Hike cycle

Today was another great day to forget the map book at home.

I initially thought to tackle Mount Kannan 神南山, one of the higher peaks in the immediate area at 700 metres. As it turns out I took the correct initial turn off, but then I ended up having a blast in one of the junk sheds, after which I explored a park on the lower slopes, the Kannanyama-furusato-no-mori-kōen.

The junk shed at first seemed another place of previous industry, but at the back I found a smoking drum (no pun intended), so presumably some farmers operate around there, and some selection of the machinery is in fact in operation—perhaps the model semi-protected by a laminated lace table cloth. Anyway, maybe somewhere beyond the junk-strewn pathway something is happening. One wants to ask why these things can't be disposed of, but hey, apparently all junk ends up in landfills in the Philippines or something… but still, really? Old toothbrushes? Discarded sparkplugs? I don’t know the answer. I just take pictures it seems. We'll call it exercises in lighting and composition and hope that purpose is meaningful.

The park provided a lot of hike-not-cycle time. In truth I could probably have stuck to the main pathways, but why go around when you can just go up? Albeit on a pretty overgrown pathway. I could enjoy autumn’s arrival, town views, and some fun discoveries. Like a strange open building with a solitary futon. And a man hanging around a car at another nearby building. I had the distinct feeling he lived there. In the car, I mean.

On the way down I found where I would continue on when approaching the actual mountain again. I’ll hope for an actual clear day, instead of the perpetual haze, but let’s not be unrealistic as winter approaches.

Speaking of winter, you can see some of my new Sugoi gear: leggings and arm warmers. I wanted to crack a grammatically incorrect joke at the shop about it being "sugoi takai", but I didn't. That, by the way, is like saying "real expensive" (if you're American and don't know what's wrong with that... that's okay). The kind of thing people say all the time, including during informal interviews for TV, but you might find that the subtitles read "sugoku takai" instead. Well done to those sticklers out there.

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