Life Digest. January 2025.
Bay walks, snow, Tochigi, deers, and...no beers.
A belated self-guilty attempt to start journalling of my life whilst trying to avoid genre specific egotism and making it a practical guide for the readers.
JAPAN. LIFE.
The turbulence in the world political climate have not touched Japan much yet. “Special geopolitical operation” against Canada, Mexico and Panama, rich tycoons attacking sovereign governments, all this so far verbal dust is still mostly in the air over the Land of the Rising Sun. Hope it will stay this way. After all, Japan is the largest investor into U.S. and although trade surplus is in favor of Japan, there are also strong security priorities in Asia where US needs a strong ally. In the meantime, in Japan salaries and bankruptcies are going up, yen is falling down together with the abundant snow in the northern provinces. TV news is stable, every year looking surprised with the obvious fact of the winter snow and ringing the alarm bells about the rise of influenza.
I came up with a new hiking route. Based on the existing ones. For now, I call it Bay2Bay, as it runs from Sagami Bay on the west of Miura Peninsula (Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan) to Tokyo Bay on the east. I walked from Kuruwa Beach to Maeda River, then climbing mount Ogusu followed by the walk through Abekura township, another climb to Tsukayama Park and finally ending at Yokosuka Verny Park. It was fun, so I am going to elaborate in a separate post.
Nikko is not only about the temples and the history. I posted some notes in 2021. If you go up into the mountains closer to Lake Chuzenji you can enjoy skiing. At an altitude of 1,269 meters, Chuzenji is Japan's highest natural lake. This year there was no much snow near the lake though.
Lake Chuzenji. But enough for X-country laps in the forest.
Ski trail at Kotoku Onsen, Tochigi Prefecture. While ski-roaming in the forest, I ran into a beautiful deer. He seemed to have been tangled up in a net protecting the vegetation, so I started to think where to call for help (I was off “the official” ski trail), but he managed to free himself and disappeared into the woods throwing an angry glance at me.
“Bloody nets…!” Another day I tried to walk southern bank of Lake Chuzenji, but stopped short because of the deep snow. I will come again to circumvent the lake when it is warmer and hopefully will be able to try the water here.
Chuzenji Lake southern track. Lake village far away. End of the month I met at a snowy Yunishigawa Onsen village. My first trip and liking it here. It is one of so called “Kakurezato” (hidden villages) located in Tochigi Prefecture. I like Tochigi more and more after last year trip to Shiobara and will share my impressions of Yunishigawa later. The best memory so far is half-sleeping in the open hot spring bath (“rotenburo”) while using all five senses. Acknowledging snowflakes brushing against the skin, smelling the bald freshness of the air, enjoying the gentle rustle of Yunishi River below, all this while gazing at the pines struggling to shrug off the snow and tasting occasional snow crystals on the lips.
Yunishigawa onsen.
GOOD READS
Interesting thread on Reddit praising Japan. As seen by foreign tourists.
How topical. I want such leader for my home countries at least. “The President”.
I may not have enough patience but started to practice. For example, try button-down shirt when in a hurry. The Tiniest Mission.
GOOD WATCH
Slipaway. One can find many flaws if determined, but this romantic story leaves a very pleasant emotional aftertaste. In my opinion, an attribute of truly good piece of art.
GOOD BITES AND SWIGS
No much outing. Experimenting with salads.
Ten ingredients.
EXERCISE AND HEALTH
Climbing the stairs with is a good cardio. But can be boring. Important to find a good motivation except for health benefits.
Winter mornings on Miura Peninsula (Kanagawa Pref., Japan) are crispy, chilly and often windy. Before the sun warms beaches well enough (normally by 11 am) for a possible one-minute swim, I have started a new routine. Climbing a small hill near my house. The hill has elevation of around 140m and has around 500 continuous steps, rather steep in the beginning. It is a good add-on after in-house HIIT circuit.
524 steps. It takes around 20-25 minutes to reach the viewing platform and make it an excellent cardio and knee joints workout. I have noticed I am puffing less by the end of the month. And the view from the observation deck is my reward.
The reward. As I always say, we need to explore more our own neighborhoods. Of course, any stairs climb, or an uphill run is a good exercise, but nice view at the end makes it more desirable. I simply want this climb every morning. For now.
I added this workout to my Hall of Fame. 60 minutes, no repeat, with weights.
Normally prefer shorter and more intensive, but good endurance challenge as well.
I made January alcohol free. I sleep well, my head is clear, most of all I enjoy the feeling of being in control. I do miss sometimes alcohol infused spontaneous camaraderie with the world, myself and the strangers. but the advantages of being sober outweigh anything else. I am not planning to convert into a teetotaler but will replace a “few” beers with a glass of wine. Eventually.
One minute workout, 10 sec. rest. A good at-home circuit.
If you have any good workout or online at home yoga suggestion, please share. I am always in search.
Yunishigawa onsen looks sensational and Tochigi seems like a different world to what I am used to....Shame that I couldn't "join in" based on the reasons already mentioned. Next trip maybe far away if on the cards but here is hoping.
That's a great walk, those onsen look lovely. Nikko is an interesting place to visit and has a nice feel to it. Good luck with the dry spell !