Day 19 (May 1, 2017)

Takachiho, Miyazaki

Map of Miyazaki with author’s route in the Takachiho valley highlighted.

Open map in Gaia GPS β†’

Some heads of cabbage drying on the rear engine cover of a tiny yellow sports car, a Honda Beat.

πŸ“ Takachiho, Miyazaki

Cabbage drying on the engine cover of a Honda Beat, an impossibly cool kei roadster from the early 1990s. Many of them are still around and driven.


A group of schoolchildren in red baseball caps make V-signs for the camera.

Ears of corn drying on a pole.
Plants grow from the window of an abandoned house.
A very yellow leaf and pink petals on the ground.

A wooden statue of a cow playing a guitar and singing along.

πŸ“ Takachiho, Miyazaki

Leaving cozy and beautiful Takachiho, I shared a bunch of bananas with a group of schoolboys who tagged along for a kilometer, dropping off as the road left the town and wound its way up the valley, towards the looming hulk of Mount Sobo.


Bamboo shoots drying in a round basket in the afternoon light.
The author hold a bamboo shoot cut lengthwise in half.

Panorama of terraced ricefields and jagged, forested mountains.

πŸ“ Takachiho, Miyazaki

Bamboo shoots drying in the late afternoon sun. They are heavenly when fried in tempura batter or served in nishime, a stew of roots and mountain vegetables.

These Walking Dreams is a visual field diary of a 4,300-kilometer walk from one end of Japan to the other, in the spring and summer of 2017.