Day 24: Kawasaki - Nihonbashi (19.7km)

I got up at 5.30am, showered, shaved and dressed, and then breakfasted on the bread, yoghurt, and iced coffee I'd bought at a convenience store the night before. My toe hadn’t given me any trouble for several days, so I left the bandage off and put a simple plaster on it.

I left at 8.30am. A couple of kilometres down the road I crossed the Tama River, which marks the boundary between Kanagawa prefecture and metropolitan Tokyo. On the other side of the bridge I paused for a few minutes to watch people at a golf practice range below. There were three tractor-like vehicles going around sweeping up the balls. Imagine driving one of those for a living!


I followed Route 15 for a while, eventually turning off at a memorial marking the location of the old Suzugamori execution ground, described on a nearby plaque as one of the "hundred scenic spots in Shinagawa". For the next couple of kilometres I followed a quiet shopping street. This is probably the only place within metropolitan Tokyo where people can experience something of the atmosphere of the old Tokaido, and I noticed quite a few people with maps and small backpacks exploring the area.

At noon I passed Shinagawa station. I'd been walking for three and a half hours without a proper break. It was time for lunch but I couldn’t find a place I liked the look of. I eventually stopped at a Segafredo coffee shop near the Sengakuji subway station and had a panini, a salad, and a cup of coffee. Soon after getting underway again I spotted Tokyo Tower and climbed a pedestrian overbridge to get a better view.


My surroundings were starting to look very familiar. At 1pm I found myself in front of Tamachi station, very close to my old university. At 1.20pm I passed Hamamatsu-cho station, just along from the hotel where I once worked. Then at 1.40 I reached Ginza. I was delighted to find that, being a Saturday, the street was blocked to traffic. I was able to walk down the middle of the street, although I noticed that a lot of the Japanese people around me still stuck to the footpaths.

My attention was drawn to a sumo wrestler in a yukata and I took his photo just in case he was famous. (It turns out he was an up-and-coming young wrestler by the name of Toyohibiki.)


I continued my parade through Ginza. I passed the famous Matsuya department store on my right and the Apple store on my left.


At 2.05pm I turned the final bend before Nihonbashi, which I could now see ahead of me in the distance. The brilliant weather, the lack of traffic, the knowledge that I was near my goal all combined to make me feel pretty elated. A few hours earlier I was eager to get to Nihonbashi, but now I wanted to make these final moments last. I saw an Excelsior coffee shop and decided to stop for one last iced coffee and a slice of cheesecake.

I got underway again at 2.30pm and slowly walked the final few hundred metres to the bridge that marks the eastern terminus of the Tokaido. It felt strange coming to the end of such a marathon journey alone. In 2007 I'd approached the same spot from the opposite direction after walking the Nakasendo with my friend Erik. Back then we'd hugged and congratulated ourselves when we got to the bridge before getting a passerby to take a couple of photos of us together. This time there would be no such celebrations.

I decided that I'd mark the occasion by taking some photos of myself with Nihonbashi in the background. Then I realized that I'd never photographed myself before with my still camera, so I took a few test shots as I neared my goal. When I reached the bridge it took me several tries before I managed to take a photo with both my face and the nameplate clearly visible. I hung around for a few minutes taking some more photos and then headed to my hotel down the road.


That evening I dined in my hotel room on a packet of potato crisps and a can of beer, followed by some fresh bread I'd bought at a bakery, an assortment of cheeses, a salad, some strawberry panna cotta, and a small bottle of white wine. I fell asleep in front of the TV at 8.30pm.

The End

Day 24: Totsuka - Kawasaki (23.3km)

I got up at 6am, showered, shaved and dressed, and breakfasted on some lovely bread my hosts had bought from a nearby bakery and freshly brewed coffee. My legs had almost fully recovered from Hakone. However I noticed my first blister. Oddly enough it was between the big toe and the second toe on my left foot, caused I presume by the rubbing of the bandage I still had on my big toe. After breakfast my hosts gave me a lift to Zushi station where I caught the 8.01am train to Totsuka. I was out of Totsuka station and on my way by 8.30am. At the top of the stairs leading out of the station I spotted a swallows' nest. A prize to the person who can find it in the photo below.


I exited the station from the east exit and made my way back to the point where I'd left the Tokaido the evening before. The road curved around back towards the station and a few hundred metres later I came to a level crossing. The barrier was down but there were no cars or people waiting in front of it. It took me a while to work out that the crossing remained closed to pedestrians and vehicles during rush hour due to the sheer number of trains arriving and leaving the station. This was actually noted on my map; I just hadn't bothered to read it carefully enough. To get across I had to follow the railway lines back to the station and enter it again from the same exit I'd passed through a few minutes earlier, cross the railways lines, and exit from the west exit before rejoining the Tokaido on the other side.


I followed National Route 1 for a few kilometers and then left the main road. I then had to negotiate a couple of steep slopes as the Tokaido climbs through a quieter residential area. From the top I could just make out Mount Fuji through the haze.


Further on I found my path blocked by some road works, and for a moment I was afraid this would be a repeat of the time in 2007 when we had to plead with some workers to let us pass. On this occasion, however, I was waved through without a fuss.

I little further down the road I came to the Shinano Ichirizuka, where both mounds and an old keyaki tree are intact. One of the mounds is surrounded by a small park, while the other definitely seems to be out of bounds judging form the "Keep Out! Private Property!" sign in front of it.


After a bit of a break I continued on, reaching Tennocho station at 11.05am. As I was taking a photo of the monument that marks the original location of the bridge in Hiroshige's print for Hodogaya, a middle-aged Japanese man with a beer can in his hand approached me and asked in English, "Where are you going?" "Tokyo," I said. "Why?" was his retort, which came without a moment's hesitation, as if our conversation were part of some rehearsed English language drill. This was one encounter I didn't want to prolong, so I simply said I didn't know and continued on my way.

From Tennocho station I walked along a crowded old-fashioned shopping street for a few blocks before spotting a Royal Host family restaurant. It was 11.30am. I decided it was time for lunch. I went in and ordered the deep-fried oyster set, but the oysters were tiny and it wasn't a patch on the kaki-furai I had in Shizuoka. The mixed juice from the drink bar, however, was nice, as was the espresso.

I got underway again at 12.30pm. As I was crossing a pedestrian overbridge I looked to my right and saw in the distance Yokohama Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Japan. According to Wikipedia, the tower contains the second fastest elevator in the world!


From there I negotiated my last climb of the day up to Kanagawa-dai before descending into Kanagawa-juku (now part of Yokohama). It was flat from there all the way to Kawasaki. I reached Tsurumi station at 3pm. According to a sign on the side of the road that passes in front of the station, a number of famous tea houses lined this section of the Tokaido in the Edo period. Reading the sign put me in the mood for a coffee, and it was then that I noticed there were no less than three cafes in the immediate vicinity. Coincidence? I checked out all three before deciding on the Pronto, where I had a coffee and a slice of chocolate and mint cake.

I crossed the Tsurumi River and continued on to my hotel near Kawasaki station, arriving there at 4pm. I did a load of washing, and then walked around the station area for a bit before having dinner at a Saizeriya restaurant. The restaurant was full of noisy high school students, no doubt attracted by the extremely reasonable prices, but that didn’t stop me enjoying my peperoncino spaghetti with a poached egg on top, garlic toast, and glass of white wine, all of which cost me just 627 yen (the wine was a mere 100 yen).

As breakfast wasn't included at my hotel, I bought some things at a convenience store on the way back and put them in the fridge in my room. The weather had been fantastic all day. The forecast for the following day, my last, was also good. So much for the rainy season.

Day 23: Oiso - Totsuka (25.5km)

I was woken at six by my watch alarm. I looked outside and saw that it was raining. And I mean pouring. Breakfast wasn't until 7.45am, so after getting up I packed my gear so that I could make a speedy getaway after I finished eating.

Seeing as this was a proper resort hotel and not a business hotel, breakfast was a fancy affair with a chef in the restaurant making omelettes to order. I gave the omelettes a miss and had scrambled eggs on toast, two croissants, a bowl of cereal (cornflakes and bran) with fresh fruit, yoghurt, juice and milk, a glass of apple juice, and coffee.


I went back to my room, put on my raingear, and was out of the hotel by 8.30am. I then rejoined National Route 1, which continued along the coast for a few kilometers before heading inland. The rain had eased by this time, but I was getting a bit sweaty with all my raingear on, and apart from the odd scraggy old pine tree the scenery was rather monotonous, as a result of which I was feeling pretty gloomy. I noticed quite a few hydrangeas by the side of the road and to relieve the boredom I started taking photos of as many different colours as I could find.


I reached the next post town of Hiratsuka at 10.30am. It was quite built up, and I got the distinct impression that I'd seen the last of the countryside, that from here until Nihonbashi all I’d really see was different shades of grey with just the odd cabbage patch in between.


At 11.30am, shortly after crossing the Sagami River, I passed a Coco's family restaurant. My meal at the Coco's restaurant at Sakudaira in 2007 was one of the culinary highlights of the Nakasendo walk. On that occasion I had a seafood spaghetti dish with freshly baked bread. The spaghetti dish was brimming with chunks of seafood and came in a rich, soup-like sauce which was packed with tomato flavour with just a hint of chilli, and the bread was warm and satisfying and had a wonderful aroma. I was delighted to find that this dish was still on the menu, and still as delicious as it was nearly two years ago. I followed the meal with two cups of espresso from the machine at the drink bar.


By the time I was ready to leave at 12.30pm it had stopped raining, so I packed away my raingear. I continued on to Totsuka with just a brief stop at a convenience store near Hiratsuka to buy a bottle of water. It got a bit hilly towards the end of the day, but I was rewarded with some nice views out over the Miura peninsula. I arrived at Totsuka station at 4.40pm and immediately caught a train to nearby Zushi, where I had arranged to stay with friends. I got there at 5.05pm.

Totsuka station

Day 22: Hakone-Yumoto - Oiso (24.5km)

I had high expectations for breakfast. In the end it was a bit of a mixed bag. The bread rolls were soft and lacked substance, and the croissants were average. The coffee was OK. However, the muesli, which I combined in a bowl with fresh fruit, yoghurt, and milk, was exceptional. Plus there was grapefruit juice. I like grapefruit juice. I like it a lot.

I left Hakone-Yumoto at 8.15am. It was downhill for the first five or six kilometres as far as the outskirts of Odawara. Once on the flat I saw some interesting kura as I headed into the downtown area, including this one with what looks like a roller door on the side.


At 9.45am I made a small detour to visit Odawara castle. Due to its strong defenses and strategic location between Hakone and Sagami Bay, Odawara castle played an important role in Japanese history from the late-15th century through to the end of the Edo period. Along with many other castles, it was destroyed by the Meiji government. The buildings that stand on the site today were constructed in 1960.


Although I didn’t climb all the way to the keep (my legs were still sore from the previous day), I had a good look around the castle grounds, which were huge. There were a lot of people about, many of whom were taking photos of the flower display in the inner moat. The presence of so many flowers in such a location struck me as rather odd, although I must admit the display was beautiful.


From Odawara I followed National Route 1 east along the coast all the way to the next post town of Oiso. I caught one or two glimpses of the sea, but most of the time it was hidden, if not by buildings then by the Seisho Bypass, which runs practically right along the beach. Occasionally I felt a pleasant sea breeze.

At 11.35am I spotted a Gusto restaurant and stopped to have lunch. I got underway again at 12.25pm and arrived at the turnoff to my hotel at 2.30pm. As it was too early to check in, I continued on until I found a Denny's, where I had coffee and some pancakes with caramel sauce.


I checked in just after three. The hotel was on a small hill right by the beach. It had several outdoor swimming pools, but none of them was open. Still, I enjoyed walking around outside and breathing in the brisk ocean air.

Back in my room, I did some hand-washing and watched a bit of TV. I learnt that the rainy season had officially begun in the Kanto region, which included the area I was currently in. I had noticed a few spots of rain earlier in the day, but otherwise it was the same partly cloudy weather I'd been experiencing ever since I left Shizuoka.

At 5.45pm I went down to the main restaurant for dinner. I had a seafood curry, which was absolutely delicious, much nicer than any of the curries I'd had at chain or family restaurants. I was dying for a beer but wanted to stick to my "no alcohol while walking the Tokaido" policy, so I tried the new Kirin Free non-alcoholic beer. According to Kirin it's the first true non-alcoholic beer (there are others, but apparently they all have traces of alcohol in them). I thought it tasted a bit too sweet, as if I was drinking a beer-flavored soft drink.

After dinner I went back to my room. I had a "mountain view" room on the seventh floor, which looked out over the town of Oiso and the hills beyond it. At the foot of the hills I could see a short section of the Shinkansen line between two tunnels. For a while I stood there watching the bullet trains pass every few minutes. Every so often two would pass right in the middle of this section of track, which for some reason I found extremely satisfying. As night fell I left the curtains open and continued watching as the lights in the town came on and the blue and white bullet trains turned into darting rows of lights that emerged out of the blackness only to disappear a few seconds later.

Day 21: Mishima - Hakone-Yumoto (23.7km)

I'd originally planned to end this leg in Hakone, just 14.7km from Mishima, but I had trouble finding suitable accommodation there so I extended it a few kilometers to the hot-spring town of Hakone-Yumoto. There I managed to get a reasonable deal, including breakfast but no dinner, at a nice hotel with an outdoor hot spring. I figured that 23.7km wasn't all that far, even considering there was an 846m pass along the way. After all, Erik and I had walked far greater distances and conquered far higher passes along the Nakasendo. I now realize it was a mistake to attempt that additional nine kilometers. If you're reading this because you're planning to walk the Tokaido, mark my words: Hakone Pass will take its toll.

I woke up at 5am and dozed until 6am when I got up and had breakfast. Mrs Fool's parents are early risers and had been up and about since 5.30am. For breakfast I had a couple of slices of raisin toast, some fruit yoghurt, and a bit of salad. Overnight I'd hung up my damp washing from the previous day and it had dried completely. My sore calf had also come right.

I left the house at 7.45am and arrived at Mishima Taisha at 8am. I looked around the old shrine for a bit then rejoined the Tokaido. It was flat for the first kilometer. I then started climbing, and apart from a short stretch by Lake Ashi in Hakone, I wouldn't see another bit of flat road all day.

My brother-in-law had warned me of some major roadworks on the hill just above Mishima and I soon saw what he meant. Thankfully the works didn’t hold me up, although I did have to skirt around a short stretch of the original Tokaido at one point. At 9.20am I took my first break of the morning. Soon after this the Tokaido left the main road and headed through a bit of forest. While walking through this shaded section I got a couple of mosquito bites, so a little further on I stopped again to apply insect repellent. I was walking on ishidatami for much of the time. I passed the Nishikida Ichirizuka, one of only a handful of ichirizuka where the mounds on both sides of the road are intact.


Further on I saw quite a long snake on the path beside me. It was perfectly still, but I'm pretty sure it was still alive. I think it was probably more scared of me than I was of it. Anyway, I nervously approached it and took this photo. It's a bit hard to tell, but it must have been well over a metre long.


I took my second break of the morning at about 10.50am. It was tough going, uphill all the way with the occasional really steep section. Soon after I got going again I came across a couple of women picking berries. The said they were wild strawberries, or were they wild raspberries? They gave me one to taste but I couldn’t really work out what they were. Whatever they were, apparently they make really good jam! I met a few other walkers coming the opposite way, including an older couple from Fujisawa who spoke to me in English.


The nature of the Tokaido was changing continually as I made my way up the pass. At times I was walking on the footpath alongside the main road, at others on ishidatami under the shade of old pine trees, and at yet others on a barely distinguishable dirt track through somebody's farm. Near the top I passed through what was in effect a tunnel formed by bamboo plants on either side of the path.


I eventually made it to the top of the pass at 12.30pm. It had taken me four and a half hours to walk just over 10km. I spotted a restaurant on the other side of the road, but it was so cold (the hills around me were obscured by mist) I decided to head straight down to the town of Hakone, which I figured was less than 3km away. But before that, according to my map I had to go up again for a short distance through what is now a golf course. Unfortunately I misread the map and ended up going up further than I had to. It took me quite a while to work out my mistake and get back onto the correct path. I was cold, tired, and hungry, and angry with myself for making such a mistake. On the positive side, climbing higher than necessary did give me a better view out across Lake Ashi.


After descending along the road for a while I came to the top an incredibly steep set of steps. I paused and studied my map to make sure I was actually in the right place. While doing so a runner went passed me and down the steps without the slightest hesitation. The steps were difficult to negotiate with my heavy pack on, and I almost lost my footing several times. The steps eventually gave way to ishidatami, which were almost as difficult to walk on. In fact, because the stones tend to become quite slippery when wet, it can be just as slow descending a section of ishidatami as ascending. I actually found it easiest to walk on the often muddy strip of earth on either side. Even so, I slipped three or four times, once ending up on all fours, before making it to the bottom.

I arrived in Hakone-machi at just after 1pm. I left the Tokaido and had lunch at one of the restaurants down by the main wharf which cater for the tourists that flock to the area. I had the nakasagi teishoku, a set featuring deep-fried nakasagi, small fish which are caught in the lake. I figured I should be able to find somewhere nicer for coffee, so I continued on for a bit and found another restaurant opposite the old check point. There were no other customers, and the proprietor greeted me warmly (a bit too warmly, I thought, especially when he complimented me on my musclely arms). I sat down on the balcony outside and had a coffee and a slice of tiramisu. Before heading off again I took up the proprietor's invitation to refill my water bottle from the carafe on the table.


The check point at Hakone has recently been restored, so I spent a bit of time looking around. I even climbed all the way up to the lookout tower on the hill behind it and was rewarded with a nice view of the check point and the lake beyond. From there it wasn't far to the check point museum, which didn’t appear to have changed at all since the last time I visited it some 15 years ago. There was nowhere to leave my pack, so I walked inside with it on. I did a quick circuit of the museum without stopping, glancing at the tired-looking exhibits as I went, before walking straight out. It was already 2.30pm, and I still had another 9 kilometres to walk.


From the museum I walked along the famous avenue of cedar trees to the neighbouring town of Moto-Hakone. There I stopped briefly to take a couple of photos of the famous vermillion torii gate.


From there it was uphill again for a bit, including yet more ishidatami. It wasn't long, however, before I reached the top, after which it was downhill all the way to Hakone-Yumoto. Along the way I passed signs warning me to look out for wild boars and monkeys, but I saw no sign of either.


At one point during the descent I followed the main road as it went through a series of impressive switchbacks.


I arrived in Hakone-Yumoto shortly after 5pm and soon found my hotel. I received a very warm welcome, including a tiny glass of a delicious non-alcoholic cocktail. I think the idea was to sit down and slowly sip it while taking in the refined atmosphere of the hotel lobby, but I couldn’t be bothered taking my pack off so I just gulped it down on the spot. The staff probably thought I was some kind of barbarian.

Dinner at the hotel would have set me back at least 6000 yen, so after settling in to my room I went out and bought some things (onigiri, hot chips, cheese cake, and apple juice) at a convenience store by the railway station and ate them back in my room. At seven I went to check out the hotel's communal bathing facilities. There were only a couple of other people there, and I had the outdoor bath all to myself. It was heavenly, and I could hardly think of a more satisfying end to such a physically demanding day. But there was more. As I was coming out of the changing room I heard the strains of a familiar tune coming from the restaurant, where a pianist was playing. It was "My Foolish Heart", the title song on a recent Keith Jarrett CD. There was a small lounge area near the entrance to the restaurant, so I stood there in my yukata and listened to the end before going back to my room.


Speaking of my yukata, I laughed earlier in the evening when I opened the wardrobe in my room and discovered they'd given me a size LL. This is quite a common occurrence in Japan (the same thing had happened at the old inn at Akasaka), where they presume all foreigners are going to be large. Anyway, I called reception and got them to bring me an S, which fitted just fine.

Day 20: Fuji - Mishima (21.9km)

I got up at 6am, showered, shaved, and dressed. I checked the washing I'd done the night before and found it hadn’t fully dried overnight. I decided to leave it for a bit longer while I went and had breakfast.

Of the three Super Hotels I stayed in (Kyoto/Shijo-Kawaramachi, Yokkaichi, and Fuji), Fuji was the most disappointing in terms of the breakfast. The bread and salad were average. The coffee, however, was awful. I got back to my room and found my washing was still damp. There was nothing more I could do about it, so I put it all in a sealable plastic bag and then into my pack.


I left at 8.30 and after rejoining the Tokaido made my way to the next post town of Yoshiwara. There, while walking down an old-fashioned shopping arcade, I heard someone call out to me from the side of the road. The man, Mr Nishikawa, and a woman, whose name I didn't catch, ran a souvenir shop and gallery called Omote Fuji, which specializes in products with a Mount Fuji theme. We chatted for a bit, and as I'd been going almost an hour and was therefore due for a break, I accepted Mr Nishikawa's invitation to look around inside. I mentioned how Yoshiwara seemed devoid of old buildings and other reminders of its Edo period past, and Mr Nishikawa explained that this might have been due to that fact that the post town was moved inland twice after being hit by tsunami, as illustrated in the map below.


I thought it would have been rude to leave without buying something. There were quite a few items relating to Hiroshige and The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido. In the end I settled on a series of four postcards featuring a reproduction of Utagwa Yoshitora's Tokaido meisho zue (Guide to Famous Sites Along the Tokaido), which consisted of twelve separate woodblock prints that together presented a unique bird's eye view of the entire Tokaido from Tokyo to Kyoto.


A few minutes after leaving Omote Fuji I passed a monument marking one of the two spots where, due to the layout of the road, Mount Fuji appears on the left hand side of the Tokaido as seen by the traveler heading from Tokyo to Kyoto (the other is near Chigasaki in Kanagawa prefecture). These views are known as hidari Fuji ("Fuji on the left"), and the one near Yoshiwara is captured in Hiroshige's print of Yoshiwara from The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido, which itself is often referred to as Hidari Fuji. Unfortunately Mount Fuji was covered in a thick layer of cloud when I passed this spot.


I've always thought it ironic that Fuji, the city that shares its name with the most sacred mountain in Japan, has a reputation as one of the most polluted places in the entire country. At one time the city was home to as many as 200 paper mills and plagued by serious air and water pollution. Although things have improved over the years, it's still difficult to take a photo in Fuji without at least one of the area's towering smokestacks getting into the picture. In the end I gave up and started taking photos of the smokestacks themselves. If it weren't for the fact that they belch out so much smoke, perhaps it might even be possible to regard them as beautiful.


Soon ater passing Yoshiwara station (near the original site of the post town of the same name) I hit the coast again and followed it east all the way to the next post town of Numazu, although the sea itself wasn't visible from the road. To my left I could make out the base of Mount Fuji. Although it had fined up considerably, the top half of the mountain was still hidden by cloud, and would remain so for the rest of the day.


I arrived in Hara at 1pm and left the Tokaido to find a lunch place. I ended up eating a huge meal of deep-fried seafood at a Tonkatsu restaurant. I then continued on to Numazau, arriving there just after 3pm. I bought an iced coffee at a convenience store and drank it by the river.

As I was leaving Numazu I heard a siren and turned around to see an ambulance approaching from behind me. It passed me and stopped in front of a petrol station on the other side of the road. I noticed someone lying face up on the petrol station forecourt. From what I could make out, he was a motorcyclist who'd be knocked off his bike by a woman driving a small car. She'd been standing over him when the ambulance arrived. This was actually the second accident I'd witnessed during my walk, although the first one was very minor. A car had edged out into the road along which I was walking from a side street and bumped into a truck coming towards me. No one was hurt and there was only slight damage to both vehicles.


Although I was expecting it to be a fairly easy day, it took longer than I expected and I was pretty tired by the time I struggled into Mishima at 4.45pm. I stopped at Hirokoji station to take a couple of photos, including one of the Mister Donut Erik and I used to frequent back in the 1990s, when I lived in Mishima and he worked at an English conversation school in Numazu. From there I walked to Mrs Fool's parents' house, where I was staying the night. I arrived there at 5.30pm. It had been a long, hot day (all my T-shirts were either dirty or damp, so I'd been wearing a long-sleeved top). To make matters worse, my left calf was sore for most of the afternoon. Not good considering I was about to tackle the most difficult part of the Tokaido: Hakone Pass.

Day 19: Okitsu - Fuji (27.1km)

I got up at six and went up to the restaurant on the 12th floor for breakfast at 6.45am. There was a queue of people waiting to be seated. The queue moved quickly, however, and I soon made it to the front and was given a table number. I then helped myself to some things from the rather uninspiring buffet and found my table, which unfortunately didn’t have much of a view.

I checked out and by 7.45am I was back on the Tokaido. After crossing the Okitsu River, I began the climb up Satta Pass. The weather was fine, and I was hopeful I'd get a good view of Mount Fuji at the top. The road up to the pass was paved for most of the way. I came to a cemetery (not a good omen!) where there was a supply of walking poles by the side of the road. The only other place I’d seen this was at Wada Pass, the highest point on the Nakasendo, and I took this as a sign that I was in for a long and steep climb. I took one of the poles and pressed on.


In fact, although beyond the cemetery the road gave way to a narrow track and some very steep steps, it didn't take me long to get to the top, which came as a bit of an anticlimax.


I reached the summit at about 8.30am. My disappointment at the ease of the climb turned to amazement as I took in the scene in front of me. The view of Mount Fuji was stunning. I took lots of photos before realizing there was a viewing platform a little further on from where one could get an even better view of the mountain. There were several people there already, most of them day hikers or people who had simply walked up from the other side to enjoy the view, and I had to wait my turn to take a photo from the most favoured position.


Attached to the platform was a sign comparing Satta Pass today with Satta Pass in the Edo period, as depicted in Hiroshige's famous print.


I eventually dragged myself away and descended into the post town of Yui. I arrived in Yui at 10.30am and went straight to the Tokaido Hiroshige Art Museum, where there was an exhibition of the Gyosho Edition of the series The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido. (In addition to the famous Hoeido Edition, Hiroshige produced at least a dozen other editions of this series. See here for details.) There was also a small section of the museum dedicated to Hiroshige's life and the history and technique of woodblock printing. Prospective overseas visitors should note, however, that there are no explanations in English.


I left the museum at 11.10am. It had clouded over while I was inside and Mount Fuji was no longer visible. I pushed on and reached the next post town of Kanbara at 11.55am. There was nowhere to eat, however, so I decided to continue walking. I wasn't prepared for any more climbing, so it came as an unpleasant surprise when I had to leave the main road and ascend quite a steep hill soon after leaving Kanbara. Just after 2pm, after crossing the Fuji River, I found a Yumean restaurant. I went in and again had some sakura-ebi, this time cold with various other toppings on a bowl of cold soba. From the restaurant, it wasn't far to my hotel in front of Fuji station. I arrived at about 3.30pm.


After checking in I did a load of washing and then went to a nearby Ito Yokado department store to buy some things for dinner. At the check out I was told I'd won a lottery which meant I was entitled to get back all the money I'd just spent. I took my receipt up to a counter on the fourth floor where the cash (1225 yen) was ceremoniously handed to me in a special red and white envelope. I resisted the temptation to go back downstairs and blow it all on a bottle of wine to celebrate.

Day 18: Fuchu - Okitsu (17km)

I was woken by my watch alarm at 6am after another fitful night's sleep filled with vivid dreams. The first thing I did was open the curtain and look outside. There was no sign of rain.

I went down for breakfast on the dot of seven. The menu was the same as the previous day. After breakfast I went back to my room and finished packing. Before heading down to check out I glanced out the window and noticed that people outside had their umbrellas up. It was raining again. I spent a while deciding whether or not to put my raingear on. In the end I did, and of course it stopped raining soon after I left.

I was out of the hotel by 8.45am. As had become my routine by now, I took two breaks in the morning, the first at 9.45 and the second at 10.45. I also stopped for a while to watch some school kids playing football. Football is very popular in Shizuoka, the prefecture having two teams in the top Japanese league: Shimizu S-Pulse and Jubilo Iwata. I'd soon be passing Shimizu, and I'd stayed in Iwata a few days earlier.

At about 11.30am, as I was approaching Shimizu, I noticed a young walker behind me on the opposite side of the road. He was carrying a staff and wearing a conical hat of the kind worn by people on pilgrimages in Japan. At the speed he was approaching it wouldn’t be long before he passed me, so I got ready to greet him and thought of a few questions I might ask him. But moments later he passed without a word and without even acknowledging me. This kind of attitude by fellow walkers was starting to piss me off. I didn't expect everyone I passed to stop and engage in lengthy conversation, but to totally ignore a fellow walker struck me as extremely rude.

I was quite angry for a while, but I soon lost sight of him and my mind moved on to different matters, such as finding a place for lunch. But about twenty minutes later I saw him just up ahead. He was sitting by the side of the road having a break. I crossed the road and said hello. The first thing he did was apologize for not stopping earlier. He then explained that he was walking around the entire country and that he had an extremely demanding schedule. He had hardly slept the previous night (he was sleeping rough) and had to be in Shimizu in time to catch a train to meet a friend back in Shizuoka. He then gave me a polite bow with one hand raised in front of him as if blessing me and went on his way. I was left feeling somewhat guilty about being filled with so much anger when he passed me earlier.

At Shimizu I found a CoCo curry restaurant by the station and had a seafood curry. I then went down the road to a Mister Donut and had a coconut chocolate donut and an iced coffee. I left Shimizu at 1.15pm.

Okitsu was just 5km away. I was back on the coast by this stage. I passed an intriguing billboard indicating I was near the spot where in 1889 Crown Prince Yoshihito (later the Taisho Emperor) bathed by the sea, an act that apparently made the small seaside town famous. I spent a few minutes walking around trying to find it, but all I could see was a park with people playing gateball and the entrance to a very busy dock. Perhaps one or the other was the famous spot, but I was none the wiser as a result of my little excursion.


Further on I looked up and realized I could see the top of Mount Fuji above the hills in front of me. This was my first view of the sacred mountain, so I climbed a pedestrian bridge to get a better view and took several photos. I was surprised to see it still covered in what looked to be a thick layer of snow, as the climbing season was due to start in just a few weeks.


I reached Okitsu at around 3.30pm. Before checking in to my hotel, I had a good look at the hill just beyond it. At the top of the hill was Satta Pass, which I would have to climb first thing the next morning. I then looked at the modern highway which skirts around the coast at the bottom of the hill. For the briefest of moments I thought how easy it would be to give the pass a miss tomorrow and take the highway instead. I quickly turned around and went into my hotel.


The moment I entered the lobby I regretted my choice of accommodation for that night. The hotel adjoined a hot spring resort. Being a Saturday, it was packed with people using the facilities for the day. I think my reaction would have been different if people were in traditional yukata, but instead of yukata the resort provided their quests with the ugliest of orange pyjamas, and nearly everyone was wearing them. To make matters worse, I had to put my shoes in a locker on entering the hotel and then hand the key over at reception, which made me feel trapped. At least my room had an ocean view.

I did some hand-washing and watched some TV and then left my room to look around the hotel some more. I ended up on the ground floor where there were a number of restaurants. I went into a noodle place and ordered the sakura-ebi kakiage tendon (tempura vegetables and "sakura" shrimp on rice). Sakura-ebi are tiny shrimp caught in the bay off Okitsu and are a local delicacy, so I was keen to try them prepared in the traditional manner. I wasn't disappointed. The meal was fantastic. I was feeling a little less gloomy now, so I ordered some soba ice cream for dessert. I also struck up a conversation with the people at the next table. They were local tea farmers who often came to enjoy the hot springs for the day. I was intrigued about tea farming and asked them a bit about their industry. Their main concern seemed to be competition from tea imported from China. They invited me to share whatever it was they were drinking (I suspected shochu), but I politely declined. So after exchanging business cards (I'd left mine in my room and had to go back to get one) I called it a night.