Temple: Sankakuji

Dedication: I met Darren through Sam. He’s Australian and works for the Bank of England. He’s great company and can drink as well as any good Australian (or Brit in fact). I never seem to see enough of him but maybe that’s because he’s down close to the river. That might change depending where I end up when I’m back.

So Pierre finished! He then got the train back and came to meet me and Toppo at the end of the day. I had a good day walking with Toppo and Shin. Shin bought some of the tabi boots at a homestore as his trainers were totally destroyed with massive holes in them.

A bit later we met an ultra nationalist man who demanded to know why Japanese guys were walking with me and seemed worried I might get a Japanese girlfriend. Poor guy.

In the evening we went for a meal with Shin and two extra people we met on the road: Tomo, a Japanese engineer who had taken redundancy at 59, and Karina, (another Austrian called Karina weirdly) who had quit her job and flat and sold her car to travel. Pierre paid for all our meals which was amazing of him.

After a great meal Pierre, Toppo, Shin and I went to a nearby park with some beer, shochu and whisky. We were up late listening to music and hanging off climbing frames and as a result I have a shocking hangover.

Toppo and Shin are back on the normal path while I do some bangai and I said goodbye to Pierre this morning.

It was one of the best days I’ve had.

P.S. Toppo found this blog. His English is amazing, totally outstanding. The best. ?