Archive • Notes from a Dadbear • Buttondown

Day 15: Zero (Kochi)

Breakfast was very fine this morning; I went with the default option, seared bonito, and wasn’t disappointed. This is the first ‘real’ hotel I’ve stayed at...

Day 14: Cape Muroto - Kochi

Amazingly, I slept reasonably well on the thinnest futon I’ve ever experienced - and the threadbare sheets and the tiny buckwheat shell pillow didn’t make it...

Day 13: Ozaki Beach - Cape Muroto

So, I did some research after dinner last night - and I’m pleased to say that things went surprisingly well today. After yet another delicious, filling...

Day 12: Shishikui - Ozaki Beach

Oof, a long, nearly flat walk alongside the Pacific, 98% on a very narrow shoulder on a two-lane public highway… 24 km, South to North I’ll start with the...

Day 11: Mugi-Shishikui

I didn’t see David the Englishman at dinner last night, so I sent him a picture of me taken at another table in the restaurant - a family was sitting down to...

Day 10: T23-Mugi

Much to my amusement, the pub at the hostel last night had the exact same whisky that I bought at Costco on my last day of work in San Diego as a special...

Last night’s dinner was better than average - and I had more than one drink for the first time in a couple of weeks, so I was feeling plenty toasty by the...

Day 8: Katsuura-T21

Last night’s dinner was ho-hum; I arrived later than the rest of the guests and was seated at the end of the table, which was (not unusually for Japan) too...

Day 7: Komatsushima-Katsuura

Today was off to a good start: no wait for the elevator from the 8th (top!) floor down to the breakfast area, which was jam-packed with all kinds of tasty...

Note 0: Bartlebooth

So, Chris: Why are you doing this walk? you might ask; in response, I might say something like this… My junior year of college I was an exchange student for...

Day 6: T16-Komatsushima

One of the constraints I set myself when planning this trip was simple: no help, no tourist agents, no asking Facebook groups, and only online bookings....

Day 5: Kamiyama-T16

I’m writing this later than usual for me tonight as my informal walking buddy David asked tonight’s ryokan to serve dinner at 18h00 - I’d not met him before...

Day 4: Kamojima to just after T12

Eh, I’m going to mess with the numbering again - sorry! This was the 4th day of walking, so it’s day 4. Woke up after the first full night’s sleep since...

Day 4: T6 to Kamojima

Caution: Dramatic Communication Ahead Dear reader: I made a mistake. I thought it would be fine to switch backpacks and boots from my good, time-tested,...

Apologies for the shorthand, but I think of most days as going from place A to place B - in today’s case, temple no. 1 to temple no.6. They do have names in...

Day 2: HND-TKS, Tokushima, Bandō, T1

It’s 20 minutes before dinner here in Bandō, which is about 20 minutes from Tokushima station. It’s late (for me), I’m tired, I have a blister to attend to...

There’s a 6 hour time difference between Japan and California at the moment; I woke up in the middle of the night, took 1 mg of melatonin and some Tylenol...

Day 0: Palm Springs to Tokyo

Having spent the previous weekend at Western Xposure, I was exhausted when I went to bed the night before; I woke up too early, made tea, ate some toast...