Minakami
My journey from Seoul to Minakami was the most stressful of my trip to date. Nothing major went wrong, but it felt like every possible tiny annoying thing did. As I left my hostel at just before 5 in the morning I was stopped by two men who wanted to follow me to the subway, which I had to very uncomfortably admit made me uncomfortable and sort of run away. When I actually got to the station I went through the wrong gate, and because there is no staff on duty I had to get a new ticket. Which I was just short the won for. So I had to with draw money from the ATM, where the smallest possible withdrawal was still twice the entire price of the ticket. I finally made it to the airport, an hour train ride later, running late and mildly irritated, only to get to the desk and have proof of a ticket home demanded of me by tiny Korean ladies who barely spoke English. This took forever as I didn’t have a hard copy and the Incheon Airport wifi moves at the pace of a snail on anxiety medication. When I finally got to security, they took away my peanut butter, which had survived every china-related flight. I speed-walked to my gate, stepping straight off the escalator and into the boarding line for my plane.
When I got into Tokyo, seems started off much smoother, with a very quick stop in immigration and extremely helpful train ladies to get me on my way. My first of three trains even went quite well, but on my second train things deteriorated again a little bit. I was on the right line, but I had managed to get on one of the trains that didn’t go all the way to the end, which was the station I needed, so I had to get off and transfer to a new train, making my train total for that day a very respectable 5. When I got to Takasaki, I just said “Minakami” pitifully to the attendant and he pointed to the right track. I got on the train and waited for the station I wanted to come up. I got to the station, I had made it! Except there was still a 1 mile walk to my hostel. Uphill.
I got to my hostel, and was greeted by the most welcoming and accommodating host of all time. That evening he took me and the other guests to an onsen, a traditional Japanese hot spring, and to see the rare Japanese fireflies which I was extremely lucky to see as they only come out one week a year. Then when we got back to the hostel, a giant plate of both cucumber and tuna sushi was laid out in front of me. It was delicious, and a great way to end one of the most mixed days of my trip.
My next day was much less exciting- the highlight was my ride on a cable car with the stupendous views Minakami is famous for and then I went on a little hike. In the evening my gracious host took me to a different onsen, and then fed me some homemade tempera. A calm and lovely day.