Archive • Notes from a Dadbear • Buttondown

Day 60: To-ji, Ninna-ji, Jinko-in (from Namba)

Look, you’re probably as surprised as I am to be getting yet another email, but hey: life’s full of surprises. I had thought I had completed my pilgrimage...

Note 1: Jules Lebegue Bordeaux Médoc 2022

[Back in the day, I co-authored a blog called Full Pour along with one of my closest friends Julian Coldrey. He was also part of the Japan 2016 crew; when we...

Day 56: T87 & T88 (from Takamatsu)

I’m going to go to dinner shortly, so this is all there is for right now: I completed the pilgrimage today. Took the train to Nagao, walked to Nagao-ji, T87,...

Day 55: T83-T86 (from Takamatsu)

It’s 1092.8 kilometers from T1 to T88. As of today, I’ve walked just over 1,100 kilometers - in my mind, I’ve already succeeded at what I set out to do. Of...

Day 54: Naoshima-Takamatsu

I woke up this morning after a poor night’s sleep in Naoshima; the island has become wildly inexpensive in the 9 years since I was last year, which meant I...

Day 51: T75-Takamatsu

Before I begin, I should mention that I’ll be in Naoshima for the next two nights - that means no temples, no serious walking, and also no laptop computer as...

Day 50: T71-T75

Here’s a map of what I expect to have actually walked when I finish up a week from tomorrow: My pilgrimage, as walked (tentative) Not too bad! There are five...

Day 49: Kan-onji-T71

No newsletter today - I’m staying at an onsen a few minutes’ walk from Temple 71 and their Wi-Fi is broken. Sorry! Me! Hasta mañana, Chris

Day 48: Ikedacho Sano-Kan-onji

Tonight I’m sleeping in Kagawa prefecture for the first time; I’m in a lovely Japanese-style hotel room, 6 tatami mats in size, but with that extra bit in...

Day 47: Shikokuchuo-Ikedacho Sano

Success! I did in fact have a room reserved for me at Minshuku Okada. It’s as old school as they come, but in very good shape. Comfy! It’s also likely not a...

Day 46: Saijō-Shikokuchuo

Sometimes things just don’t work out; learning to accept that is something most of us (not all of us!) have come to terms with in our lives. Thankfully, I’m...

Day 45: Zero (Saijō)

The view out of my window is more or less the same that it’s been for the past 24 hours: grey. Yesterday it was merely cloudy; today, it’s a little bit...

Day 44: Komatsucho Akao-Saijō

Right! So yesterday’s newsletter didn’t happen for two reasons: no keyboard and virtually no Wi-Fi. The first was by design; the second was because the hotel...

Day 43: Miyoshi-Komatsucho Akao

Not only do I not have my laptop with me tonight, the hotel Wi-Fi isn’t working. So: no newsletter for today, folks! T61

Day 42: Imabari-Miyoshi

Today was one of those odd days that happened only because there’s a massive trade fair in Imabari at the moment; when I had originally planned this trip, I...

Day 41: Hojo-Imabari

Howdy from Towel Town, Japan! Yeah, I know I need to stop calling it that… but no! I can’t! Sorry! Today was a long one: 33.4 km total, the last 3.5 km or so...

Day 40: Dogō-Hojo

I’ll start with the good things: this morning’s breakfast was the best I’ve had on the entire trip - and the overall experience at the ryokan was probably...

Day 39: T46-Dogō Onsen

The weather’s on everyone’s mind. Something seems to have changed; instead of sunny, warm days, days are now cloudy, but no warmer; it doesn’t seem quite...

Day 38: Kumakōgen-T46

Today felt like work. It started raining heavily last night; the island of Kyushu, a bit further south than Shikoku, has declared it the start of the rainy...

Day 37: Matsuyama-Kumakōgen

You’re never going to believe this, but I went down to breakfast this morning and ate the same stuff I ate yesterday, just less of it as last night’s...

Day 36: Zero (Matsuyama)

I was having such a lovely day off that I almost forgot to write stuff down tonight, dang it! So here goes: I woke up, went down to breakfast, and they…...

Day 35: Ōzu-Matsuyama

Well, wouldn’t you know it, but that wasn’t French sparkling wine in the lounge yesterday evening: it was actual honest-to-God Champagne. It’s been a long...

Day 34: T43-Ōzu

I’ve just checked in to a hotel that’s upgraded me to a suite and delivered a bottle of French sparkling wine to my room and I’m also waiting for the...

Howdy from another old-school ryokan, this time in Unomachi, Seiyo City! So old school, in fact, that there is no Wi-Fi. As a result, today’s newsletter will...

Day 32: Tsushima-Uwajima

If you happen to know who Roger Meyer is, then you’ve probably heard of Uwajima, albeit indirectly. And if you haven’t heard of Roger Meyer, that’s an...

Day 31: T40-Tsushima

Before I begin - and I’m going to be honest here, you might want to skip this entry if you’re squeamish - I’d like to take a moment and recommend one of my...

Day 30: Sukumo-T40

According to the canonical route guide published by Buyodo Co., Ltd., I am currently at km 593 of the pilgrimage route; the total distance is 1,137 km. This...

Day 29: Sukumo (T39)

Given yesterday’s events, I woke up in the same hotel I’d meant to check into later on the day, which made today’s walking extra easy as I could just leave...

Day 28: Nakamura-Sukumo

I did not expect to be sleeping in Sukumo tonight. But first: let’s go back a little bit. I don’t have a picture of it, but it helps to understand that I’m...

Day 27: Zero (Nakamura)

Welp, that storm didn’t quite happen, as it turns out. There was some very light rain in the morning and there’s some now as well, in the evening, but it was...

Day 26: Shimoda-Nakamura

For the past couple of days, the weather app on my iPhone - oh wait, one sec, my Apple Watch is vibrating, there’s a Rain Soon alert happening. Heh. Yes,...

Day 25: Ariigawa-Shimoda

I can be a little bit of a traditionalist about some things; one of those is food. Many years ago, I was finally able to score a reservation for the High...

Day 24: T37-Ariigawa

One of the most brain-chewingly confusing things when planning this trip was trying to get place names correct - it’s only over the last couple of days that...

Day 23: Nakatosa-T37

So dinner last night was totally fine if somewhat unremarkable; the cheap, laminated English-language drinks menu set the tone somehow - compared with, say,...

Day 22: B5-Nakatosa

It’s a little after 5 pm as I’m writing today’s entry. I’m sitting on a sort-of-Western chair at a table that is still too low for me to get my knees etc....

I woke up super early this morning and was surprised to see that it was already getting light outside even though it wasn’t quite 5 am. Dawn’s rosy fingers...

Day 20: T34-T36

Before I continue, I’ll just note that although I’m staying at another onsen tonight, not only was their virtually no one at dinner tonight, no one was...

Day 19: Kochi - T34

Dang it, I slept like hell last night. For the first night since leaving home, I managed to have a hotel-neighbor who would get up and crash into things...

Day 18: Zero (Kochi)

Dinner last night was at an extremely popular gyoza-and-ramen stand; it was a medium-long wait to get in and the Belgian cub and I had to eat standing up,...

Day 17: T31-T32-T33 (from Kochi)

I slept well last night and woke up just before breakfast time - a first for this trip! There are six possible breakfasts on offer at the hotel, one of which...

Day 16: T28-T29-T30 (from Kochi)

It’s late, well after dinner, and I’m exhausted, so please forgive the quality of this post… I started the day off by heading down to breakfast; a couple...

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...