A Japan Travel Recommendation

If you’re looking to try something different for a vacation in Japan, you could do worse than a 5-day off-the-beaten-track walking tour up the mountains near and around the Kunisaki Peninsula (just a couple of hours by train from Fukuoka)

Famed British artist Antony Gormley’s lifesize sculpture “Another Time XX” watches over this magnificent view of the Kunisata valley and countryside. Scrambling down to stand beside it on the ridge was the prize of one of our 2-hour uphill hikes.

There are quite a few different walking tours offered by Walk Japan. We chose the Kunisaki-Yufuin Walk, a 5-day, 4-night tour that “provides an introduction to Kunisaki Peninsula, one of Japan’s most beautiful yet least known areas, and nearby Yufuin, one of Japan’s elegant onsen thermal hot spring resorts. Our route follows in the footsteps of monks, who have walked the mountains of the peninsula for over 1,200 years. Any experienced trekker will thoroughly enjoy the ancient trails, which provide excellent walking through sleepy hamlets and verdant forests, along craggy ridges towering over the myriad surrounding valleys. En route we pass many stone Buddha statues, large and small, and sometimes caves where monks once found shelter and meditated. As with all our tours, on the Kunisaki and Yufuin Walk you will be immersed in Japanese culture of the past and present, enjoy Japanese cooking at its best, luxuriate in hot springs and simply gaze at the beautiful scenery. All this, of course, is with the expert guidance of your Walk Japan tour leader.”

Sure enough, our tour was defined by great daily 45-minute to 2-hour hikes, sometimes twice a day, through lush forests, rice paddies and magnificent vistas capped by sumptuous local cuisine and onsen baths.

My favorite part came on Day 3.

Led by Kunitaro, our guest guide for one of our hikes, we trekked for about 45 minutes through forest trails in the mountains and valleys of the Oita prefecture until we reached the home of his 81-year old mother, Ecchan.

Kunitaro, a former lawyer, returned a few years ago to this childhood home to stay with Ecchan after his father, Ecchan’s husband, passed away.

Together, mother and son own and manage a shiitake farm, and 90 rice paddies. Oita is well known particularly for shiitake cultivation dating back to the 17th century.

The distinctive taste of shiitake mushrooms comes from their cultivation on stumps of Japanese chestnut oak. Production is dependent on many factors, but especially the weather. On a good year, the farm yields a ton of shiitake which he said takes two rainy seasons to harvest.

Ecchan is a slight and funny lady who enjoys entertaining and talking with the hiker tourists that Walk Japan brings to her humble and cozy home every so often.

Naturally curious and friendly, she asked each of us what we did, smiling and commenting after each answer, as Diane, our lead guide on this 5-day walking tour, translated. Ecchan opened up easily as she shared stories from her past and present.

For example, she shared that she was helping her husband cut wood many years back, when the axe’s blade unfortunately struck her just below her left knee. She said that the accident was not her husband’s fault but hers, as she reenacted and showed us how she had inadvertently placed her leg along the swing arc of the axe.

So they tied a torniquet up her thigh and rushed her to the hospital. She had to stay on a wheelchair for months after, but she recovered nearly fully. Today, she walks with a slight limp which I would not have noticed if she had not shared that story. I should also say that she recounts it all without any tinge of irony or blame, only smiles and laughter.

There were pictures all around the house. One was an old photo of her husband’s family. Her husband is hiding, as yet unborn, inside his mom, the pregnant lady, second from the right. Ecchan and her husband sired three children, and they have two grandchildren who visit once a year.

It was a simple, fun and relaxed morning. She served us tea and biscuits, and best of all, a slice of rural life in modern Japan, which is what I will remember most.

I suppose this tour is not for everyone. Curiosity and openness to new friendships, unknown paths, and unfamiliar cuisine is a must. But, as trips to do something fun while learning something new about Japan go, one can hardly ask for anything more.