Day Seven: Beginning of our Walk Japan Tour

 We started our day off — waking up a bit later than we hoped to — at 8:20am. The planned meeting time at the lobby was 8:45am; however, since we woke up so late, we rushed to pack our previous night’s snacks, souvenirs, and FULLY charged phones. Both of us (Uriel and Megan 😎) bulldozed our way downstairs without a bite of breakfast! A rough beginning to an eventful day for sure…

 Nagoya Station, being one of the biggest stations in the world by floor area, quickly became our first challenge of the day: the group plan was to meet Yo, our Walk Japan tour guide, at an information center within the masses of people hurrying about the station. With the station being so big, finding him quickly proved to be difficult. After 12 minutes of meandering about, we spotted him flagging us down from a pillar across a bustling konbini (convenience store). To our relief, he instructed us to split into pairs and allowed us to buy bentos with ¥1500 each. At 10:15am, we all boarded the train speeding us toward the beginning of our Walk Japan section of the trip!

We started walking our four miles for the day at around 11:30am. Yo described a number of Japanese cultural aspects along the way. Earlier in the walk, he stopped everyone to point out an opened, spiky chestnut, explaining how back in the day, samurais on the Nakasendo Way had to beat wild boars and bears to the chase of getting some of the sweet chestnut inside. We then stopped at a statue of two enlightened Buddhists wearing bright, red bibs, telling the tale behind how they stayed behind on land, spending their days protecting children who died before their parents (a sin in Japanese culture because they “didn’t contribute enough to the world”). After stopping for a picnic-styled lunch consisting of our bento boxes from Nagoya Station, Yo then described to the group how samurais used to utilize ichirimagkus (labeled stone mounds) as mini milestones every 4km (or 2.5 miles!) to specify sections of the Nakasendo Way. 

Finishing today’s longest section of the walk, we stopped at a Woodblock Print Museum exhibiting Hiroshige’s famous woodblock art, which inspired many — including Van Gogh, Da Vinci, and Monet, the founder of impressionist art! Lastly, before heading to our Ryokan, we stopped by the local supermarket at Ena to grab some snacks and souvenirs. We even spotted some authentic Japanese Smiskis, which are normally impossible to get in America! Content with our purchases, we walked to the ryokan we are staying at tonight. We made ourselves comfortable in our hotel and got ready to try out the ryokan’s public bath. We all made designated times for us to either shower solo or together based on our preferences. The rooms are wonderful and traditional, filled with tatami mats and comfortably set futons. We were also supplied with the traditional Japanese summer wear, yukatas, to all wear uniformly to our dinner. Our dinner consisted of some greens, potato salad, grilled chicken, tempura, tofu, miso soup, rice, and a yummy dessert. Overall, today has a been a fun-filled day with tons of laughter and excitement. Now, we are going to go sleep and have a goodnight’s rest in order to conserve energy for tomorrow’s long hike. Bye! 👋