Nature Rules

Lush, bountiful are words that come to mind when you hike in rural Japan. Once you are off the tarmac you will see green in all shades and forms. But not only that, even now in late summer, nearly autumn pops of colour grab your attention. The blossoms are delicate, nevertheless, visited by a few insects I have never seen before. And they could not care less that you are there.

How can it be so green when it is so hot at the same time? The simple answer is humidity. And it is not seldomly caused by heavy rains. I have written about tsunamis, but Japan’s nature has many surprises in store. One of them being taifuns or at least heavy rains. I am not sure whether the heavy rains in Tokyo have been covered in your press but it was pretty strong…

I am using an app, that issues weather, earthquake ad tsunami warnings but the real problem is, that at one point you will see extreme rain in your area and three hours later the storm or rain front will have changed direction, and you just get a little dribble. I am not yet used enough to the constant weather changes to just wild camp. The other day it poured and stormed so much I am not sure my tent would have survived.

Let’s circle back to hiking off road. The conditions of the trails that lead you into the mountains vary widely. Some are like a nice walk in Grunewald, some need all your mental strength to not give in and just fall down into the ravine. The word “slippery“ on a map is a nice way to say that there is no solid ground and you have to find a way to get down by holding tightly to a rope and intertwine your legs with the left over of roots, that once have been covered by soil, in such a way, that you bridge the height of approximately five meters without falling head over.

I have to say, that my personal panic button was jammed, fortunately, otherwise I just might have fainted. Due to the heavy rain, erosion is a real problem and some of those trails might not last much longer.

But nature does not only consist of weather and shrubbery, animals are a big part of it as well. At times there might be snakes (some of them are poisonous), insects in all forms and varieties, tiger mosquitoes included. And then there are the really big ones. Deers and wild boars have suddenly crossed my path these past days. What I have not encountered though is a kuma (a bear), which I attribute to my bear bell, and am very happy about. What I could have done without, is the leech, that decided to hook up to my ankle and feast on me.

I still prefer to walk in the wild, than squeezing to the side on a road, because there is nothing for pedestrians, and even if, most of the time it is totally overgrown so that you can hardly use it anyway.