Halloween, Misaki, Mt. Ishizuchi

Before I forget, I have to recap upon my awesome three day weekend. I regret not writing it sooner as specifics were much clearer last week. Oh well.

Anyway, it all started with the Halloween event Jessamine was hosting. It was held at the community center at our town, right across from city hall. It was a wonderful experience as I helped transform several mundane conference rooms into three different trick-or-treat stations. In the first station we had children go through a "maze" that we cleverly created through our ingenious placement of chairs and tables. To add a little fazaz to the room, we strung balloons and placed all sorts of halloween affiliated items and bright objects across the room. In the end of the maze, there was a white board picture of Charlie Brown and Snoopy to congratulate the children for a job well done while offering a handful of candy for their troubles. The next room, which got slightly more creepy, we placed jack-o-latern looking bags all over the room. As the children continued their journey, they came across a pirate which we made out of newspapers, old clothes and a balloon. Even further, the rooms got darker as there were toomstones covered in spider webs and deviant messages warning the children to "turn around" or else they'd be "killed" or "eaten". The final room, the room I was responsible for, was the haunted house room. We strung a huge black net from the entrance to the other corner of the room. With the aid of cotton balls and rubber spiders, we made a creepy spider web. Laid across the room were all sorts of halloween stuff and my creation, sitting in the corner of the room. Like the pirate she was made out old clothes and newspapers; however, I took the liberty to give her a pair of D-cups and provide her bald balloon head with loads of beautiful stringy hair. There was something unsettling about her. We also strung ghosts across the room which were made into similar fashion with a balloon and sheet. As we tied the string around the "necks" of these ghosts, they looked like ghosts with nooses. To add to the eerie effect, we played halloween "music" containing a series of sounds- werewolfs, monsters, wind, etc. In addition, I had one of my middle schoolers come in, put on a rainbow colored wig and scare the children. Finally, dressed in a skeleton mask and a warlock cape, I scared the children behind the cardboard wall. We were scary for some children and regretably, we made some children cry...in fact, some of the older siblings of such children weren't too thrilled as they often kicked me in the shins as they grabbed at the candy I was dishing out. Poor poor elementary school students. We also had pumpkin carving as I helped my group (the Princesses) stab knives into poor pumpkins. They did an awesome job making jackolaterns. The event was awesome and I would love to do something like that again...if only it ended nicely. As I was got into my car to go home, my door flung open and scratched the neighboring car. Shortly thereafter, the alarm of that very expensive car went off and the owners, who happened to be across the street, came running over to lecture me about how people in Japan don't do stuff like that. I felt bad for the lady but it was just my luck. I suppose it's karma for scarying little children.

That halloween event was on thursday and friday. On saturday I was looking to sleep in and bum it all day. Instead I got a phone call from my friend Alain as he and my other friend Mei were coming around my house in 10 minutes. So much for sleeping in. They were off to Misaki to see the famed lighthouse at the most western point of Shikoku. I had always wanted to go and so they convinced me to run back into the house and join them on their journey to the end of the earth: Misaki-cho aka Mordore. And so we quickly grabbed a bento from Lawsons and we were off. Mei was jetting it all the way over- it seemed like she was enjoying the curves of the mountain a little too much. It always amazes me how fast people drive out here in the countryside, seeing that it is so narrow. An hour or so later we made it to the parking lot of the lighthouse. As we hiked, my friends and I made a very astute observation: all the young women making the hike wore shoes with huge heels and wore clothing more fitting for a date to the movies. Guess the lighthouse is a nice date spot but it seems rather irrational to hike in heels. Japanese ladies know how to work it I guess. After a series of very managable switchbacks we made it to the lighthouse. The structure wasn't too impressive but at least now I can say I went. The hike was a nice warm up for Mt. Ishizuchi which followed the next day.

On Sunday night, I drove my car to Yawatahama train station and began a journey to the north. The destination: Imabari. My friend Heidi convinced me to come out to the mountains with her friend, Hiro. And so I made it out to Heidi's and survived the evening in her real cold apartment. She's from Canada so I suppose she's used to the cold but I suffered dearly throughout the night. The next day we made an early exit to Saijo to meet Hiro. When I first met Hiro he wasn't anything like I pictured...he was in his mid 50s. But as the day progressed, I grew to respect the man as his youthful energy and love for the outdoors transcended to both Heidi and I. As we set off hiking, I had thought mt. Ishizuchi was going to be a sinch. The sign said 4km, distance wise I thought nothing of it. As we made our assent, Hiro was taking making pictures of the beautiful landscape and floral all across the mountain. At one point, the trails turned into perfect walkways with wooden stairs...with the perfectly placed rock and flowers up the hill, I felt as if I was going up a well kept garden. Little did I know, there were going to be more challenges as we made our way up.

As Hiro and Heidi took pictures of moss, leaves and flowers, I aimed my camera phone on the magnificent landscape and rock faces in the distance. I've climbed mountains in Tibet and I suppose the lack of vegetation on those hikes have made me more appreciative of non vegetated, behemoth rocks and streams and rivers. However, I hope in future hikes with Hiro and Heidi I become to appreciate the vegetation. As we made it to the first check point, there was an archway representing the gateway towards Ishizuchi. As we went up, Heidi told me we were about to approach the chain rope course. I got excited because I anticipated a challenge. At first glance the course didn't look too difficult; you climb rocks, hold onto a chain and metal cord to support and you make your way up. As the climb got more vertical and the placement of rock became less friendly, I began to curse my previous judgement. Hiro kept reminding me that I better start relying upon the chains for foot placement and I, like a cocky youngster, kept trying to make my climb harder by climbing on the rocks. By the time I realized I could no longer keep up my antics, I started freaking out: I had to put my feet inside these triangle shaped metals if I were to get up this wall/hill. As we got higher, there was more condensation on the metal, making it more slippery and dangerous to climb. I looked down a couple of times and realized that a foolish and rash decision on this climb could result in an unfortunate end. By the 2nd stage of the metal chains, the climb became alot more vertical and I became more reliant on the chains. After awhile, I began to curse every step and follow it up with a prayer. I began to pray more than curse as I steadily went up. In fact, at one point I was foolish enough to doubt my endeavor, "what if I fell? This IS getting harder, what if I don't make it?" At one point I stopped, looked down, and realized that even if I wanted to come down, the laws of gravity would be working against me. So I had to slap some sense into myself...like a schizophreniac I began talking to myself, telling myself to frantically "stop being a bitch and climb this shit. no time to doubt yourself now, it does you no good...it'll just make you more susceptible to failing and falling". After this pep talk with the team, I continued on my journey with the same grit and determination I get from a power 10 or finish in dragonboat. Fuck that mountain, didn't wanna fuckin bitch out. Ahh, gotta love that adrenaline. Once I made it up, I had a sense of relief mixed with self worth....it wasn't that big of an obstacle and Heidi might be chuckling that I am making such a big deal about it but I was happy that I was able to pull myself together midway through. That's why I miss dragonboat sometimes, I sometimes forget what it's like to get that adrenaline rush, that feeling you get after you shout til your voice is hoarse and your lungs are in pain. That killer instinct, that feeling that when you're backed into a corner, you want to bust throwing fists and raise hell. Once I made it to the top, I appropriately went to the closest shrine, donated my money and prayed: the mountain got the best of me, had to pay my respect. But the journey was not done, no, we had to get to the very top.

And so, amongst the many tourists who were clustered near the shrine and ramen huts, we made our journey to the rock face with the sign reading "Mt. Ishizuchi: 1982 m". The climb on the rocks was awesome: the view of the other mountains in the background was magnificent and the occassional mist/fog that rolled in made me nostalgic of San Francisco. It added a sense of romanticism and mystery to the mountain. As I made my way to the top, I took a peak over the edge, looking straight down- with the fog, you couldn't see the bottom as it gave me the impression that I was starring into the great abyss. We finally made it to the very top and we took our pictures. Then we turned around and made our way back down...down the easier route without those pesky metal chains. It had suddenly gotten more damp and misty as I had to become more careful with my steps down the wooden walkways. And so we made it down, with few breaks, because Hiro wasn't tired. That man is young at heart. Once we got back to our car, I was dead tired...fell asleep all the way down the mountain. Ended the evening by getting noodles with Heidi and taking the long 2 hour train back to Yawatahama, the 20 minute drive to Ikata and the 10 second walk back to my house. I was freakin tired from this long 3 day weekend. Evidently, my body seems to be unhappy as I am still tired, even after a whole weekend of doing absolutely nothing. And work is tomorrow. Good Grief. That's what Charlie Brown would say, you know, the one on the white board encouraging the kids in the haunted house to take candy.