22 Apr 2022, 18:21

1504 Day 19 - lovely rivers and Canak's Pizza

title: “1504 Let Go and eat pizza”

2021-05-04T05:36:34+09:00

title: 'Arrived in Sudaya just before dark last night'

The walk yesterday was reasonably good with just a little bit of rain. Lots of walking along railroad tracks including scene a interesting train construction thing that I hadn’t seen before. I was a little bit late by the time I saw that I didn’t take the time to upload the picture but I have a couple to upload.

I stopped for a bit in Urasa Station, which was largely closed except for restrooms and two shops on the second floor: some kind of gift shop and a convenience store.

There was an up going escalator up to the second level which was high so actually about the three floors worth of steps. So I left my bag downstairs while going upstairs to pee and such.

I went to the convenience store and got a bunch of stuff but then realized my wallet was downstairs in my bag because it won’t fit in my pockets when I’m wearing my rain gear.

Fortunately, this is Japan, and unfortunately, the train station was nearly desolate, due to covid I guess, so my bag was completely untouched and fine when I went downstairs to get my wallet. Anyway the point is just that I had to tell the cashier apologies and then run down the stairs and escalator back up with my wallet to pay.

I was barefoot the entire day except for about 2 km walking north of that station, where the roads just didn’t have any sidewalk but did have lots of gravel and such. That was around the area that has two different snow sheds in a row on the highway next to the Joetsu Line.

It was nice walking along the Uono River; it was pretty large and flowing pretty quickly with bluish looking clear snow melt water.

I am in a small city called Koide now, and planning to pack and go pretty soon.

I have not updated my website to put the day by day things at the top of the page so I have to dig down a little bit to find that entry and figure out where I’m going next.

2021-05-04T05:53:00+09:00

title: 'Good morning Day 19'

Well it looks like someone didn’t do their job… The text written in the screenshots says I’ll be staying somewhere near a park… Which was apparently written before I had found a hotel near that location, and was probably written before I decided to stay at hotels for most nights.

2021 may 03 day 19 not updated on day by day plans

Fortunately, I do have access to this information on my phone via the magic of Google Sheets…

According to the sheet I’ll be staying at Ojiya Park Hotel in 小千谷 (おじや) .

https://goo.gl/maps/qon2wdyNcaJyGeRg6

2021-05-04T09:24:58+09:00

title: 'clay dam I think'
location: 'geo:37.2608,138.88872;u=256.5799865722656'

Clay

2021 may 03 dsc 0488

2021-05-04T10:55:27+09:00

title: 'halfway finished Day 19'
location: 'geo:37.26075,138.86893;u=13.253000259399414'

I’ve made it halfway and my feet have slight injuries like skin worn through and starting to bleed on my left foot. I should probably put on my sandals.

2021 may 03 halfway finished day 19

Here are some pics I took from inside a tunnel

2021 may 03 heading into a tunnel 2021 may 03 i helped clean the sos sign 2021 may 03 big plaque in middle of tunnel 2021 may 03 small plaque in middle of tunnel 2021 may 03 lights not very bright 2021 may 03 lights covered in dirt 2021 may 03 narrow sidewalk in tunnel

2021-05-04T11:50:16+09:00

title: 'blue sheet caught my eye'
location: 'geo:37.26102,138.86831;u=4.881699562072754'

2021 may 03 blue sheet covers a pit 2021 may 03 back hoes ready to dig 2021 may 03 clay pyramid base

2021-05-04T13:33:20+09:00

title: 'walking next to train tracks'
location: 'geo:37.28301,138.83276;u=2900'

Looking back on a nice view as I’m more than halfway done walking today.

I said hello to a guy in Japanese and he replied that he doesn’t speak English. I guess I’m not in Tokyo anymore.

2021 may 03 nice view

2021-05-04T16:56:59+09:00

title: "and that'
location: 'geo:37.31158,138.79624;u=14.218999862670898'

Canak’s Pizza
https://www.facebook.com/PIZZACANAK/

2021 may 04 canuks hand made pizza

On my way to the hotel for tonight I walked right by a pizza place but it turned out to be closed.

I searched the area for other pizza places and found one that was kind of near my hotel but the wrong side of the street by like half a kilometer so I was like nah. I ain’t walking way over there just for pizza.

So I bought some of my staple food for this journey and a convenience store and put it into my jacket pockets for consumption at the hotel.

Walking across 信濃川 (Shinano-gawa), I spent some time talking to a sweet old man who spent time telling me about the area and answering questions I had about the landscaping of the river and some of the local shrines.

He gave me two cards from the local shrine, offering one of the two and then offering both after I told him about my anti-suicide campaign of this walk.

2021 may 04 two cards front 2021 may 04 two cards back

After he left, I followed my map to the hotel but couldn’t find it. I walked around to where it seemed to be on the map and suddenly there was a pizza place.

Wow! Why wasn’t this shown on the map before?

I looked down and somehow had fat fingered the map to get myself to the pizza place from before instead of to my hotel.

Bought a large pizza of which I’ll eat half and save the rest for tomorrow.

いただきます!

Boom ate the whole thing. I was hungry!!

Day 19 was

  • Day Nineteen (Tuesday May 4th *) 1 part:
    Walk 19km, From Sudaya Inn To Ojiya Park Hotel (297km walked so far) nearly 75% complete!

Walk 19km from Sudaya Inn to Shinanogawa Kasen Park

2021 may 04 two cards front 2021 may 04 two cards back 2021 may 04 canuks hand made pizza

🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕

2021 may 04 François and pizza

24 Mar 2021, 06:50

For Immediate Release - Rob Nugen walking across Japan for suicide prevention awareness

Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition

Barefoot across Japan: “Barefoot” Rob Nugen walking across Japan for suicide prevention Barefoot Rob Nugen, known among Japanese TV audiences for going almost constantly barefoot, is to walk, mostly without shoes, from Yokohama to Niigata. In addition to the personal challenge, Rob also aims to raise funds for suicide prevention in Japan.

The walk starts at Rinko Park on April 16 and will end in Niigata’s Aoyama Seaside Park on May 8. Rob plans to walk about 15-20km per day. On the first day, before setting off, Rob will lead a guided walking meditation. His progress can be followed on his website at https://www.robnugen.com/. Anyone is welcome to join him for a leg or two of the journey, but will need to take care of their own transport and accommodation.

Rob has set up a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the journey.

English: https://gogetfunding.com/barefoot-pilgrimage-across-japan-raising-funds-for-suicide-prevention/
日本語: https://gogetfunding.com/barefoot-pilgrimage-across-japan-raising-funds-for-suicide-prevention/?lang=ja

All additional funds will go to TELL Lifeline (https://telljp.com/.) This telephone & chat support service provides free English counselling to people in Japan.

The idea for the walk is not a new one. “I have been adding different important components of my life together, and they have woven together into this walk”, Rob says. These components include his walking meditation events, and his and his work as founder and member of various support groups in Japan.

Rob sees a strong connection between the meditative effects of barefoot walking and wellbeing. “Walking helps me be in touch with my body, gets me moving, connects me to Earth, (and) connects me to myself. All of these are ways to reduce stress, and do self-care.”

Indeed, self-care is an important part of preventing suicide. (https://www.thekimfoundation.org/blog/importance-of-self-care/)

“Coming to the present moment is one of the key ways of noticing what’s here now. And that’s a key way to help go through the feelings, get beyond the feeling of wanting the pain to end”.

So will he really be walking barefoot? Here, Rob is realistic: “I will start walking barefoot across Japan… But when I encounter snow in the mountains, I’m going to put on boots. I’ll be Barefoot Rob wearing boots, walking through snow to continue the journey.”

For further information, visit his website at https://www.robnugen.com/
Rob can also be reached at press@robnugen.com
Donate: https://gogetfunding.com/barefoot-pilgrimage-across-japan-raising-funds-for-suicide-prevention/?lang=ja

08 Feb 2021, 08:08

Weekly Alignment - Letting Go

Weekly Alignments 7pm Thursdays JST

(image credit https://www.instagram.com/p/BIQJjgDDjvk/)

When

7pm - 8:30pm JST Thursday 11 February 2021

Where

Zoom new attendees, please register

Details

With all the possibilities open to us, set your intention then let go of the outcome and let the universe bring magic into our lives.