the Day 2, I would take JR “Inaho” express train departing from Sakata Station around 5:00 p.m. heading to Niigata and transfer to the Shinkansen for Tokyo. The express train “Inaho” runs along the Sea of Japan, nice sunset can be expected on its way to Niigata.

While making the plan, I looked at the weekly forecast and found that the weather would not be good. At the same time, it would not be rain heavily either. The weather was not stable in the spring, with only a few sunny days after Japan’s Golden Week in May. If I waited too long, it would be entering the rainy season in June/July. The cloudy weather would not be a problem as long as I take photos of stone steps of Mt. Haguro in the dense forest.

I was planning to visit the Kamo Aquarium in Tsuruoka when I visited Mt. Haguro. However, upon some more researches, I learned that the aquarium’s main displays were jellyfishes. I heard they made a photogenic exhibit of jellyfishes, yet jellyfishes were just jellyfishes to me. They would be tasty as a Chinese appetizer, but I was not a fan of real ones moving around the underwater. I had decided to pass on the aquarium.

If I did not go to the aquarium, it would be useless for me to spend two whole days in cloudy Tsuruoka and Sakata, because I was not interested in visiting museums and fancy cafes. Since I would not be able to see the sunsets for two evenings, I decided to make a one-day trip again.

I woke up early in the morning and took an ANA flight from Tokyo Haneda Airport to Shonai Airport. I took an airport bus to Tsuruoka Station, then transferred to another bus to Zuishinmon Gate of Mt. Haguro.

Last time, I had to receive a talisman before the transfer bus from Mt. Haguro to Mt. Yudono. The schedule seemed tight, so I took a taxi which I was told about 30 minutes ride from Tsuruoka Station to Zuishinmon Gate. I had imagined the taxi fare of Tokyo for the 30 minutes, but because there were not much of traffic lights, the fare ended up quite expensive which made me a little regretted.

I took a local bus this time, and entered the realm of gods from Zuishinmon Gate without remorse in my heart. I was well prepared for climbing up the stone steps this time since I was only able to recall how hard it was in my last visit.

This time I felt much easier, perhaps because I did not feel guilty due to the fare difference between taxi and local bus. I was easily able to arrive at the teahouse, where was a halfway through the hike.

I had some rest at the teahouse and ate rice cakes for breakfast. Feeling a little more energetic, I started the second half.

As nothing to hurry, I proceeded rather slowly and took pictures. In order to take photos, I had to wait until people on the stone steps had cleared from my camera angles, which further slowed me down. I had recalled that there were less people last time, because I arrived at Zuishinmon Gate about 1.5 hours earlier thanks to the taxi use. The taxi fare might not be wasted at all.

I arrived at Hagurosan Shrine in good spirits. I felt quite refreshed. For this visit, I initially thought I would just return the talisman to the Shrine, but I then wanted to have an excuse to come back to Hagurosan Shrine again, so I decided to get a new one.

I went down the mountain on foot as well. Although it seemed physically easier than uphill, but the downhill was unexpectedly severe. The stone steps were not evenly spaced. Even worse, they were narrow and steep. It required more control on each step. I kind of wished to keep it in myself, but I began to regret my decision within the five minutes I started walking down.

This was the first time for me to go down Mt. Haguro on foot. Even though the route itself was the same stone steps, I saw different views than on the way up. By challenging something new, I can see things from different perspectives.

Reincarnation is the theme of the Dewa Shrines. Even at a middle-age, one can be reborn through new challenges.

I left Mt. Haguro with a little more positive feeling.

COLO’s Traveler Guide: Mt. Haguro

Times listed are as of timetables at the time of visit.

Day 1

Tokyo Haneda 0705 (All Nippon Airways ANA393) >> Shonai 0805
Shonai Airport 0815 (airport bus) >> Tsuruoka Station 0845
Tsuruoka Bus Terminal 0940 (local bus) >> Zuishinmon Gate 1019

– Round trip to Hagurosan Shrine on foot

Zuishinmon Gate 1443 (local bus) >> Tsuruoka Station 1520
Tsuruoka Bus Terminal 1615 (airport bus) >> Shonai Airport 1643
Shonai 1745 (All Nippon Airways ANA400) >> Haneda 1850

Tips for Day 1
– From Zuijinmon Gate to the top of Mt. Haguro took 80 minutes uphill and 60 minutes downhill at my pace. There was only one teahouse on the way, and no other benches for rest.
– The transfer bus from Hagurosan Shrine to Mt. Yudono which I used in 2017 did not seem to be in service in 2022. It was possible to go to Mt Yudono by combining an express bus and a pick-up service from bus stop.

Memories of Shiretoko

The story goes back to the day I left for my summer vacation. I worked at home on that day, and my mother stopped my home during the daytime. She said she wanted to go to Hokkaido in the fall. I then recalled that the last time I visited Shiretoko in Eastern Hokkaido in the fall, the weather was not good and it was a little early for the autumn leaves. That time was in late September, so it might be good to try a little later.

While heading to Tokyo Haneda Airport after work, I checked schedule and found that all fit in mid-October. Since I was going to visit Shiretoko, I decided to go from Friday to Sunday and added a visit to a sushi place in Oumu Town as well. Using Wi-Fi in the All Nippon Airways (ANA) lounge at Haneda, I sinfully booked Japan Airlines (JAL) award ticket, and set off for Croatia.

While I spend days lazily after returning from the summer vacation, time to go to Hokkaido was approaching. I thought that accommodation fee in Shiretoko would probably be expensive the night before Sunday, so I decided to stay in Shiretoko on Friday and stay in Oumu Town on Saturday. However, to my surprise, the Hotel Hinodemisaki in Oumu Town was fully booked on Saturday night. I secured the last remaining room at the hotel on Friday night and decided to stay in Shiretoko on Saturday night. This would allow to visit Shiretoko Lakes on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

When I arrived at Memanbetsu Airport on Friday morning, the weather was clear. This itself was wonderful, but the problem was poor weather forecasted for Saturday and Sunday. The bad weather during the last visit to Shiretoko was one of reasons to choose the destination in Hokkaido. If the forecast was correct, I would encounter bad weather in Shiretoko again.

I had a vague recollection that it was not too far from Memanbetsu Airport to Shiretoko. I also recalled that it was not too far from Memanbetsu Airport to Oumu Town either. If so, it would be a good idea to go to Shiretoko on that day while clear skies expected.

I rented a car at the airport and arrived at Shiretoko before noon. It was not crowded probably because it was on a weekday, and I went to the pathway. The autumn leaves stood out in the blue sky, and the blue sky and the autumn leaves were reflected on the surface of Shiretoko Lakes. It was beautiful.

When I finished taking photos and looked at the watch, it was just before 3:00 p.m. It was about time to head for Oumu Town.

I then realized that I had underestimated Hokkaido geography. When I entered the Hotel Hinodemisaki into car navigation system, it estimated time of arrival at 7:30 p.m. When I repeated the phrase “not too far” twice in Hokkaido, it would be quite far, or rather too far away. I had made a 7:00 p.m. reservation at the sushi restaurant in Oumu Town. Anyhow, I got in the car and started driving.

Since there is no such boorish thing as highway along the Okhotsk coast, I followed cars with highway-like speeds of locals and caught in slow-moving traffic in the towns. I arrived at the hotel by 7:00 p.m. despite unsteady speeds. I left my luggage in the room and made it to the sushi restaurant before 7:20 p.m.

From this point on, I hardly remember anything. I disliked driving, so I felt a great sense of relief by the safety arrival. On top of that, there were delicious sushi served. Without a second to think about, I ended up drinking like fish.

When I came to realize, it was 4:00 a.m. and I had been asleep in bed. The hot spring in Oumu have a high salt content probably due to its proximity to the sea, and they are quite warming. I thought it would be a bad idea to leave without taking a bath after having come all the way there. Since it was too early in the morning, I thought there would be no one in the bath. It should be nicely quiet. I still felt a buzz from last night drinking.

I went into the bathhouse without thinking anything at all. A voice called out from the darkness, “good morning”. It seemed that there was a night shift employee taking the bath in his break time.

I calmly responded “good morning” but I could not help myself blushed.

End of the Year

Once a year during New Year holidays, I write a blog that has nothing to do with travel. I am trying to gain writing skills which do not rely on travel, but a good sense of writing is not something I can win in the end-of-year lottery, so I have not come to the fruition. In the end, it will be difficult to spread my wing away from being a travel blogger next year.

At the beginning of this year, I wrote “there is no night that never finds a day” in a quote from Japanese translation of Shakespeare’s “the night is long that never finds the day”. I had been feeling unwell for about a month since I caught a cold in early December of last year. At the time, it was diagnosed as an ordinary cold. However, some of my friends in medical field said that it might have been influenza and the diagnostic kit just didn’t react due to the vaccine I had taken.

This year was, in fact, really bad. Excessive temperature changes, hay fever, low atmospheric pressure, and various other factors have brought me to somewhere nothing resembling a dawn in sight.

Numbers speak for themselves, the number of paid leave in this year reached a record high of 18 days. Since I have been working the same company for a long time, I started with 40 days of paid leave, including 20 days carried over from last year. Yet, 18 days are probably at higher-end among Japanese workers.

The first half of the year was particularly bad. By the end of June, I had taken a total of 12 days off. This was the same number of days as whole last year including the days of sick leave owing the cold or the flu whichever it was. I traveled from time to time in the first half of this year, but not every month.

I worked to re-establish my life. During the summer months, the situation was relatively easy, but then worsened again as winter set in. The result was the aforementioned numbers.

The root cause of all seems to be insomnia. Insomnia weakens the autonomic nervous system, and it leads to further insomnia, a vicious cycle. Until the last summer, I was able to fall asleep with Chinese herbal medicine, but the Chinese herbal medicine had become completely ineffective, and I routinely went to bed at around 3:00 am. Even though I live close to my work, I still have to wake up at 7:30 am.

I considered substituting the Chinese herbal medicine by alcohol consumption, although the quality of my sleep would be suffered. I had to drink quite a lot to fall asleep, and when I emptied a bottle of whiskey within the three continuous nights on weekdays, I came to seriously consider the risk of liver dysfunction and gout. I concluded that western medication was better than alcohol, and resumed taking sleep aids for the first time in several years.

At first, the medication was so effective that affected my waking time. On the first day of work in this year, I woke up just before noon. Even I consider myself as a third-class businessman, my face turned ghostly white.

I somewhat managed to adjust the dosage of medication, but the insomnia gradually worsened and the medication became less effective. It did not work unless I feel some drowsiness, and as a result, I began to fall asleep after 2:00 am. From that point on, it became even later, beyond 3:00 am. By the time of the summer solstice, I slept after watching the sunrise. It was bad indeed.

After that, thanks to a change in medication, I was able to fall asleep around 3:00 am during the summer and fall months. However, the condition worsened again as winter approached. It seemed that I was susceptible to temperature changes. In fact, it is definitely worse than at the beginning of the year. It is a long time to continue this kind of life for more than a year.

It is tempting to think that “there is no day that never finds a night,” but I wish to make a break before that happens.

After I stopped receiving New Year’s gift money, I have not been interested to celebrate New Year. Still, the year will end soon. On the 30th, drunken on the last business at a yakitori restaurant and a bar in Ginza, Tokyo; and spent New Year’s Eve quietly at a Chinese restaurant and a bar in Yokohama. This has been a regular pattern for the past few years. Time flies as I repeat the same thing over and over again.

I do not think I will get a New Year’s gift money at this age, but I will go out for drinks to bring this year to close. Then I will prepare for my next trip.

After all, I only can be a travel blogger again next year.