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These Walking Dreams: Day 40 (May 22, 2017)

South Awaji City, Awaji Island, Hyลgo โ†’ Sumoto, Awaji Island, Hyลgo

Map of Awaji Island in Hyลgo Prefecture with authorโ€™s route between South Awaji City and Sumoto highlighted. ๐Ÿ—บ Open map in GaiaGPS โ‡

An open-air statue of five young sumo wrestlers: three watch while two wrestle.

A field a dark green spring onions with a Japanese village in the distance. ๐Ÿ“ South Awaji City, Awaji Island, Hyลgo

A man hoses off a small fishing boat in a harbor. ๐Ÿ“ Nada, Awaji Island, Hyลgo

A sika deer stands between flowering plants on a steep wall of rocks. ๐Ÿ“ Awaji Monkey Center, Hyลgo

Heaps of trash in the undergrowth of a steep hillside.

Discarded appliances, like a TV and a refrigerator, poke out of the flowering undergrowth. ๐Ÿ“ Yura, Awaji Island, Hyลgo

Japanese stereotypes of tidyness and respect for nature are quickly proven wrong on Awaji Island. It is covered not only in the petty trash of coffee cans and ice cream wrappers which dot even the cleanest roads but Balkan-style dumps of used household appliances. The mountain road which wraps around the southeast corner of the island, an otherwise wild, beautiful place, is an endless heap of refrigerators and televison sets which had obviously been trucked and dumped there.

A sign advertising a UFO shrine, whatever that is. ๐Ÿ“ Yura, Awaji Island, Hyลgo

Next โ†’ Day 41, May 23

Prev. โ† Day 39, May 21

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.