Day 9 : From Shizuoka to Fujieda

Day 9 : From Shizuoka to Fujieda (20 km)

• Passage of stations :

Station 19 - 府中 - Fuchu Shizuoka	Station 20 - 鞠子 - Mariko Mariko
Okabe

• Road: 

Shizuoka, Abekawa, Mariko, Utsunoya, Okabe, Utsutani, Youkouchi, Kuwata, Onijima, Mizumori... and Fujieda.

• Visits : 

Shizuoka (Sunpu-jô, Sengen-jinja = fuji, Tokugawa's hut), Abekawa (19), Mariko (Tea House 20, togeppousaiokuji), Utsunoya (tunnel from Meiji, Keiryûji), Onijima (Sugajinja no kusu)

• Sleep : 

Mangakisa in Shizuoka.

 

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Trip Journal :
 

                 I am awake and it is 7 am. I prepare my bag and eat my breakfast while talking to my friend Rouzbhe who is preparing his trip to Brazil. Most of my friends also have a taste for trips around the world! He wanted to know how is the weather in Japan at the moment so I replied "Excellent, beautiful weather but really hot". Then it is time for me to leave the Mangakisa and what I just told Rouzbhe about the weather is now inaccurate: it is raining! For now, the rain is not heavy so I decide to protect my bag first and see. I will keep my pancho inside for now. We will see if the rain gets heavier or not. I start walking my way to Mariko where I wanted to stop the day before. Quickly I realise that I really need the pancho... I am very depressed now...

I walk without thinking too much as the weather does not really encourage me to visit any place. I feel that I am walking fast but I am not sure about that in reality. I stop quickly in Mariko and do not feel like continuing. I hate rain, especially when it's pouring like that (just to remember, I am from Cherbourg!).

 

I walk until I reach a drive-in between Mariko and Utsunoya. And because I am lucky, the rain stops as soon as I arrive there... Anyway... I eat in this drive-in and I dry my socks that despite the good waterproof shoes, are a little bit wet. Then I ask one of the Grannys in the restaurant to sign my book. She calls her boss and he does not want to give me his name neither let me take a picture of him. He is just too proud of his drive-in. The official picture of Mariko will be the restaurant itself : "Tokaido Drive-in" because I have nothing else...

20 - Mariko (Tokaido Drive in)

 

I continue on the road and a bit after, it becomes more pleasant. I really have to say that the previous part was going along the main road and that was quite boring. After that, only forrest, nature and no more cars. At Utsunoya, I stop to take a picture of an old tunnel built during the Meiji Period and a temple as well (Keiriyûji).

      

      

After, I have to follow road 1 again and I stop by a parking. I have a break there and eat a snack when a man suddenly arrive and start talking to me. He is so excited to talk to me. Yoshinori Wada, who called himself "happy man" is really not in a rush so we talk for a long time. He tells me lots of things, especially about Japan history, about Togugawa's sister... As my historic vocabulary is quite limited, I did not unerstand everything he was telling me but that was interesting. After that, I leave the parking around 5 pm. That's why I know that I am gonna have a long day before reaching Fujieda, the supposedly final destination of the day. Yoshinori insists on driving me to Okabe in his Micro-car but I tell him that the purpose of my trip is only to walk on the Tokaido. I leave him there and say goodbye.

21 - Okabe (Yoshinori Wada)

 

But my feet are still wet and I can now feel the pain. Humidity and friction is not good... I feel that blisters would appear sooner or later. From the beginning of my trip, I do not have any blisters thanks to capoeira that made my feet really strong. But with wet feet, that does not apply. So just before Fujieda, I start looking for an internet cafe. A woman in her early 50's from the neighbourhood drive me to a mangakisa where her children go sometimes. That's an "Aprécio", like the one in Shimizu. The problem is that they don't have a "night pack" and at the end, it's quite expensive for my budget. I decide to eat at the "Curry House Coco" nearby before taking a decision about where to sleep.

After dinner, I continue and walk on the way to the train station. Around most train stations you can find a mangakisa. And if not, I could take a train back to stay at the one in Shizuoka. "Aprecio" was really expensive so it was better for me to spend 480 yens for the train back to Shizuoka and take the cheap night pack I took the day before (1200 yens from 10 pm to 8 am). I shave, do a bit of laundry, drink a beer and after few emails... Dodo!!

DAY 8

DAY 10