Snow on Hokkaido
Japan, Asia, 2008
If the winter is too cold and the summer is too hot,
you are not a hiker.
— A Bitter Hiker
It’s not that I did not want to go to Japan, but when I decided to explore another country on the way to New Zealand, I really felt like going to South Korea. I had already bought the guidebook, and was going through the hiking options, when the travel agency called me a third time about my flights with Korean Air. The airline had now insisted I’d have to pay substantially more for my ticket, since I would be spending four weeks in the country. I was done with Korean Air.
‘This no longer feels good to me’, I told the travel agent and asked her to look into other options. I did not feel an instant connection to Japan, but I definitely felt curious, and there seemed to be plenty of hiking trails to explore. So many, that I had a hard time choosing. The realization that I would not be able to read any of the signs on the trails, left me with doubts if it would be a good idea to go hiking. I was taking my hiking equipment to New Zealand anyway, and about a week before leaving for Japan I started exploring the options of going hiking with local guides.
“Monique, I’ll pick you up at the Sapporo subway station tomorrow morning”, Leon tells me over the phone. Over the course of several days we had emailed back and forth many times about the hiking options on Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island.
In the early morning I leave the hostel and walk to the subway station. Thanks to the help of some friendly Japanese I manage to buy a ticket, get on the right train, and get out at the right stop. Slightly tense I am waiting outside. I had found Leon’s name and contact details on the internet, but I don’t know him, and I am a woman traveling alone. A sense of vulnerability, intensified by jetlag and only two hours of sleep, grabs a hold of me. A car stops in the empty street. A man gets out and walks towards me. An odd hat rests on his head, he is wearing thermal underwear and shorts; I have no doubt, the man walking in my direction on wooden shoes must be Leon.