Omataseshimashita!

I’ve reached Tottori. It’s been 14 days on the road already, and I’ve hardly noticed. The hardest part of travelling was back in Kumamoto and Fukuoka, when I knew it would be oh so easy to return to Beppu and known safety. After Fukuoka I had a goal to motivate me for a while; to visit Kate in Hagi. After Hagi all I had to do was keep moving on, and so have I done, a small step at a time.

Getting to Tottori was great. Not that it’s all that fantastic in itself, but there is life here, open stores, people in the restaurants, other people hurrying about their business. Life bustling all around. I liked Matsue, my last stop before Tottori, but coming here I realize that Matsue too had the “Ghost Town feeling” I met wherever I stopped along my way since Shimonoseki. In most of the cases I could sense the dormant charm of the place, but being there in winter it was obvious to me that I was there outside of the seasons as well. Many of these places were quiet and desolate, no people in the streets, few (if any) open shops and restaurants, and those only around the obvious spots of activity; main streets and tourist attractions –or tourist attractions’ bus parking lots in the case of Tsuwano (the only lively spot was a noodle place, situated opposite the bus parking lot and catering mainly to bus-tourists). Most of the town may be closed, but the gift shop by the tourist bus’ parking lot is always open (in my experience anyway).

The weather may have helped to chase away the Ghost Town feeling, but the sun was shining in Matsue too, and here in Tottori it seemed to have been bustling before the weather changed as well. The sun was shining and there was a non-freezing breeze in the air; I could walk around without gloves and earmuffs and still be comfortable. Of course, having had a warm day (first day of spring?) don’t stop my hotel room from being freezing cold –despite the gas heater.

I took advantage of the weather and took the bus out to the Sakyu – the great sand dunes of Tottori – and had fun walking in the dunes and along the beach, taking pictures of the dunes, footprints in the sand, the waves and odd objects that had drifted in to the beach; garbage that, to me, had a certain beauty in the sand and sunlight.

After returning to the hotel I’ve been relaxing in my room, catching up on my writing and accounting. I even forgot to go to the Internet Café, but at least I’ll be prepared when I finally get to one.