Japan - a very special country indeed!

 

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The afternoon sun spreads a silver glow on the sea, as we drive our Landcruiser out of the vessel "Figaro" at the port of Kobe. We park the car on the berth and hop into a waiting taxi for completing the immigration and customs papers. The immaculately dressed driver with white gloves bows deeply and opens courteously the door to his car where white laces cover the seats. It is a hearty reception in this special country about which we know so little. The complicated and apparently very costly car entry conditions caused us more than headaches during the last days of our sea journey - starting from the MOT inspection, the expensive adjustment of the vehicle to the Japanese regulations and the inevitable shut-down of the car during this time, up to the replacement of the Swiss license plates into Japanese ones. Will we ever manage to enter the "Land of the Rising Sun"? Two hours later, although without local Kobe license plates, we integrate into Japans left-hand traffic. Until today we do not know whether these easy customs formalities were due only to lucky circumstances or to the efficient preparatory work of the Japanese Wallenius agent.

It is still rainy season and it pours like in the Tropics when the day after our arrival in Kobe we cross by car ferry over to the small island of Awaji-shima. Immediately, it becomes rural. Traditional timber houses, well-maintained gardens with Bonsai trees and the fresh green of the rice fields decorate the landscape. Small, narrow sandy beaches follow the winding single-lane island road equipped with large mirrors. Tropical jungle vegetation with beautiful bamboo forests grows exuberantly in the interior and curious monkeys roam on the roadside. Obviously, the high numbers of mirrors put up along the roads are for the observation of the oncoming traffic on blind curves.

An old Japanese woman is heading with a tricycle to her overgrown garden on the coastal road. Probably she has never seen such a safari equipped vehicle on her tiny island before and obviously she would like to know more about us. But unfortunately, she cannot speak English and we speak no Japanese. She is very pleased however, when we present her with a flowering plant which was given to us by an enthusiastic Landcruiser driver shortly before. Without hesitation she disappears into her tiny garden and picks up a bouquet of colourful flowers for us. This gesture touches us, but it belongs to the century old tradition of this country, where the exchange of gifts always has been playing a large role. Also due to that special tradition so many souvenir and gift shops are apparent around the islands. It is also custom to bring along a gift to family members and even to the business colleagues left behind, how ever short the trip might have been. It brightens the others that have been left behind with their work and sorrows.

The heavy rainfalls of the last days caused immense landslides in the steep slopes near Ikeda. Extensive cleaning up work is under way everywhere. As we reach the turn off to the Iya-kei Gorge, we hesitate. What is written on that big sign? No entry? Everybody we ask, their answer consists of shaking heads. Nobody understands us. One points to the watch, another to the nose (Later we find out that the watch means hourly traffic — the meaning of pointing to the nose we never found out). Nobody stops us to drive through the untamed, tropical vegetation along this fantastic gorge. Deep below us, the brown waters of the flooded river make their way in many turns through the impenetrable forest. Everywhere waterfalls foam through steep slopes and debris and rocks of the recent violent tempest cover the road. At one of the many hot springs the road is blocked by high rubble, large trunks and a new born waterfall. We decide to turn back.

Our final destination in Shikoku is the Taga-jinja Shrine in Uwajima - a rather unusual museum. There, an oversized penis carved from a tree trunk decorates the entry to the three-storey sex museum — a remnant of earlier times, where many Shinto Shrines had a connection to fertility rituals. Sculptures of many sizes, fading photographs and tools of sex customs of different groups are shown in a great disorder in glass showcases from the bottom to the top. Particularly amazing are the tiny temples where doors open to a phallus. After seeing all the phallic sculptures, we drive the last miles to the westernmost tip of this Island, to Cape Misaki.

An old ferry transports us from the harbour of Misaki in one hour to the southern island of Kyushu. We calculate that we have to pay for this short passage US$ 1.10 per minute. The outrageous costs of the motorways of $ 0.35 per mile are out of bound too - a fact that makes us decide later to drop the visit of the northern Island of Hokkaido. Also the cost of many toll roads to scenic places add up considerably, charging up to $ 10 just before reaching the tourist destination. Fortunately, we could keep low the costs of living, as we stocked-up our Landcruiser in Dubai with inexpensive food. Thanks to the low crime rate in this country, it was possible - except in Tokyo — to camp in the wild and sleep in our Landcruiser, thus saving the extremely costly expenses of accommodation.

We drive the toll road to the gigantic volcanic area of Mt. Aso, one of the largest of the world. An extraordinary sight is the lush green, perfectly formed cone of Mount Komezuka (translated as rice mound). It surrounds, together with four other recently formed volcanoes, the fertile planes and small villages of the large caldera, 15 miles in diameter. Mist rises from the valley up to these 3000 feet height. It bubbles between the volcanic cones and the smell of sulphur from the close caldera penetrates into our noses. Here, we spend a wonderfully cool and calm night, before we decide to head down into the scorching heat of the plains again and visit the beautiful gorge of Takachiho, which is surrounded by many myths and reveals lovely waterfalls, overhanging, moss-covered stones, giant ferns, sheer walls and narrow passages. It is a wonderful place to enjoy, until large noisy tour groups arrive with their megaphones and destroy the magic moments.

The next day, we are again in populated areas, as we drive towards Cape Toi, the southernmost point of the main islands of Japan. White sandy beaches alternate with bizarre pinnacles rising up out of the sea, flowers bloom on the banks, first palms emerge. The main attraction of this coastal region is the wonderfully orange coloured Udo-jingu Shrine in a superb setting.

Later, towards Kagoshima with its impressive Sakurajima volcano, the densely overpopulated areas increase more and more. So we decide to forgo the cultivated West Coast of Kyushu and take the expensive motorway back to the main island of Honshu.

On that dark morning we are filled with a flood of emotions as we enter the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima. It was August 6, 1945, 8.15 a.m., at the start of normal daily activities, that the first atomic bomb exploded approx. 2000 feet above this lovely town with its many bridges. The consequences of the incredible explosion were tremendous: 75’000 people were killed immediately and by the end of December 85’000 humans died from radiation exposure burns. The death toll has probably now reached 200’000 as people continued to die from the radiation. The impressive, three-storey Peace Memorial Museum shows the tragedy in dramatic films, models, family scenes and descriptions.

A very special experience is the visit to a restaurant wash room on this rocky coastal strip. Each toilet is placed in the middle of an individually landscaped exotic garden with Bonsai trees, flowers and attractively carved stone monuments. Water is running through bamboo sticks into a tiny fountain, the sound of singing birds fills the air — a perfect feeling of being out in nature. There, where no real water is murmuring, a button can be pushed and this noise can be heard over loudspeakers.

As we get closer to the region of the five Fuji lakes, a concentration of clouds surround the dormant volcano and makes its appearance change continuously — once a dark cap surrounds it, then a white circle. From our isolated camping spot we admire in the darkness the lights of the mountain path leading to the volcano that attracts approximately 3000 visitors every day in the two months of its climbing season. Nowadays, there is not much wilderness remaining, as on each stop there are the popular beverage dispensers, which can be found for the well being of the people on every corner in all Japan. Of course, on the top there is the convenience of a telephone to let the relatives know about the arrival on the summit, and the inevitable gift shop is open.

On September 9, 1999 our last day in Japan has approached. We say good-bye to Nippon, to a country, where we always felt comfortable and safe. But we say good-by also to a world which in their way of living and thinking is so different from ours, where due to language difficulties we were not able to communicate with people — with the taxidriver, who opened us politely the doors, the modest farmer on the foot of Mount Fuji, the young lady in the silky kimono in Hachido or the correctly dressed business man in a suit and tie, who showed us the right way. They all contribute to the fact that this special Asian country will remain in our thoughts and hearts as a very special country.

As Mandarin Airlines takes off to its flight via Taiwan to Vancouver in Canada, we are also on board. Our faithful Landcruiser is already sailing with the vessel ´Bright Stream´ of the Japanese Eastern Car Liner on free transport towards its new destination.

 

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