Onwards?

I’ve been trying to write plenty of travel tips recently but haven’t actually said much about where I've been the last few weeks. So, life update. Where to start...

After a quick stop in Osaka I hopped a flight down to Fukuoka for my next Workaway. Coming here’s another reminder of just how LONG Japan is. I think from Iwanai to Fukuoka is about the same distance as going through both Koreas, plus a bit of China, and I haven't even gone near the furthest tips. Down here it's way more tropical, this time of year it feels a bit more Mediterranean. Apparently the Iwanai house is already two feet deep in snow so my last few days when I head north again are going to be chilly. What's got two thumbs and forgot to pack gloves? This guy right here.

I’ve not actually been staying in Fukuoka city but up on the coast past a town called Itoshima. The Workaway’s pretty decent - this guy from the Lake District bought a house and wants to turn the surrounding land into a ‘proper English garden’. When I arrived half of the terraces were still covered in shoulder-high weeds so the main job is strimming, clearing, cutting back. I like this kind of work - I get a lot of time to catch up with podcasts and you can see exactly how much ground you've covered day by day, and any the pent-up travel aggression gets taken out on the weeds and roots. Plus we’ve got three of the friendliest kittens I’ve ever met to entertain me in the evening, although one of them seems intent on getting under my duvet every morning and trying to bite my nipples. Maybe it's a Japanese thing. Around here the lifestyle's all about cafe culture and surf crews, long sandy beaches and good coast roads for the bikers. It's the kind of place you drive the family up to on a sunny afternoon. Take the kids for a scamper on the beach, grab a coffee and some cake and then head back inland. It's nice, everyone loves a sunset photo for the album don't they?

I’m still slightly getting used to backpack life. This is by far the longest I’ve ever been away from the UK. In London I always surrounded myself with a lot of ‘bits’, DVDs and books and whatever, but there’s something quite therapeutic about only having what you can carry with you. Not that I'm roughing it - I’m learning that I could easily have ditched some clothes before I flew out. I found a pair of shorts the other day that I’d forgotten I even had. But hey, life lessons. The one thing that’s quite tough is getting out of the holiday mindset. If you’re on holiday for a week or two off a day job I think there’s usually the need to go and fill every day, even if it’s planned chill out time. But if you’re away mid/long term there’s not really any pressure - if the weather’s shit then what does it matter? You can take the day just to read, watch, whatever. It took me a little while to get that 'Must Explore' pressure out of the back of my head.

I’m jumping about in chronology a bit. At the time of writing I’ve actually been in Itoshima for two weeks, left for a few days and come back again. The Workaway’s great and seeing the garden slowly emerge is a nice stamp: "I did that". But I was getting a bit frustrated. Outside of work hours there really isn’t much to do in Itoshima except walk to the beach, maybe get a coffee, do one of the hiking trails if you can find them. I know that doesn’t sound bad but I’ve been in a lot of rural areas on this trip, seen a lot of great countryside but not actually met that many Japanese people! I’m trying to learn the language but you only really use please and thankyou in shops, or you might ask what something is on a really ballsy day. It's hardly deep and meaningful cultural exchange. So I thought a city Workaway would make a nice change, and Hiroshima’s only a four hour bus ride away. I could write a lot about Hiroshima, maybe I’ll do another quick tourist guide, it’s a very interesting city. Like most Japanese towns it’s clean, easy to get around, loads of good places to eat. But obviously it’s a city known for one thing, so in the centre there’s this little cluster of atomic memorials. It’s an extremely affecting place.

I headed up to work in a little guesthouse for two weeks and… it was a bit of a letdown. My whole reasoning was that in the city I’d meet more people, maybe cross paths with some more travelers, but it didn’t really happen. Don’t get me wrong, everyone in the guesthouse was really lovely and friendly, a proper mattress after a few weeks on tatami mats was amazing and the work was a piece of piss. But it was one British guy and then a group of about seven Taiwanese/Japanese girls. I gave it 48 hours, made an active effort to hang out in the social areas but hardly anyone spoke to me. Maybe I could have tried harder with practicing the language but the few other travelers I saw in the guesthouse were on their own schedules, not stopping long enough to hang out.

So a choice, a bit of uncertainty for the first time in the three months since I got here. Stay in a place where there's more to see and the possibility of the odd chat with someone else on a similar trip, but where I could go mental with isolation and will also rinse my money. Or. Head back to a quiet area where I won't meet any locals but I can at least talk to the people I'm living with.

Now I’m back in Itoshima. It feels weird and nice at the same time. I hadn’t planned on doing any double-backs on this trip but at least here I know what the setup is and what work that needs doing. Now I’m here I can just enjoy the surroundings (and omnipresent stack o' cats) knowing that in a little over a week I’ve got Tokyo coming up, which I’m pretty sure will be all the flashing lights and city noise I could ever want. Still, there's a backpacker life lesson - there's no shame in turning back if something didn't work out.

I don’t regret it, I’m really glad I saw Hiroshima and Miyajima Island, got a fix of city life, tried some of the best okonomiyaki in Japan and had an evening to go to the cinema to see Justice League. Not the best movie but it’s nice to do something ‘normal’. Just over three months down. Three weeks today I’ll be back in the UK. Four weeks today I'll already be on the Christmas Comedown. Shit! Time flies.

#travel #japan #Workaway #iwanai #hokkaido #japanese #apps #izu #kofu