After exploring the Russian Village I headed for Kitakata for Onsens, Ramen and a new couchsurfing host. I had spent a bit too much time at the Russian Village and had to camp half way. I found a quite corner of a rice paddy (Tomba) and pitched in the dark. At 5 I was woken by some cow frogs, whose call sounds like a fog horn. Around 5:30 the farmer showed up and after establishing I was only there for the night, he was cool. I then rode on, crossing bridges and cruizing through small villages. Beautiful scenery, with lush forest, powerful rivers and snow-capped mountains in the distance. I stop off for some lunch and check my email. My couchsurfing deal has fallen through, but the two American English teacher I was going to stay with plan to take me to a ramen den for food. I’m more relieved than anything else, as depending on hosts for shelter would negate the need of a tent and waste a great deal of excess luggage money.
Subarashi - Wonderful
I arrive in Kitakata around 3 and find myself a sento to have a shower at and soak the day’s 60km of riding out of bones. The one I’m directed to by the tour office is hidden above some shops and is run by an old lady, who closely resembles Yoda. I walk in and she’s sitting on a cushion watching a Japanese samurai soapie. After a little confusion and walking the wrong way I discover that the change room is right there in front of the old lady. Hmmm.. As I remove each item of clothing, I look around to get her approval, making sure that I was indeed in the right place. When I got to my undies, I didn’t turn around out of slight embarrassment, but as I got to the door of the hot bath, I realised that the old lady was the keeper of the soap. With a strategically placed modesty towel, I returned to the front desk and got my soap.
Sordid Sento - this is where I left my shoes.. and dignity
After the bath I met up with the Americans and went for ramen. Very tasty stuff. The pork fat was particularly good. Apparently Kitakata is the Ramen capital of Japan and the one I had was a pretty good example. After that we said goodbyes and I headed for the outskirts of town to find a place to camp. I found an apple orchid and pitched for the night.
In the morning, I got up early to avoid any trouble with the farmer. While packing up the tent, the orchid owner drove up and started asking some questions. I fumbled through apologising for staying on his land, which he didn’t seem phased with. He started asking me about where I was from and what I was doing in Japan. After explaining what I was doing, he invited me back to his house for breakfast. We dumped my bike and trailer in the back of his truck and headed home. There was a brief minute of paranoia where I thought he was taking me to the police station, but I trusted his friendly We ate and fumbled through a few conversations about travel, Australia and Japan. He then talked me through the history of his farm, and how his family had been there since 1848. He got out the deeds to the farm, which had been drawn up in 1858.
Sinsuke Inomata (69) and the deeds to his house.
After breakfast, he drove me and my stuff to the town plaza, which I’m guessing is the grounds to the town’s council. Just as he pulled away, a woman I got direction from yesterday came running over, saying “No cam-o-jo. No camp-o-jo”. I think she guessed I was trying to pitch my tent in the car park. Once I had established that I was packing my trailer and not unpacking it, she was cool. As she walked away, a car pulled up and a woman from the centre plaza I had said hello to the night before got out of the car. Her English was better and she managed to say that the local radio station wanted me to come in. News travels fast in the small town. Before I knew it, I was sitting in the studios at Kitakata FM explaining my trip on air, while the announcer (who spoke enough English to ask me the questions), translated my responses. After the interview, the woman from the local council (who I had now established as the local arts festival manager), appeared again, thanking me for the interview. The president of the radio station came into the room beaming and invited us all out for lunch. A very tasty Katsudon and ice cream.
Local arts festival director Naoko Shinoda, me and Niigata FM DJ Satomi Hanzawa.
Hear the radio program here: LINK
What a surreal day.
Right now it’s pissing down with rain, so I’m sitting in the radio station, processing the photos from the last couple of days. The current DJ has played nothing but the Bee Gees and the Seekers for the last hour and I have entertained the staff with my impromptu Saturday Night Fever disco dancing. The pics from the Russian Village are up. Once the rain stops, I’m off to the next town, Hibara-ko.
