Japan’s Golden Week had finally arrived and I was face-to-face with the unknown, or at least imprecise plans to follow a part of the Shikoku 88-temple pilgrimage until the travel mania subsided and I could book a dorm bed again.
I lingered in the guesthouse as long as I could, only packing up and leaving at checkout time. I had seen several signs at various tourist information desks advertising “Hands Free Travel” and the Mt. Aso tourist desk even had a poster listing prices to “mail” your luggage to a hotel in the next town while you traveled unencumbered. So, obviously, since I didn’t exactly want to set out on a walking pilgrimage with a backpack and a rolling suitcase, my first order of business was to find the Hands Free counter and sort that out. Through online research, I found that the only counter in Matsuyama was at the airport, which means I waited until today to head over there. It was a short bus ride from the JR train station.
I asked at the tourist information desk and confusion ensued. Long story short: the service was only to take your luggage from the airport and send it into town. I was recommended to arrange parcel delivery through the convenience store, which has a multiple purpose self service terminal (in Japanese). At a loss for what to do, I went back into town, threw my suitcase and as much dead weight as possible into a coin locker then jumped on a Iyotetsuo-operated train to take me to the southeast of town to start the journey. I hit four temples and really enjoyed the walk in the bright sunshine. It certainly helped that I wasn’t carrying much weight.
Walking back into town, I swung by the outdoor outfitters again just to price a trekker’s backpack (on the off chance it was a reasonable price, it may have been worth switching over). They were crazy expensive. Plan B or C or whatever it was at this point was to see what I could find at the Daiso to either makeshift something to strap the suitcase to my back (just in case) and find a picnic blanket or something to either (a) lay on or (b) wrap myself up in. I also swung by the henro supply shop to pick up the handle cover for the walking stick and the naked wood was rough on the hands.
One interesting thing about being a pilgrim is that people really do treat you differently. While resting on a bench during my last minute shopping spree, an older Japanese lady came up to talk to me for a bit.
Eventually, I ended up back at the lockers, grabbed my stuff and hopped on another train taking me a bit northwest of town. I dragged my stuff to a Family Mart, at a simple dinner and charged up some electronics. After night fell, I made my way 1.5 km in the dark to find a public park on the way to the next temple. It wasn’t much fun dragging my suitcase, and I felt rather conspicuous on the side of the road as car after car sped by. The park was slightly removed from the main highway, which meant there was almost no traffic passing directly next to it. Lucky for me there was a gazebo of sorts with benches, and the L shaped bench was almost long enough to accommodate me.
Camping is very definitely a thing in Japan. I’ve met quite a few people who travel that way. My problem is that I don’t have a tent or a sleeping bag–not that I would want the extra weight. The other problem is that despite being nearly May and scorching hot most of the time, a cold front blew in, dropping temperatures to single digits (Celsius). I was grateful to have my suitcase with me as time after time I dug into it to pull out more clothes and put them on. The wind picked up a couple of times, but mostly it was calm. I managed to sleep fitfully through the night.
28589 steps for the day.
| Bus tickets to/from airport | 460/560 |
| Coin locker | 500 |
| Train ticket | 260 |
| Temple fees | 1200 |
| Incense | 50 |
| Daiso supplies | 648 |
| Walking stick cover | 324 |
| Train ticket | 300 |
| Family Mart dinner | 586 |
| Total: | 4888 JPY (312.8 RMB) (USD 46.48) |
Running Total: 27153.9 RMB (USD 4034.8)
Daily Average: 301.7 (USD 44.83)
It sucks, I wasted over 1500 yen running to the airport and using a coin locker when I could have left my luggage in the guesthouse for the day.