Welcome to Magome, watch out for bears!

This morning we are writing from Magome- a very small, teensy town nestled in among the mountains of Japan. This is such a stark contrast of Tokyo that it almost seems impossible. When we departed Tokyo, we were on a high speed Shinkansen train for 30 minutes before we saw even a bit of open space and grass. We loved Tokyo, but the access to green areas can be difficult. Even the park system surrounding the Imperial Palace has 1 playground, and most green areas are roped off- there is no place to run and play. I have no idea where the children of the population of 40 million people play freely. Having a child with us, we are aware of playgrounds- Europe and the US have incredible playgrounds- but in Toyko we saw 1 the whole week were there. I am grateful to give Luna more opportunity to freely play in open spaces. In Tokyo we were in a mass of buildings and concrete- here now, in Magome, we are in a picturesque historic town, with old wooden buildings, water wheels and a stream flowing down through the center of town. There are free flowing rivers, mountains covered in pine trees- mist clinging the valleys between them (very much like the Smoky Mountains) and rice paddies and gardens bursting with life.

We are here because we are walking part of the Nakasendo way- the original path that people used to walk to travel between Kyoto and Tokyo. Josh found a great quote yesterday “If one walks, a road is made.” This road was established by the Tokugawa shogunate over 400 years ago and it has the total length of approximately 530km. It starts from Edo (present day Tokyo) and ends in Kyo (present day Kyoto). We are only walking a 5 mile portion, but that should be enough with Luna, and from what I’ve seen so far- it’s very steep. I joked on our way here on the train that we’d have to watch out for bears- and it turns out that we do! Last night upon our arrival, we found the information hut and got an English map and there are several parts where it says watch out for bears!

The place that we stayed last night is quite different than our hotel in Tokyo. We anticipated that, but we came from cush hotel rooms to a traditional ryokan where we are sharing a communal bath and toilet. Our room is on the end (an area 10′ x15′) with only tatami mats-no furniture- and we had to make our futon beds on the floor and had buckwheat pillows. All of that was okay, except for the smell. There is a milk tea smell here- and it is horrible. It is the only smell in Asia that makes both Josh and I want to throw up, and our room reeks of it. So, this is what it is to be a traveler. We took essential oils and made lavender oil mustaches before we went to sleep to mask the smell. Even Luna wanted one. It is funny, and we’re laughing now- even though we want to run away.

Last night when we sat down for dinner, our dinners were spread out in front of us on tiny bowls and plates. There was a lot of food, and they were kind enough to explain what everything was. Rice, tempura, tofu with vegetables, picked vegetables, miso soup, raw horse meat, fish roasted with salt…. wait, horse meat? Yes. Luna, Dad and I pushed our’s aside, but Mom and Josh were brave enough to eat a few bites. Just in case you are wondering, apparently, horse takes remarkably like lean beef.

Off to hike the Nakasendo Way!