Hiking Mt. Nijo (二上山)

Japan

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June, 2 nd 2019

Deep green. Yesterday I was invited at a dinner party at Sayaka’s place, where I also met Yoshi and Tomal. Together with her flatmates and other friends we spent a nice evening with delicious food and wine. At some point somebody had the idea to finish the Sake from Yoshi’s company we opened at the Hanami picnic some weeks ago. Then things went out of control. In the end Yoshi, Tomal and me ended up altogether on my bicycle riding through the night until the bicycle unbalanced and Yoshi lost her phone. We searched for a long time and even lost each other, but the phone remained lost. It was late in the night when I arrived home and just fell into my bed. I woke up with a bad hangover and it was hard to get myself ready for hiking. I walked to Tennōji Station and after breathing some fresh air I felt slightly better. I was looking the whole week forward to meet Flo, a friend I met in Tokyo after I just arrived in Japan before I started cycling. He introduced me a little bit into Japanese life and we spent a nice evening. After a few months stopover back in Germany he just moved to Nara and we became neighbours. This was the perfect example how unexpected things can run. Sayaka showed up and even Tomal and Yoshi managed to come. I was very happy, it has been since our Golden Week trip that we were together on the trail. We took the train to Nijozan Station and when we wanted to start hiking I realized, that I publish the wrong train station for today’s trail and had no idea how this could happen. I wondered, but since we just dropped off only one station earlier and there were many trails guiding to Nijozan, it didn’t matter. After a few hundred meters Yoshi and Tomal realised, that they had no lunch and were searching for a Konbini. Typically countryside the next Konbini was a little bit far away and since Flo and his friend also had no lunch we first hiked to the Konbini. Finally on the trail we entered a forest and started slightly climbing up. It was a light Harry Potter like forest and inside it was way cooler than in the village. This place must be very enjoyable during summer. Climbing up to the summit was challenging today and all of us suffered a lot. Hungry and sweaty we arrived at the summit, where a group of around thirty people took their lunch while children were running and playing around. It was very busy and the summit itself was a little bit disappointing. It was surrounded by trees and we couldn’t see anything. But the trees must offer a nice shady place for picnic during summer. Today’s sky was grey and when we sat down to have lunch it started raining. The local people disappeared. We enjoyed our lunch and the break until it went cold due to all the sweat. With new energy we went back on the trail which finally offered us a nice view of Nara’s deep green mountains. The sky was grey and kind of foggy, which was a pity. Usually we enjoy at least one amazing view per hike. We went deeper into the forest and the trail changed again. Ayaka compared it with the forest in Myazaki’s movie “Princess Mononoke” (one of my favourite movies) and I agreed. The forest was like a roof, we could hear the rain, but it didn’t touched our skin. This sound of the rain and the big water drops of the deep green plants created a very special and fairy tale like atmosphere. For me this deep fresh green was just unbelievable. It was amazing beautiful. This forest in this condition was pure refreshness. I could feel how it charged my batteries of happiness, which went very weak during the week working in the lab. Soon we arrived at today’s second summit, Mt. Medake, on its top we found a sun clock and an amazing place for picnic. Again we couldn’t enjoy the view, due to the foggy grey sky which didn’t allow a view in the distance. We continued and the trail became wilder. I was a little bit worried, since I wasn’t up for falling into an adventure today. When I created this trail I had the party in mind and tried to create an easy trail without any trouble. Luckily it worked out very well. Sometimes it seemed we entered a jungle, but the trail still was in a good condition. It was obvious how the local people took care for the trails in these mountains. There were many small viewpoints with self made benches and other cute self made furnitures. Also there were many signs. So lovely. The trail merged into a small road in a public park and soon we walked through the village. I really enjoy walking through villages in the countryside. For me this is the real Japan, the Japan I fell in love so much. When we arrived at the train station, the train just arrived and took us back to Ōsaka. Flo stayed in Nara while the rest of us went together for dinner in Tennōji. Yoshi went to the local police because they might found her phone and during dinner we got the message she got it back. Happy end.