Well, long time no news from me. Spend almost one month on the Shikoku Henro Pilgrimage. I started the pilgrimage on October, 5th in Naruto, and reached Mount Koya back in Wakayama, Honshu on October 31st. At first, it was curiosity of what would happen, a and a good portion of interest in Shingon Buddhism, to which Reiki Healing is closely related. Hunting one temple after the other by bicycle seemed fun for a while. On the first day, I did 10 temples, that were rather close to each [View Full Entry]

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Nara Two nights and one rainy day in Nara, final inspection of the wounds by a doctor. Wounds were getting much better he says. A Japanese backpacker tells me about some very very old shrines some 20, 30 kilomters away from Nara. Heartland... No tourists here, but spirits of ancient times. Wakayama After this daytrip tour, I felt well enough to cycle again bigger tours. I decided to skip Ise (1xx kilometres east of Nara) and take a route directly into the mountains. After a few hours cycling industrial areas and getting lost with inappropriate maps, I'm climbing mointain [View Full Entry]

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Takayama After the great time in Kamikochi in the Japanese Alps, my Japanese friend and I cycled together to Takayama. On the way, we had to climb a pass with 1800m at its highest point. My friend carried about 25 kg of luggage, and rode a racing bike with barely any gears for such roads, but he managed well... Way down it was easy living, we stopped by in some ancient viallge with public outdoor foot Onsen (that is volcanic water directly from Mother Earth, quite hot and somewhat smelly. Reaching Takayama which is also called Little Kyoto for its traditional [View Full Entry]

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After a great night of camping at the riverside nearby Matsumoto, initially I wanted to cycle straight to Takayama (Gifu Prefecture). The road led me all the way up into the Northern Japanese Alps, with breathtaking views to the mountains, the forests and the river underneath. A couple of tunnels scared me at first with the bike, however after the 10th I sort of got used to the narrow roads and the noise in there. At least, there was only little traffic. Taking a break on the way there with a wonderfull free of charge foot onsen I came to talk [View Full Entry]

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The day after the taifun, I reassembled my bicycle and drove off Tokyo, passing by the Imperial Palace and Shinjuku. A policeman tells me which road to take to Kawaguchiko from　Shinjuku. I can hear zikades everywhere where some garden is. Other then that, the city seems to be endless. Every once in a while, I stop by at some Convenience store to refill drinks and food and ask whether I am still on the right track. When I reach Takao, I am finally off the city and its suburbs. Nice steep mountains surround the place, and there is a hugh famous [View Full Entry]

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We are leaving Kawaguchiko station with the first bus going to Mt. Fuji 5th Station at 9:40AM. It's already quite late since the regular season is just over (ends on August 31st). For the same reason, the last bus leaves rather early too, so we cannot go up and return on the same day, which means we have to stay on the mountain. Weather and mood are good, so we start to climb up aby 11AM. The trail starts gently and there are many many mostly young Japanese people on the track. After about one hour we have a first rest, [View Full Entry]

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This is where freedom begins (once again) . I booked a one way flight from Frankfurt (Germany) to Tokyo (Japan) for August, 29th. The idea is to travel by bike from Sapporo down to Nagasaki. Currently, I'm clearing my flat, sell my belongings and fine tune the equipment for the journey. As well, I'm training on riding the bike with luggage. [View Full Entry]

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