2017年8月4日金曜日 - 
Joss Scary times in Aomori
Last year I
walked from Cape Soya (at
the top of Hokkaido) to Cape Sata (at
the bottom of Kyushu), a journey of 3000 kilometers. By the end of June I had
crossed over the Tsugaru Straits and was walking my way south through Aomori prefecture.
A kind couple had let me stay with them the
night before in the small town of Shimofuro Onsen. I set out early in the morning and to my despair it was already raining heavily. My
destination for the day was Mutsu, 27 km away. It was nowhere near the furthest
I had walked (or would walk in the coming days), but the terrain was not the easiest.
I followed the undulating coastline for a few hours before
the road turned inland and I was faced with a steep incline, one which I could not see the top of. The rain was still pouring down and
small rivers were forming at the sides of the ascending road.
On reaching the top of the hill I encountered a number of cages to the sides of the road. I had heard that the number of bear sightings had reached a record high all over Japan and a few locals had told me to be careful. The sight of these cages on this deserted road filled me with dread. So I started to sing. I did not have a bell to notify any bears of my presence so I thought singing was probably my best bet. Eventually I exhausted all the Arctic Monkeys' songs that my brain held and there was silence again. I walked in silence for a minute or two and passed a big clump of foliage to my left. Suddenly, I heard the trees shaking and I turned towards it, heart racing. I could see the wet, black fur of an animal half obscured by the low bushes. I prepared myself, umbrella pointed forward like a sword, ready to fend off an attack. After some seconds the animal lifted its head and I was relieved to see that it was in fact just a deer. It looked me right in the eyes, then turned and ran off into the trees.
I was paranoid about seeing a bear for many days after that,
but thankfully I never encountered one on my trip.
Cape Soya：宗谷岬
Cape Sata：佐多岬
the Tsugaru Straits：津軽海峡
set out：出発する
to my despair：がっかりすることに
terrain：地形
undulating：緩やかに起伏している
steep ：急な
incline：傾斜
ascending：上っていく
cages：おり
deserted：人通りのない
dread：不安
Eventually：やがて
Clump：藪
foliage：枝葉
obscured：隠れて見えなくなっている
fend off：攻撃をかわす
paranoid：被害妄想になる