This trip revealed several layers of Japan’s historical and current urban and natural landscapes, all under the expert guidance of our enthusiastic tour leader, David Lam. David was exceptionally well organized, always had a Plan B option (rarely needed), took us to neat restaurants (e.g., savory Japanese pancakes at Okonomiyaki Ranban in Wakayama), and clearly enjoys being a guide and showing off Japan to newcomers. He set up a WhatsApp page for our group at our first meeting, and it was a great resource for logistical info, weather updates, and for us to post photos and notes of the trip. Our group of 10 participants (from four countries) spanned a nearly 50-year age range, and everyone got along remarkably well. The last four full days of the trip were my favorite. I loved being out in nature on our hikes of the Kumano Kodo trail, which were led by Jennifer Fujino and her assistant guides (including Asai Tomoko) on separate days (David stayed with us, too). Jennifer told us several stories of this pilgrimage route and the religious beliefs that people continue to practice in this area. On the trail, we listened to a variety of songbirds and saw snakes, frogs, little orange crabs, and lush vegetation in this beautiful area; we even tried forest bathing! I also liked going on a small boat ride of the Kumano River to Hatayama Shrine on Day 10 of the trip. We had our most spectacular weather on Day 11, which included visiting the Kumano Nachi Taisha Shrine, adjacent Seiganto-ji Temple, and Nachi-no-Otaki waterfall (Japan’s tallest). After a scenic (but stuffy) train ride to Osaka, we continued the fun on Day 11 with an interactive dinner at a small Korean BBQ (where we cooked our meat/seafood on a little grill in front of us). Afterwards, we happened upon a Buddhist fire ceremony, and we ended the evening in the Namba entertainment district, which was full of bright lights, oversize sea creatures scaling buildings, and an abundant supply of multi-flavor KitKats that I bought to bring home to friends. As much as I liked this trip, there were a few things I was not as keen on: 1) I personally could have skipped Tokyo or spent less time there as I am not a big city person; my single room at the Sunroute Asakusa Hotel was a dismal cracker box with a running toilet that the hotel staff did not care to fix (jiggling the handle worked for a while), and the breakfast was not very good (I picked up grocery items at a nearby supermarket for my 2nd breakfast); 2) we went to a lot of shrines and temples, and I would have appreciated scaling that back some to go on more nature hikes; and 3) as a retired scientist, I have some strong opinions about the unsustainably large population of protected sika deer, considered sacred, in Nara. These deer are being treated like petting zoo animals, instead of wild animals, and I observed several deer aggressively chasing or biting the clothing of tourists who were not giving them enough of the special crackers one can purchase to feed them. These deer can transmit several diseases to humans, including Lyme disease from ticks that may travel from the deer to someone petting or hugging it. Explore guides should inform participants of these risks and insure that they wash their hands after touching the deer. On a positive note, it was a heartwarming moment to see a baby fawn being born and later taking its first steps at the Kasuga Taisha Shrine in Nara.
