Yesterday, I took the ferry back over to the volcano island (Sakurajima) and ended up taking a rather spontaneous extremely long walk. It was about 17 km. I went up to a place that`s like an observatory, about halfway up the side of the volcano, and back down. It wasn`t really a "trail hike," since it was mostly alongside the highway going up there and a different highway coming back down. And some of the landscape, being a recently erupting volcano, was a bit desolate, although not devoid of nature, for all that. I took some pictures, which I`ll try to add later.
I really like long walks like that. I should do them more often. Not really hiking… just walking. I always feel like some pilgrim, or an ancient tribal person making some kind of initiation journey. I watch the small changes in landscape, and observe how our civilization organizes itself around cars and convenience stores. Yes, even Japan`s version of our civilization is organized around cars and convenience stores. At least in largely rural areas.