Since leaving our puppy at home in New Zealand, my fiancé and I have been scaring the local people of Imabari by asking if we can pet any dog that we come across being walked on the street. This led to the fortunate encounter of a Japanese man walking his pug. We got to chatting and found that he worked with the wife of our work colleague, which resulted in dinner a week later with his brother and our friends. We discovered that they often went hiking in the surrounding mountains during the weekend, which being keen walkers ourselves was one the reasons we were originally drawn to Imabari. A facebook group was created and within a few weeks we were off on our first hiking adventure in Japan.
After a decent drive we arrived at Saragamine Ridge, the location of our walk. Our group was a multicultural crew including Japanese, Dutch, Brazilians and a New Zealander. Ages ranged from ten to mid-forties, and fitness levels from mountain runners to myself.
Spirits were high as we set out on our hike to the top on a particularly sunny spring day. Our leader set a bearable pace and with a bit of huffing and puffing we reached our first stop, a hut where hikers could stay the night if they wished. In true Japanese fashion it was clean, cute and organized.
While we were walking we were fascinated by the different plants, in particular the momiji tree in it’s stunning yellow-green glory. We also tried to remember to watch out for snakes, a foreign concept to me as a New Zealander!
In a relatively short time we reached the top. Here we engaged in a traditional Japanese ritual of having a Cup Noodles on a mountain as a reward for the effort taken to reach the peak. A few of the experienced climbers had very generously lugged enough hot water up to fill up the cups of every member of our large group.
It was a beautiful view for a short walk and we all enjoyed eating our noodles while looking out over the mountains. The blue hue of the ranges is particularly rare and captivating.
Feeling restored, we packed up and headed back down the mountain using a different track. Because it was the weekend there were many other hikers enjoying Saragamine which was great to see.
As an added bonus, on our drive back to Imabari we stopped to pick up the other hiker’s cars where we had left them at a mall complex. In the car park there was a rummage sale; people had parked up and spread their wares on mats, which I was thrilled about as I hadn’t yet seen this anywhere in Japan and I missed the flea markets at home. My fiancé is quite the haggler and spent ten minutes or so in a spirited discussion with a vendor to eventually nab a bargain on an impressive life-size replica of a samurai helmet. We love to visit markets whatever country we may be in as it is such a great opportunity to interact with locals.
Our experience shows that when you move to a new country or even a new city, which can be very isolating, you have to put yourself out there in order to make connections with local people. As we did, you may find some who have similar interests. It is an important part of feeling at home and also educating yourself and appreciating other cultures.
