Cherry blossoms are blooming across much of Japan and people are getting outdoors to take pictures, enjoy picnics, and otherwise enjoy the warmer temperatures that spring has to offer before the heat and humidity of summer forces us all indoors again. Over the past few weeks Ayumi and I have enjoyed visiting parks in Aichi, Shizuoka, Nagano, Chiba, Ibaraki, Fukushima, and even Miyagi. However, all of these trips have involved leaving in the morning and returning in the evening. Now that the weather is a bit warmer what I'd like us to do is explore some places that are a bit farther out, ideally spending the night away from home.
Day trips are certainly a good bit of fun, but often limit the amount of time that Ayumi and I can spend in a given location. When we travelled to Sendai in Miyagi, we were there for just two hours before turning around and driving back. Sure, we had spent some time exploring some of the parks and beaches in Fukushima along the way, but the time constraint certainly limited how much we could see in that interesting city. Given that one of my silly goals for the coming years is to visit every lighthouse in the country, Ayumi and I will need to get accustomed to sleeping away from home.
Over the past few years there have been a number of hotels that offer "pet-friendly" rooms. These are advertised to people who want to travel with their canine or feline companions and generally come with access to a dog park, a special meal, and a warm space to sleep in the hotel room. However, as these are clearly a "luxury item", the prices are a bit excessive. I like my dog a lot, but spending upwards of $150 per night to sleep somewhere is out of the question. What we need is a better alternative; and sleeping in the car is not an option1.
A common scene that Ayumi and I find when visiting faraway parks is an open area with a number of tents. These are not "picnic tents" used by families enjoying an afternoon out, but temporary shelters put out generally by people who want to fish early in the morning or travellers touring the country on their motorbike. Not every park has a camping section, but this has been common enough for me to do a bit of research. Apparently, there are hundreds of parks across the country that allow overnight camping for free. There are many more that do not permit tents past 7:00pm, but the ones that do allow overnight stays can be found all over the country. When travelling to places that are well off the beaten track, it's also easy to find privately owned camp sites that charge as little as $20 for a single person with a dog to stay.
This may be the way to go.
To the best of my knowledge, Ayumi has never slept outside. I haven't gone camping in 35 years. We're both going to be bad at this at first but it makes sense to give this a try. If it's something we both enjoy, then we can plan trips from Hateruma in the south to Cape Sōya in the north and everywhere in between.
So where should we go first?
Last week, while taking a look at some maps and looking for interesting places to explore, an island caught my attention: 柏島 – Kashiwa Island.
There is nothing particularly remarkable about this piece of land jutting out of the ocean other than it shares the name – and kanji – of the city where Ayumi and I currently live just north of Tokyo. With the help of Google Street View, I took a virtual tour around the island, seeing the older houses of the small town and the elementary school that has long since been shut down for lack of students. The green that abounds is very welcoming, as are the pristine beaches and clear waters of the Pacific Ocean. Ayumi loves all of these things, and so do I.
Kashiwa Island is located on the south-westernmost tip of Shikoku, a relatively large island just off the main island of Japan. It's almost 1,000km from downtown Tokyo by car and requires a visitor to go through some gorgeous mountain roads that look as though they were paved to actively entice people away from the endless noise and distractions of the city.
I have never been to this part of Japan, though it's long been on my bucket list. Pictures and videos from the area are often filled with green fields, blue skies, and compelling mountains. People seem friendlier. Food appears fresher. What's not to like?
So, thanks to a last-minute time off request being granted at work, Ayumi and I will be making a trip down to this unexplored – by us – land this coming Wednesday. We're currently staying in Aichi, so the drive will not be a full day's length. Instead, we'll leave around six o'clock in the morning and arrive at our first camp shortly before sunset.
The drive will have us go through the cities of Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe before we reach our first planned stops in Awaji, the island that sits between Kobe and the island of Shikoku. From there we'll continue to Naruto, where we'll stop for a few more pictures and videos, and then on to Kōchi City where we'll set up camp for the first night less than 50 metres from the ocean.
The next day we'll head down to Takasago and Oshima. If we're lucky, Oshimasakura Park will still have a lot of cherry blossoms in full bloom. From there we'll follow highway 357 along the coast down to a paid campsite in Otsuki, which has a lovely view of Kashiwa Island. Because this is a paid campsite, we will need to check in no later than four o'clock. This will allow us to explore the nearby beach and, hopefully, enjoy a picturesque sunset.
On Friday we won't be travelling too far as we'll make our way over to Kashiwa Island to explore for a few hours before following highway 321, also known as "Sunny Road" to the final campsite in Matsuo, which is the southern-most tip of Shikoku. Given the number of places I've identified to stop and explore between the two campsites, I will be surprised if we get through half of them before sunset. The total distance is less than 30km. Hopefully there will be at least one camping spot available in Matsuo when we arrive, as the public sites do not have a reservation system. First-come first-served can be a bit of a challenge at this time of year when everyone wants to get out and enjoy as much of their weekend as possible.
Saturday's plan is pretty simple: drive back to Aichi prefecture. This is a nine-hour trek in and of itself, and we'll certainly be stopping at various places along the way. Sunday, despite being a day of rest, will see Ayumi and I return to our apartment in Kashiwa.
All in all, this will likely be a 2,500km trip from start to finish. It will require six full tanks of gas, about $80 in highway fees, $20 for one campsite, and who knows how many terabytes of storage … because I'll be using every camera and memory card I can get my hands on.
Hopefully, by this time next week, the first of many videos will hit YouTube. And, if this trip is successful, it will be the first of many camping adventures that Ayumi and I will embark upon this year.
While I like my car, it's not big enough to sleep in comfortably. I would have to put Ayumi on the floor so that I can sleep in the passenger seat, as we're not supposed to sleep in the driver's seat of a car; even a two-seater. Even doing this, I would likely wake up with sore muscles and a headache … which would spoil the fun of being out.