Mountain running in Japan blog

[Readus]

Hello all
In case anyone fancies a bit of armchair foreign running somewhere completely different, I have started a new blog on trail and mountain running in Japan. There's a static page with an intro, safety, wildlife, weather, dealing with heat and humidity, equipment etc, and one on how to find races. The posts will be from anywhere in Japan I have or will run, with lots of pics. There will be a bit of biking, culture and history thrown in by accident too. I will soon be posting on a recent slight but painful accident with my bear pepper spray!
http://trailrunningjapan.blogspot.com/
I am now near Nara in the Kansai region which includes Osaka and Kyoto if anyone is passing by and fancies a run. I have moved away from Fukushima since last posting, for obvious reasons considering I have a 9 year-old, but the blog from there is still up, and I will add to it occasionally- there are plenty of mountain posts on there too.
http://livinginaizu.blogspot.com/
Nothing to do with running, but this is my ongoing portrait project with Fukushima's children:
http://strongchildrenjapan.blogspot.com/
Please have a look if you are interested, and pass them on if you like 'em.
Hope all is well in the world of the FRA - I realise even more how great the UK fell running scene is now I am away from it, fairly unique in the world methinks.
Enjoy, and good luck for your season ahead,
Geoff Read

[Scodler]

Great Blog. I will be keeping an eye on your updates.

I spent 3 weeks travelling in Japan a couple of years ago. I visited a friend for a few days who lives in Matsumoto, and he took me on a tour of mountain villages in the area.

I did go for a quick evening run up a mountain on my own. I had no idea about bears, snakes and wild boar. I probably wouldn't have ventured out on my own if I did.
I'll get back over there again one day but it will be a while yet!

Have you ever had any problems with Monkey's. I came accross a very aggresive one in Nara. After giving us a scare when he snook up and stole a bottle out of our rucksack, it then started swiping at our legs and screaching at us. It looked proper gnarly, only having one eye!!

[Readus]

Thanks, Scodler, I have updated the site with a bit on monkeys - have a look and let me know what you think. I quoted you in a comment, let me know if you want this removing. Where exactly in Nara were you, and were you running/hiking or sightseeing? I was in Nara City today...

It's hard to get the balance between informing people of risks they may not be aware of, and putting them off altogether. Those fell ponies around High Street can be pretty intimidating you know!
Geoff

[zephr]

If you're in Nara you're pretty close to the 8 Gorges walk- which is actually a fantastic run/scramble (I think it may be called the 8 abyss' walk or something like that). if you haven't done it, its definitely worth a look.

[IanDarkpeak]

Great Blog Geoff and some moving stuff on the Strong Children site, I suspect most of have put that nightmare behind us as it's no longer in our local media. We forget sometimes that these problems are still ongoing for many.

I'll pass this on to my daughter as I'm sure she will want to read more.

[Readus]

If you're in Nara you're pretty close to the 8 Gorges walk- which is actually a fantastic run/scramble (I think it may be called the 8 abyss' walk or something like that). if you haven't done it, its definitely worth a look.

Sounds goo Zephr - any more details, or a link for that please? Sounds good...
Geoff

[Readus]

Great Blog Geoff and some moving stuff on the Strong Children site, I suspect most of have put that nightmare behind us as it's no longer in our local media. We forget sometimes that these problems are still ongoing for many.

Thanks for looking at the Strong Children site, Ian. Yes it is still going on and it is very difficult for anyone with kids to source reliably safe food in view of the lack of clear science on long term/low dose effects. Some quite dangerous precedents regarding not evacuating children, lack of food labelling, detailed testing and re-defining 'safe' levels at will are being set here, which could impact how the UK handles a big incident. It's horrible to think about, I know. Apart from the usual media short attention span, it has also gone very quiet in the UK because the government-nuclear industry are planning ten or so new reactors - the way information is managed becomes more transparent when seen from abroad. Incidentally, some of the Fukushima children's pictures will be in Kendal Museum this spring (details on the site) as part of the Rock Solid? Expo exploring the advisability of storing more nuclear waste in the Lake District, if anyone wants to see them in a gallery.
Geoff

[Vegan Runner]

This is weird. Only yesterday I answered Trail Runner magazines Facebook question 'Where in the world would you like to trail run?' with Japan because you never really see anything about it.

Then three blogs at once. Awesome.

[zephr]

Yeah, the walk is actually 8 gorges (yatsu-buchi no take)- if you google it, there are a few people who appear to have done it and blogged about it (the kanji for Buchi is quite a cool one as well, I'd never seen it before I did the run). I got the route from the Lonely planet "hiking in Japan" book. Its quite a good source, but you just run it instead of walking

Used to live in Kyushu, so did a few of those routes as well. I can highly recommend the Sobo-san/katamuki-yama route, except when its hammering with rain... actually, even in the rain, it was excellent. And there is a hut you can stay in as well. The only problem if there is rain is the scramble at the top, which can be a tad slippy. And you'll miss out on the view.

There is also an amazing walk on Yakushima if you can ever get down there... its quite a bitch to get to, and I never managed it, but apparently its very worth the travel.

[redeaston]

I went to Japan a few years ago (per-running days) and loved it. Spent a day in Nara sight seeing. Will certainly go back at some point.