regions,manywithair-dryingfacili-
ties,plusneveroncedidI finda toilet
rollholderempty.
Thenextdayweheadedfurther
intothealpstoournextdestination:
Hakuba,thevillagethathostedthe
Japan 1998 WinterOlympics.Wefig-
ureditwouldonlytakea coupleof
hourstogettheresowemaderegular
sightseeingstopsalongtheway– the
firstbeingthewaterfallwherewesaw
theoddcreatureontheroad,which
welaterdiscoveredwasa Japanese
serow,describedinWikipediaas“a
Japanesegoat-antelope”.
Ifwe’dbeendrivinginAustralia,
thesigntothewaterfallwouldhave
beenjusta bluraswespedpast.In
Japan,however,thereisa verygood
reasonwhywedidn’tmisstheturn
offandwhyweavoidedhittingthe
serow;thespeedlimit.At50km/hon
regionalroadsand40km/hinvillag-
es(80km/honmotorways),youcan
enjoyaleisurelydrivethroughthe
provincesandvisitout-of-the-way
placesnotonshinkansen(bullettrain)
routes.Thankstothisyear’sSummer
Olympics,a lotofroadsignsarenow
writteninEnglishaswellasJapanese.
Theyalsodriveontheleft.Infact,the
hardestpartaboutdrivinginJapanis
keepingunderthespeedlimit!
Althoughstillmisty,theviewsof
themountainswerespectacular;for-
estedhillsidesinburntautumnhues
threadedwithlongwispyclouds.They
lookedjustlikea Japaneselandscape
painting. We took a short trek along
ariverandstoppedatAsahiDam,
butthegoalforthedaywastovisit
Kamikochi,anaturereserveinthe
AzusaRiverValleysaidtoofferJapan’s
mostspectacularmountainscenery.
Unfortunately,thedrizzlehadturned
tosteadyrainandcloudswerevery
lowbythetimewegotthere,sowe
optedtopressonandvisitoneofthe
manyfreefootspasdottedaround this
partofthecountryinstead.HAKUBATREK
Wearrivedatourapartment,Haku-
baSkiCondos,ina fogofcloud.But
accordingtotheweatherforecast,the
followingdaylookedfavourableand
wetoldBob,thefriendlyCanadian
manager,ofourintentionstogetup
earlytowalkupthemostpopular
mountain,HappoOne(pronounced
On-ay).Thenextmorning,wehad
twosurprisesinstoreforus;a viewof
themountainfromourlivingroom,
anda picnicbasketatourfrontdoor
withalltheingredientstomakewaf-
f lesforbreakfast.Bobwasonespe-
cialmanager.Wewereecstatic!We’d
beeninJapanfornearlytwoweeks
and,frankly,wewerehankeringafter
Westernfood.Ourmoodslifted.
Ittookonegondolaandtwoskilifts
togettothestartofthewalkingtrack
forHappoOne.Wewerestartingatan
altitudeof 1800 metres.Today’sgoal
wastowalktoHappo-ikePondat 2080
metres.Anyoneattemptingtotrek
furtherwasrequiredtohaveproper
mountaineering equipment.111
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