Today, we took a bus from Nagano up into the mountains - to an area that is ski country in winter, and full of people enjoying Forests in summer. I've read about the concept of Forest Bathing in Japan - it is, indeed, a Thing: more than hiking, one goes into the magnificent and very green woods to breathe deeply, walk, breathe again, and meditate. (also: to reflect on the fact that if we'd known that we would be doing this today, we wouldn't have sent our hiking boots on to Tokyo via Japan's amazing luggage forwarding service: the big bags were in our rooms when we got here).
There were shrines to be reached through the long avenues.
There was also much lichen, and I learned that lichen-covered tree trunks are very propitious places in which to build little personal shrines (I've also been reading about lichen disappearance in Japan due to the increase of carbon dioxide in the air, though ... yes - research has been quietly happening ...).
It rained.
This man was anxious to close down his dumpling stand after we'd bought his last two offerings - though only three of our number were interested in them: Clare and I were busy eating bamboo flavored ice cream.
Here are some (damp) pilgrims, wearing pilgrim hats (and yes - that is a Beware of Bears sign. I didn't know they had bears here).
And this was also an area for secret Ninja training camps...
(and now we're back in Tokyo, on the 50th floor of the city's tallest building ... there would be a view if we weren't in a cloud).
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