The 2010 Expedition: I Came, I Saw, I Wandered

People of Earth,
I am back in Mito. This is not really such a thing to be celebrated, because Mito means little to me of late, but let me tell you why I mention it to you now.

For the last month and a half (or so), I have been embarking on a cross-Japan trip, the endpoints of which were the city of Mito in the East, and the city of Ibusuki in the far south and west.

This Expedition, so headily titled, was many months in the making, planning for which began long ago, way back in 2009. For many reasons, three of which I will mention now, I undertook the mammoth undertaking of planning and then executing this trip. Firstly, at least chronologically, I had harboured bitter disgust over how my eikaiwa job turned out, essentially because apart from the little life lessons I learnt here and there, the general life of the job could be likened to wading through a sewage treatment plant, quickly realising how much better things can be here, and the potential for the world in general, and then being forced to stay in the sewage plant because I signed a fucking contract that would destroy my credibility should I break it. As Franky said, I took the blows. (No, it wasn't really THAT bad, but exaggeration makes life interesting).

The other reasons were I needed to, within my heart, truly and honestly, rectify the situation of the last paragraph. Anyone who knows me well (and that probably means anyone reading this blog) knows that I am not a fan of wasting time. I was locked in for a full year on a contract, hating a job I simply had to do but believed absolutely nothing of the things that I was ordered to do (only in the things that I ingenuised, and those were what my students thanked me for, not the orders). I could not very well slouch back to Australia having wasted, in professional part, the year between 21 and 22 years of age. So I rectified it (and here's the part that gives me a hard-on) using money that was saved in the hell-year, and using human resources for recommendations and ideas, whom I met every damn day at the school.
((And I will add here, somewhat cryptically, that the person closest to me during that year offered by far the least help on any front for the planning of this trip)).
And it should be mentioned that my a quirk of reality and timing, I was indeed situated four-dimensionally in the perfect place and time to undertake such a trip!::

I'd finished the job, had saved a bunch of money, had an active local bank account, can speak the language, have a map, all the time in the world, nothing waiting back in Australia to drag me out early, and I had the desire and a strong sense of "I'm going to make the most of this, if it's the last thing I do!!!!!"

The final reason, of course, was that Adventure was why I came here in the first place, and I'll be damned if I was going to miss out on it. This adventure was self-made, self-funded, and oh-so-sweet because of it! I wanted (and still crave!) Life Experience and Perspective and, as it turns out, Attitude. And I got it. I'll tell you all about it sometime.

As for the Route I took:
I started in Mito, Ibaraki; and headed WEST, with Nagasaki in mind as the final destination. After careful consultation with my most trusted advisers (ie my PARENTS), I decided to embark with absolutely NO time restrictions placed upon myself, therefore the only restriction was money. And of course, one day THAT will be no restriction for me, either. Especially if I have something to say about it, and I do.

So, to tell you the entire story I would have to sit here at this computer for so long that my palms would fuse to the keyboard. I'll probably write a book or something some day soon, just as soon as I can remember and condense 45 DAYS worth of life-changing experiences.

The Route, through some wonderful and totally unplannable developments, it expanded further and better than I ever could have written down before-hand.

Mito, Kofu, Tokyo, Oyama, Yokohama, Kofu, Chikuma, Nagano, Matsumoto, Nagoya, Kameyama, Seki, Ise, Osaka, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Himeji, Hiroshima, Iwakuni, Fukuoka, Dazaifu, Kumamoto, Aso, Kurokawa, Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Sakurajima, Ibusuki.
And then back again:
Ibusuki, Sakurajima, Nagasaki, Fukuoka, Tokyo, Yokohama, Kofu, Mito.

That's 27, TWENTY-SEVEN, Japanese cities, and about 20 prefectures, for those of us who are counting.

I Came, I Saw, I Wandered. It was fucking awesome!
And lo and behold, I found a long-distance marker in Kagoshima, right down south, that said it was 960km back to Tokyo (as the crow flies). Add to it all the extras, and I've got myself a 1000 kilometre Expedition across the Land of the Rising Sun.

The Thousand Ks Journey.

(This shall be another subtitle).

Find them all on a Map, and you'll see a line stretch from the far eastern coast of the Far East, to the very southern tip of Kyushu (that's the big island at the south of Japan).
And don't worry, I HAVE A MAP, which I've been boasting to all the people I've met, including the nice people in Nagasaki and three Britons whom I also met there.

I met people from all over the world, in many different cities. One of the lessons I learnt is that there ARE nice people in existence on this planet. So I can put those doubts to rest now.

I have pictures, oh man, do I have pictures - snapping away everyday, spanning three cameras, I took probably 5 or 6 THOUSAND photos.

Who wants to see the slide-show???? :) :) :) :) :) ((BIG smile))

And, of course, the Journey is not over. I am not the same Tom I was when I disembarked from Shin's place here in Mito (to where I have returned and am currently typing this post).
I am a better, smarter, wiser, and improved Tom, with experiences and lessons that I have learnt from, and will continue to learn from after further future reflection, and comparison/contrast with more exciting chances I shall generate for myself in the future.

It has only just begun.

See you all soon.

From The Tominator.