No question we celebrated the Swiss National day on August 1st. Dinner and fireworks were a little smaller than at home but equally fun.
First of August
Category Archives: Japan 2015
Sendai (E)
Sendai
After finishing the Michinoku Coastal Trail section from Hachinohe to Miyako we took the Shinkansen (High Speed Train) to Sendai. Finally we made it to a big city after beeing in Japan for 2 months. All of a sudden we got shopping fever and replaced some of our gear. On the same weekend was Tanabata Matsuri. During this festival the city is covered with colorful paper decorations. The following monday we went to the Immigration Office in order to extend our temporary visitor permit until November. Luckily this worked without a problem, thank you Japan ☺.
Michinoku Coastal Trail – Part 2
After two great weeks we sadly said farewell to Cédi in Kuji and continued the trail again just the two of us.
The section between Kuji and Oomoto of the Michinoku Coastal Trail hasn’t yet been officially opened so we continued the trail south without the comfort of the signposts and nice hiking maps. With our progress to south the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and the consequent tsunami become apparent. New massive dams are being constructed and vanished villages beeing rebuilt. In Tarō for instance we saw rows of temporary homes. Besides this sad history of the region we have seen stunning places like Kitayamazaki or the Sannoiwa rocks.
Michinoku Coastal Trail – Part 1
Along the east coast of Japan a new long-distance trail of approx. 700 km is being built. Currently only certain sections are ready and marked, beginning with the first 100km from Hachinohe to Kuji. Fränzi had emailed the tourist information in Hachinohe and mentioned our visit. They have been well prepared when we got there, even the mail printout ready :-). We received hiking maps and stamp collection cards. At different waypoints stamps may be collected, rewarded with pins!
The next day we started at Kabushima-Shrine (devoted to the black tailed seagull) heading south. The trail leads along the Tanesashi coast, over Mt. Hashikami-Dake, to Kominato and the Kosode coast. Every now and then we had short chats (or sort of) with locals. For example the lovely fishermen-wife which offered us to taste seagrass noodles, fresh octopus and sea snails. Delicious! Or in Kuji with the famous Ama (japanese female diver).
Towada Hachimantai National Park (E)
North of Towada Hachimantai National Park lies Sukayu-Onsen which we reached by bus. In this historic Ryokan we spent two nights. After enjoing the Onsen we hiked to Ō-Dake (1584m), the highest mountain of the northern Hakkōda Mountains. The Marshland went nicely with the foggy weather, altough we could have done well without the fog at summit.
Further south of the national park the caldera lake Towada demands for a visit. The lake can be reached by a 15km trail along the Oirase river. We enjoyed both campsites at lake Towada (Utarube, Oide) which we found quite luxuriant before we fled from bad weather to the seaside of Hachinohe.
