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I did this for two weeks back last spring. Walking and hitchhiking, camping in my tent on mountain tops and road stations. Best thing I've done in Japan I think

I did this for two weeks back last spring. Walking and hitchhiking, camping in my tent on mountain tops and road stations. Best thing I've done in Japan I think. But be prepared if you set out to do this - the mountains don't lend themselves to camping that well and sometimes it actually takes a couple of hours to find a place to put up a tent in a safe way. You should also have some grasp of Japanese culture and preferably the language first - don't be the (in their eyes) ignorant and disrespectful foreigner who comes and abuses the opportunity. Camping in public areas is not really commonplace in Japan, so you want to be discrete and low-key about it. And yes, Koya-san is awesome in the true sense of the word. You can get lost there, place is yuge. It's got the best graves.

GuiA 10y ago
> You should also have some grasp of Japanese culture and preferably the language first - don't be the (in their eyes) ignorant and disrespectful foreigner who comes and abuses the opportunity. Every time I traveled in the past, I felt extremely self conscious. Like I was but a consumer, experiencing only the most superficial things, greedily taking what a place has to offer without giving anything back. So now I've been using all of my vacation days to go to the same country (Japan), slowly learning the language and culture, making long term friends, frequenting the same small local shops (staff recognize some me at a few places now), etc. It's been a very rewarding experience so far - it feels much deeper than any of the tourism I did in the past. I'll probably move there at some point. Not really a point to my post, maybe some people would find going to the same place over and over again terribly boring - but thought I'd share.
- cmod 10y ago
  Absolutely agree — this is why I keep going back to Kumano. Japan has Nakasendo, Tokaido, the Shikoku pilgrimage, salt roads, Basho's backroads to the north, the paths of Dewasanzan, etc etc etc. It's nearly infinite. I figured if I spend ten years walking Kumano I might have the slightly chance of possibly understanding a small piece of it.
cmod 10y ago
(Co-creator here) — Thanks for the comment. I've hiked these trails over and over and each time I've wondered about camping. I figured being discrete was key. Might give it a go with an ultralight tent or bivy sack this spring.

GuiA 10y ago

> You should also have some grasp of Japanese culture and preferably the language first - don't be the (in their eyes) ignorant and disrespectful foreigner who comes and abuses the opportunity. Every time I traveled in the past, I felt extremely self conscious. Like I was but a consumer, experiencing only the most superficial things, greedily taking what a place has to offer without giving anything back. So now I've been using all of my vacation days to go to the same country (Japan), slowly learning the language and culture, making long term friends, frequenting the same small local shops (staff recognize some me at a few places now), etc. It's been a very rewarding experience so far - it feels much deeper than any of the tourism I did in the past. I'll probably move there at some point. Not really a point to my post, maybe some people would find going to the same place over and over again terribly boring - but thought I'd share.

cmod 10y ago
Absolutely agree — this is why I keep going back to Kumano. Japan has Nakasendo, Tokaido, the Shikoku pilgrimage, salt roads, Basho's backroads to the north, the paths of Dewasanzan, etc etc etc. It's nearly infinite. I figured if I spend ten years walking Kumano I might have the slightly chance of possibly understanding a small piece of it.

cmod 10y ago

(Co-creator here) — Thanks for the comment. I've hiked these trails over and over and each time I've wondered about camping. I figured being discrete was key. Might give it a go with an ultralight tent or bivy sack this spring.