We finished out our two weeks with Bou-san at the Chikyuyado (Earth Inn) weeding a variety of veggies, maintaining two rice fields, and taking long breaks in the organic blueberry field eating berries to our hearts’ content. Most nights we were without guests and ate dinner with the family at their home, which was always guaranteed hilarity with Ojiichan’s (Bou-san’s father-in-law) outright offensive sense of humor. Afterward we would have the guest house to ourselves where we could chill out with a drink, play piano, or make plans for what to do next on our adventure. Nearly everything was fun at the Chikyuyado with Bou-san’s upbeat attitude and willingness to work alongside us and teach us about his lifestyle. He was such a cool guy, and it was sad to part ways with him and the Masuda family.
We went from Bou-san’s little guest house to the larger scale Ogurayama farm on July 7th. The pace there was a little different from what we’re used to from the Hanai and Masuda residences. There they house up to six WWOOFers at a time, so there was more opportunity to meet other travellers. Everything was much more business-like compared to the former hosts, but the work was not challenging and provides a new experience with working in orchards, bagging and thinning peaches.
Probably most noteworthy about Ogurayama Farm was our fellow American WWOOFer, Andrew. Andrew was ninteen years old, from Washington state, and had been arrested twice so far since arriving in Nagano. The story he enthusiastically told us in our first real conversation was that he had been mistaken for a ganster after talking to some Japanese kids wearing bandanas outside Matsumoto train station. Another version of the story, later relayed by another fellow WWOOFer, was that he was arrested for shouting ‘U. S. A.’ over and over again on the train to Matsumoto, and was arrested again days later for getting lost and sleeping on the street. He told us of his plans to visit Matsumoto city on his day off, and while Charlie and I were elsewhere I made a sarcastic comment about him getting arrested, only to return and hear the story of how at a festival in the city he saw someone dressed in a frog costume, ran up to him and hoisted him into the air, and had to apologise profusely and bail before the cops were called. The kid certainly made for interesting conversation during long shifts weeding carrots and cleaning onions. Furthermore it was an unforgettable experience when we were all riding in the car together with the host’s four-year-old son when a fellow WWOOFer commented on a Pachinko (slots) place as we passed by and the son yelled ‘Chinko!’ (‘penis’ in Japanese) and turned and slammed double-fists into Andrew’s crotch. The rest of us could hardly be blamed for losing it while he was simultaneously groaning and telling us it wasn’t funny (it was).
For my birthday Charlie and I took two days off and hitchhiked for my first time up to Kamikochi, a popular national park area in the Japan Alps to climb Mt Okuhodaka. We stayed in a ryoukan (mountain hut) called Karasawa with people setting up tents on thick compacted snow on the ground in July surrounded by jaw-dropping scenery. As we approached the ryoukan a group of around thirty large monkeys were crossing the trail frighteningly close to us while other hikers warned us not to look in their eyes as they would consider it a challenge. We met a number of lovely people that bought me birthday beer and crafted me a birthday cake out of choco pies.
We woke at 3:00am to begin our climb to the summit and had a hell of a time crossing the snow field with crappy rental crampons across the eerily steep slope. If we slipped we knew we would be sliding down the mountain-side and stopped for a good half hour contemplating whether we should even carry on. As we got closer to the top the weather got more abysmal and we ended up summiting in heavy rain and wind, hanging on wet rusty chains and ladders bolted into the side of mountain over deadly drops to make it to the top. It was probably a blessing that I could barely see ten feet in front (or below) me or else I probably wouldn’t have been having as much of a blast as I did. In the same day we then down-climbed another 8km to camp at grounds closer to the bus station and left the next day. My legs were pretty cheesed off for the next three or four days. Probably the best move we’ve made so far on this trip was the decision to buy a tent after returning, and we are now the proud owners of an MSR Hubba Hubba.
We finished out our two weeks at Ogurayama farm and flew from Tokyo to Sapporo on July 24th to enjoy the cooler climate of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island.
